A good, comprehensive program of instruction is absolutely essential, whether it\u2019s done formally in a classroom setting, out in the field or a combination of both.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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At Corion Landscape Management Inc., Ferndale, Washington, the onboarding process for new employees starts by going through the training provided by Greenius, the London, Ontario-based company that has a number of training programs geared towards green industry personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey watch some online videos and then take tests on what they\u2019ve learned,\u201d says President David Arnold. \u201cMower safety is part of that. The second step is hands-on training from the crew lead in the field. We go through that process all the way from how you properly start the equipment to how you stop it and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, once we believe they\u2019re fully trained, they then have to go through a certification process. So, they get some initial training, some teaching out in the field, and then they have to prove that they\u2019ve reached the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n Terry Minerd is operations manager at Linnemann Land Care and Landscaping Inc., Columbia, Illinois. Training there starts by going through a booklet with all the new hires. \u201cThen we take them out in the field,\u201d says Minerd. \u201cWe work with them on the machines they\u2019re going to use, make sure they know what they are doing and what the safety rules are for those pieces of equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n Because people are often injured while cleaning clogs out of mower decks, Linnemann has a rule about making sure the mowers are completely turned off and the keys are out of the ignition before reaching a hand into the deck. \u201cIf it\u2019s really, really clogged up, we ask them to pull apart the spark plug wire so that it can\u2019t start.\u201d<\/p>\n Commercial mower manufacturers are well aware of the value of this sort of training. Ted Walker, director of engineering at Walker Manufacturing, Fort Collins, Colorado, says, \u201cThe most important element for mower safety is operator education. Most mowing-related injuries are the result of unsafe operating practices; things that are warned against in operator\u2019s manuals and on equipment safety labels.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker points out that there is a wealth of safety information to be learned in the manuals and other materials provided with any mower \u2014 but first, you have to read it. \u201cToo often, the operators never see the manual or receive little training on how to operate the mower safely.\u201d<\/p>\n Saying \u201cI lost the manual\u201d isn\u2019t a good enough excuse anymore. Most manufacturers have downloadable operator\u2019s manuals on their websites or will send you a replacement paper one free of charge.<\/p>\n Training also means retraining. Anyone can forget something or get careless. Periodic refreshers are needed, even for old-timers. A mandatory safety meeting that every person on the mowing crew must attend before the start of the season, no matter how experienced someone may be, would reinforce the message that safety is a high priority at your company. Weekly tailgate meetings should cover safety topics as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important element for mower safety is operator education.\u201d \u2013 Ted Walker, Walker Manufacturing<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When someone joins the staff at Chapel Valley Landscape Co., Woodbine, Maryland, he is given some special items. \u201cOf course, we issue personal protective equipment: eye protection, ear protection,\u201d says Safety and Compliance Manager Bruce Parks. \u201cWe give them gloves and encourage them to wear them.\u201d<\/p>\n Setting rules is one thing; getting people to comply with them is another. Crew leaders can get pushback on something as simple as keeping gloves on. \u201cSome of the guys complain about wearing gloves, because it\u2019s harder to manipulate some of the controls and stuff,\u201d says Parks. \u201cBut they need to wear their PPE at all times, and the gloves are part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Parks mentioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration\u2019s \u201ccompetent person\u201d rule. \u201cEvery job site has to have a competent person present. OSHA describes that as someone who can not only recognize any hazard but has the authority to stop the job and correct it. We try to drive that home with our supervisors.\u201d<\/p>\n But, as he puts it, \u201cPeople are people. Sometimes I\u2019ll be on a job site and I\u2019ll see a guy doing something hazardous or not wearing his PPE. I\u2019ll have to go to that supervisor and say, \u2018This is your job. Why aren\u2019t you doing your job?\u2019 Very often, he\u2019ll say, \u2018That guy won\u2019t listen to me.\u2019 Well, then that person needs to get a written warning. If you\u2019ve ever supervised people, you know that it\u2019s just a never-ending battle to try to keep them in line.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes, people have worked at other companies where supervision was lax and fell into bad habits, such as zip-tying down throttles or otherwise defeating operator presence controls. \u201cOn the older mowers, you could disable that stuff,\u201d says Parks. \u201cBack in the old days you could tie a bandana around the presence control that was on the handle. Those controls are so integrated now that it\u2019s really difficult to disable them.\u201d<\/p>\n To get people to comply with safety rules, some companies offer incentives, such as end-of-season bonuses for maintaining a safe work record. Having negative consequences for breaking safety rules works too. At Chapel Valley, \u201cif you damage a piece of equipment or if you\u2019re negligent and you damage somebody\u2019s property with a mower or a vehicle, the first time, you\u2019ll get a warning, and you will have to pay up to the first $250 of the damage,\u201d says Parks. \u201cThe second time, you\u2019ll get another warning, but you\u2019ll pay up to $500. The third incident within a three-year period would be the same fine and\/or potential termination.\u201d Serious accidents involving injury will require a drug test.<\/p>\n Despite those consequences, Parks says it\u2019s still sometimes quite difficult to keep safety rules enforced. \u201cSometimes people will say, \u2018Well, I\u2019m going to go to work for your competitor because they\u2019re not going to charge me $250 just because I did something foolish.\u2019\u201d And with today\u2019s labor shortage, there may be a tendency to keep an unsafe operator on the job because a company simply doesn\u2019t have anyone to take his place.<\/p>\n The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has some guidelines on riding-mower safety. This statement appears on the webpage titled \u201cDangers of Rollovers of Riding Mowers,\u201d (www.osha.gov\/dsg\/riding_mowers\/index.html<\/a>) \u201cEmployers are responsible for providing workers with training before they can operate any lawn mowing equipment. Training ensures that each operator is competent to operate a riding mower safely. It must be provided in a language and vocabulary that workers can understand.\u201d The list of topics that should be covered in training sessions includes:<\/p>\n All of the mower manufacturers are aware of the rollover problem. Most rider mowers have a rollover protection structure, more commonly known by its acronym \u201cROPS.\u201d It consists of a roll bar that extends above the operator and a seat belt. The rollbar is often called \u201cthe ROPS,\u201d but the seat belt is also an integral part of the system. \u201cFor the ROPS system to be effective, the rollbar must be in the raised position (many roll bars are hinged and can be lowered to allow the machine to fit into enclosed trailers or under other areas with low clearance), and the operator must use the seat belt,\u201d says Walker.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the case of machine rollover, the seat belt will retain the operator within the protective zone created by the ROPS,\u201d says a spokesperson for John Deere, Moline, Illinois. \u201cLower a folding ROPS only when absolutely necessary and then immediately return it to a raised position. If a ROPS rollbar is folded down, do not wear the seat belt. There is no rollover protection when a ROPS rollbar is in the down position.\u201d<\/p>\n ROPS rollbars are often put in down position to go under a low-hanging tree branch \u2014 and left there for the rest of the mowing session or the day. That\u2019s where crew leaders, or whoever is in charge of enforcing safety rules, must keep a close watch to make sure people are following the company\u2019s safety edicts \u2014 and enforce consequences for those who aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n Corion required rollbars be kept in the up position. \u201cThe only exception is when they\u2019re underneath a tree on flat ground,\u201d says Arnold. \u201cHowever, once they\u2019ve mowed around that tree, they\u2019re required to put the rollover bar back in place and it is to remain there at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s best to prevent rollover accidents from happening in the first place. Walker says, for zero-turn style machines, this means using extra caution when operating on slopes, and never operating in areas where a loss of traction could result in the mower going over a steep embankment, a retaining wall, or into a pond or lake shoreline.<\/p>\n In fact, he cautions that rider mowers should never be operated close to embankments or retaining walls, even if the areas are flat, as embankments or retaining walls can give way and result in a rollover.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of our branches is in Norfolk, and there\u2019s water all over the place,\u201d says Parks. \u201cI\u2019ve been in some of their meetings, and one of our managers there constantly talks about how you need to be really, really careful when you\u2019re on a slope anywhere near water where you could possibly slide in.\u201d<\/p>\n OSHA\u2019s rollover prevention page states that \u201cthe safe operation of a riding mower is similar to the safe operation of a motor vehicle \u2014 drive defensively and expect the unexpected. Employers should train workers to operate the mower as if there were no ROPS in place. A protective structure is not unlimited in its ability to protect the operator.\u201d And finally, it contains a statement that you might consider emblazoning on a big sign that everyone can see every day: \u201cAgility and quickness do not ensure invincibility.\u201d<\/p>\n String trimmers are the usual go-to for mowing steep slopes, but it\u2019s time- and labor-intensive. Some mowers are designed just for this purpose. The tractor-style rider mowers from Ventrac, manufactured by Venture Products Inc., Orrville, Ohio, can mow slopes as steep as 30 degrees. All the units have low centers of gravity, and some have dual wheels.<\/p>\n Still another alternative is to use an unmanned slope mower such as one of the units made by Spider. These units are able to mow slopes as steep as 55 degrees. They were invented in 2003 by a road-building contractor in the Czech Republic. Part of his contract was to maintain the steeply banked roadsides he\u2019d just paved for a year afterward. Unable to find the right tool, he went out to his garage and, with the help of a cousin, built the first unit from scratch. He realized he had something marketable, and in 2004 he brought out the first production model.<\/p>\n The mowers have health and safety benefits beyond avoiding rollover accidents. \u201cIn Europe, the regulations are quite strict regarding exposure to hand-arm vibrations, and how long you can use certain machines,\u201d says Peter Driver, Spider\u2019s public relations manager. That\u2019s made them highly marketable in Europe. In the U.S., the mowers have been purchased by energy companies with large solar farms and the Daytona International Racetrack among others.<\/p>\n Spider\u2019s mowers are operated via a remote-control console similar to a drone\u2019s, with the person controlling it standing safely a few feet away. Why remote control and not robotics? \u201cJust imagine a robotic mower working on the side of a freeway, following its programmed pattern,\u201d says Driver. \u201cWhat happens when there\u2019s a wreck on the freeway and a fender or wheel goes flying into the long grass? The mower is going to hit that object and probably be destroyed, or knock that object back into the road, possibly causing more accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n If you mow lots of steep slopes, you might consider buying a dedicated slope mower from Ventrac www.ventrac.com or Spider, which has U.S. distribution through a company called Slope Care in Orlando, Florida, www.slopecare.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rollovers aren\u2019t the only hazards involving mowers. Rocks or hunks of debris can get picked up by mower blades and hurled at buildings, vehicles and people. \u201cThat happened recently, at a large shopping-mall project we were doing,\u201d says Parks. \u201cI got a call from the client\u2019s property manager saying, \u2018Your guys were out here mowing, and a transit bus was going by and a rock shot out from one of the mowers and hit the bus.\u2019\u201d \u201cA couple weeks later, we were at that same site. I said to the grounds manager, \u2018You need to see what\u2019s going on here.\u2019 I took him to where the accident happened, showed him how the turf was in really poor shape \u2014 the grass had deteriorated and the ground was full of rocks. Nobody had recognized that the quality of the turf was bad enough that it could potentially cause debris to be thrown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo we told the client, \u2018Guess what \u2014 we\u2019re not mowing there anymore. We\u2019ll remediate that area, mulch it and resod it, but we can\u2019t mow it anymore because we\u2019d be putting the public at risk.\u2019\u201d Parks says he tells his company\u2019s mowing crew members not to be afraid to speak up when they run into this type of thing, to feel free to approach a manager and say, \u201c\u2018We can\u2019t mow that area, it\u2019s too dangerous.\u2019 That\u2019s where you need your \u2018competent person\u2019 to step up and make sure the client understands.\u201d<\/p>\n The bus incident could have been so much worse. A missile of any kind flying out of a mower is like a stray bullet; debris can be propelled outwards at speeds as high at 200 mph. Any object zooming that fast could take out someone\u2019s eye or cause other serious injuries.<\/p>\n This is why there are guards on discharge chutes. So why do these accidents happen? The chutes can get clogged, especially when mowing wet grass, and operators will take them off so they don\u2019t have to keep stopping to clear them. This is a dangerous practice, and not just car windows are at risk when it is done. Anyone walking, biking or driving by could be hit.<\/p>\n \u201cBystanders, especially children, can be hurt by flying debris,\u201d says Walker. \u201cYoung children should be taught to stay well away from mowers,\u201d Walker says.<\/p>\n Thankfully, defeating or disabling safety features on mowers is getting harder all the time, thanks to the companies that make them. \u201cOur mowers are designed so that the discharge chute will automatically return to the down position unless you are physically holding it up \u2014 which you\u2019re not supposed to do,\u201d says Seth Hershberger, product safety engineer at Excel Industries Inc., Hesston, Kansas, the manufacturer of Hustler and Big Dog mowers.<\/p>\n Finally, there\u2019s nothing inherently dangerous about commercial mowers; when used properly, they are like any other tool.<\/p>\n If your company is in need of a training program, you are in luck. Excellent training materials are available on OSHA\u2019s website at www.osha.gov\/SLTC\/landscaping\/safetyprograms.html and from the National Association of Landscape Professionals\u2019 Safe Company Program, available at www.landscapeprofessionals.org\/nalp\/nalp\/safety-risk-management\/safe-company-program.aspx. You can also hire a company like Greenius to handle your company\u2019s training program. Here\u2019s to many safe seasons ahead!<\/p>\n Keeping your employees safe while mowing is a matter of education, reinforcement and vigilance \u2014 and there are plenty of resources available to help you do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":4830,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[28],"class_list":["post-4104","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-landscape"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"mower](\"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mowing-mindfully-2.jpg\")
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\n\u201cPut those gloves back on, please!\u201d<\/h2>\n
What does OSHA say?<\/h3>\n
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Preventing rollovers<\/h2>\n
Hitting the slopes more safely<\/h3>\n
![\"mower](\"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mowing-mindfully-3.jpg\")
Missile launch<\/h2>\n
This article originally appeared in Irrigation & Green Industry magazine.<\/em><\/h6>\n
Mary Williams-Villano<\/strong><\/a> is a contributing editor to Irrigation & Green Industry and can be reached at pouncerspy@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"