The guide was developed as a means to assist the CSDA contractor in providing a safe work place for his or her employees. The Safety Handbook was on the drawing board for over a year , said Susan Hollingsworth, chairperson of the CSDA Safety Committee. It took many man hours to compile the information and put it into handbook format, she added. CSDA members asked for this Handbook because there was nothing available in the industry that specifically addressed the unique safety needs of concrete cutting companies. The Safety Committee completed this project in time to be introduced to the membership at the 2000 Annual Convention last month in the Bahamas.
Topics range from ladder and scaffold safety to fall protection and vehicle safety.
Also discussed are materials handling, respirator protection and hazardous communication that discusses an employee s right to know the kinds of materials they will be handling during any job. In addition, the handbook covers safe procedures when employing the main techniques involved in sawing and drilling namely flat and wall sawing, core drilling, wire sawing and hand and chain sawing. The CSDA Safety Committee has been very active since being formed as a separate committee in 1998. In addition to the Safety Handbook, this Committee has also produced a Flat Saw and Blade Safety and Wall Saw Videos. This year they will begin the daunting task for producing a comprehensive safety manual for CSDA concrete cutting companies.