Managing safety after the holidays can be a big task. Spending time with family and friends is great in having a healthy work-life balance. People can come back from a well- deserved holiday break where they’ve had their mind off the job, and sometimes it takes them a little while to get back to the basics of working safe. When restarting equipment and restarting tasks, people may not have their minds 100% on the job and they get themselves or others hurt.
Before starting work, we should stop and review our job task and plans. The jobsite may not be in the same state it was when you left it. We have to review our plans, tools, equipment and team members to ensure we can restart work safely.
After holiday breaks we may feel fatigued and may not be in the “present” about the work in front of us. We know the rules, the procedures and have the skills to work safely, but can forget. We need to recognize when we are falling into this mindset and take a break to RESET.