Mud, cords, and wet plywood
Housekeeping 5 min 29 CFR 1926.25
Why it matters
Mud, wet plywood, a cord, and a scrap 2x4 put people on the ground. In spring and fall the ground stays wet, so boots stay slick. Scrape the mud off before a ladder or a scaffold. This is housekeeping under 1926.25.
The talk
Mud, wet plywood, a cord, and a scrap 2x4 all put people on the ground. In spring and fall the ground stays wet. Rain sits on the clay, on the deck, and on the plywood walk that was laid yesterday. It does not dry between shifts the way it does in hot weather. Plan on slick boots. A person with a load cannot hop around a slick spot and keep the load steady. This is housekeeping under 1926.25. The wet path is part of that rule, not a separate problem you wait out. If the walk is slick at the start of the shift, it is slick for everyone behind you.
Scrape mud off your boots before you step on a ladder or a scaffold. Mud on a sole turns a rung into a slide. It turns a scaffold plank into a slide for the person behind you. Use the brush, or the edge of a board, at the base, then climb. Do not track a clod of mud up the rungs and leave it for the next boot. If the ladder feet sit in churned mud, those feet can kick out when you step on. Set the ladder where the ground is firm, and keep that spot from turning into a puddle of boot-churned mud.
Wipe a slick plywood walk, or throw grit on it, so the boot has something to bite. A wet sheet used as a walk gets a film of mud and goes out from under you. Coil cords. A cord in a puddle is a trip, and it is a dark line nobody sees against wet ground. Pick up the scrap 2x4. It hides in the mud and rolls under a boot. If you walk around the slick spot and leave it, the next person still hits it. Fix it, or mark it and tell the foreman, before you leave that path. Do not leave it for the next boot.
Key points
- Mud, wet plywood, a cord, and a scrap 2x4 put people down.
- In spring and fall the ground stays wet.
- Scrape mud off your boots before a ladder or a scaffold.
- Wipe or grit a slick plywood walk.
- Coil cords so they are not lying in the path.
- Pick up the scrap 2x4 before it rolls under a boot.
- This is housekeeping under 1926.25.
Do this
- Scrape mud off your boots before you climb a ladder or a scaffold.
- Set ladder feet on firm ground, not in churned mud.
- Wipe a slick plywood walk or throw grit on it.
- Coil cords and get them out of the puddle and the path.
- Pick up a scrap 2x4 instead of walking around it.
Do not do this
- Do not climb a ladder or a scaffold with mud on your soles.
- Do not leave a clod of mud on a rung for the next person.
- Do not treat a wet plywood sheet as a safe walk.
- Do not leave a cord lying in a puddle across the path.
- Do not walk past a slick spot and leave it for the next boot.
Talk about it
- Where is the ground still wet, and which walks are slick this morning?
- Where do we scrape boots before the ladders and scaffolds?
- Which cords and scrap 2x4s are still in the path?
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