Safety Zone

Ken Knox’s article “Safety Zone” was featured in Turf on June 11, 2015.

Unrelenting, overwhelming heat can be devastating to a landscape company’s employees and, ultimately, to its bottom line. That’s why intelligently handling the heat is a necessity. Many state, including Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, Louisianan and their immediate neighbors, deal with heat issues year-round. For the rest of the nation, summertime requires diligence – and changes in climate such as Indian Summer can bring surprises with which landscapes must deal.

In the article, Ken discusses the importance of handling the heat intelligently during the summertime. He provides company owners who face outdoor issues with four tips to keep in mind during this hot season:

1. Develop a system whereby various shifts reduce exposure in the worst heat of the day.
2. Require employees to protect themselves.
3. Encourage awareness of one another in the workforce.
4. Educate employees on means of prevention and early detection.

Sadly, what does happen from time to time is employees resist their employer’s efforts to ensure worker safety. This is when enforcement of company safety policies is crucial. Employers should not be hesitant to discipline employees who violate such policies, even if that may mean termination of employment. Enforcement sends a clear message to all other employees that the company is serious about safety.