05 Aug Fatigue and Safety
I happened to read a blog post recently about fatigue and driving, specifically concerning the crash in June involving a Walmart trucker & the comedian Tracy Morgan, here.
It reminded me of a of mine student years ago
in a tower class explaining the travel time before a difficult winter tower climb for he and one other climber. They had to drive 2 hours to their main facility to get the part they needed to install on a tower then 8 hours back and to the actual tower. Including the time to load the equipment at their facility they already had 11 hours “on the job” before they even got to begin work. Their time on the tower to install the item went 6 hours and then they had to drive home which was another 6 hours.
They related this as a common occurrence in their company due to widely distributed towers in a rural area and one centralized location for parts. They had to complete most of the actual “tower work” in the dark in winter because of their travel time. When I asked why they did not stay in a hotel after getting to the work site they said their company would not approve of a hotel charge for a “6 hour climb”.
I don’t know how much of this type of activity is still occurring, but I do wonder.
Be Safe Out There!
Art Seely
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