Keeping Your Crew Safe From Bugs On A Job Site
Installing a shallow water pipeline often means working in low-lying coastal or marsh areas. While we put a considerable amount of time into the installation, erosion control, and other technical components, it’s easy to overlook the unthinkable: insects. This tends to hold especially true when it comes to the crew members working on the shallow water pipeline project. You likely dedicate many resources to meeting requirements set forth by the Pipe Line Contractors Association, ensuring employees are adequately trained. But what about the little things?
While safety is of the utmost importance, it’s also critical that no stone be left unturned. Bugs and insects can often be problematic on job sites, mainly because their homes were just turned over. By turning up the land, you end up displacing hundreds of thousands of insects. When visiting shallow water pipeline job sites, our regional managers often discover these unwelcomed guests. Fortunately, they equip themselves with attire that significantly reduces this annoyance.
Protecting the Crew from Bugs
It may seem like a trivial matter, but safeguarding your crew from bugs and insects is essential. Your team cannot work well if they are always distracted by pests. It will take their focus off of critical components of the job, which can result in costly mistakes.
Additionally, mosquitos are a significant threat, especially when working in coastal areas. They are known transmitters of viruses including West Nile and Zika. If crew members become infected with one of these viruses, they will undoubtedly miss time from work and may end up having life-long health complications.
Ticks are another big problem when working in the woods or marshy areas. They are known to transmit Lyme disease. Lyme disease is beginning to reach epidemic status in the United States. Ticks are problematic for workers because, unlike mosquitos, they often don’t see or notice them. Ticks are small and can latch on quickly.
From the standpoint of workplace efficiency, you don’t want crew members stopping every half-hour to apply bug spray. Instead, you need a solution that allows them to keep working without even noticing the bugs are there.
Insect-Repelling Clothing – NoBugs Clothing
Our regional managers have fallen in love with NoBugs, which supplies insect-repelling clothing. The clothing is beneficial when working on a job site, where it deters both pests and UV rays. NoBugs has designed clothing specifically for those who are active outdoors. Because they are always moving around a job site surveying and taking measurements, our regional managers have found this active wear to be very useful.
The clothing is treated with Permethrin, a chemical considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. The company bonds Permethrin into the fabrics of the garments, resulting in what the company calls an “Insect Shield.” The chemical does not wash away when laundered. In fact, NoBugs says that it will last for the lifetime of the garment, something our regional managers have found to be true thus far.
Providing your workers clothing from NoBugs may be a worthwhile investment that proves to bemore cost-effective than the alternatives. At the very least, your workers will thank you as they’re not bothered by pests throughout the day.
