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The Parts & Service Department: Safety Matters

Parts& service department John G. Smith | Contributing Editor | info@wordsmithmedia.ca A commitment to safety should extend across the shop ﬂoor MATTERS ertion accounted for 23 percent of the injuries, with about 63 percent of those involving lifting. Meanwhile, falls accounted for 16 percent of the injuries, and 38 percent of those involved dropping to a lower level, 50 percent occurred on a single level, and slips or trips without a fall accounted for the remainder. Darry Stuart, president and CEO of DWS Fleet Management Services in Wrentham, Mass., suggests that the safe environment begins by running a shop like a supermarket. “Wide aisles. Clean. Organized. Everything has a place,” he says of the ideal surroundings. In addition to supporting overall productivity, these are the factors that can help to avoid a combination of slips, trips, falls and hit objects. And the cords and hoses which would otherwise become a tripping hazard often can be addressed by mounting reels on the ceiling or a wall that is closer to the technicians. It seems strange when he also suggests painting and sealing the ﬂoor of a service bay until it gleams like an ice rink. These ﬂoors may look more slippery but the biggest threat of a slip actually will involve the oil and grease Safety echnicians spend plenty of time thinking about the safety of the equipment in their care. Trucks and trailers are expected to be mechanically sound before they are returned to the road, after all. Your shop could probably beneﬁt from a similar attention to detail. Any way you look at it, a service bay can be a potentially dangerous environment. Whenever you combine tools and heavy metal, there is the chance of cuts and crushed bones. Every spill of a lubricant can lead to a dangerous slip or fall. For every 10,000 technicians who worked on buses, trucks and diesel engines in 2008, there were 230 who had to take time off work because of an occupational injury, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. An examination of the related causes identify where many of the dangers are found. About 37 percent of the injuries involved some sort of “contact” such as striking an object (24 percent), striking against an object (7 percent) or becoming caught, compressed or crushed (4.5 percent). Overex- T continued on page 28 26 | SUCCESSFUL DEALER | August 2010

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