Safety Tips from I-Safety
Spotlight Tips of the Week
Winter driving calls for special skills and a bit of preparation. Here are some tips that may keep you warm and safe this winter as you travel for work and pleasure.
- Before you travel, make a travel plan for the entire trip. Schedule stops every 2-3 hours, and leave a travel itinerary with someone from your departing location and with someone at your arrival location. Google Maps is a great way of making a trip plan.
- If your route does take you through inclement weather, plan accordingly by extending your travel by a few hours or even an extra day to accommodate.
- Maintain communication with people from your departing location and your arriving location. If plans change, keep them informed.
- Keep your vehicle in the best possible driving condition. This includes good winter weather tires that are properly inflated.
- Check the condition and fit of your chains. If you have never put chains on, practice once before the snow falls. Use your floor mat to stay dry while kneeling on the ground.
- Make sure your coolant and wiper fluid are rated for sub-freezing temperatures.
- Clean your headlights, brake lights, and turn indicators.
- Don't start driving until the windows are clear and you have good visibility.
- Do not use cruise control on wet, snow-covered, or icy roads.
- Maintain smooth and gentle input on the controls when braking, accelerating, and turning.
- Keep your vehicle fueled, and your phone charged.
- Buckle up! All occupants should be properly secured, including pets and children.
- After you arrive at your destination, call back to your departing location and let those who know you're traveling know that you have arrived safely.
It is a good idea to keep a winter emergency kit in the vehicle. This should include extra gloves, socks, a hat, flashlight and batteries, a blanket, bottled water, non-perishable food items, a pocketknife, first aid kit and a brightly colored scarf to attract attention in case of emergency. You might also keep jumper cables, emergency flares, a small shovel and a small sack of sand or kitty litter for traction if you get stuck.
If something happens and you are stranded or stuck, stay with your vehicle. If you run your car for heat, make sure the exhaust pipe is clear of snow. Most deaths occur when people leave their vehicle, get lost and freeze.
Most important, check the road and weather reports before your trip. If conditions warrant, delay or cancel your trip until travel conditions improve. Current road conditions nationwide can be found at: fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo/.
Winter is a fun and invigorating time of the year when you keep yourself safe. It is darker earlier in the evening and combining that with snow and ice in the roads and walkways makes conditions more hazardous for everyone. It is important that we take responsibility for our safety and keep the information below in mind.
Night Comes Early!
Depth perception, color recognition and peripheral vision can all be compromised in dark conditions. This affects drivers and pedestrians.
- Drivers: be aware of crosswalk locations and scan for pedestrians.
- Drivers: slow down and leave more space between you and the car ahead - your headlights will cause reflections inside the vehicle in front of you, making it harder for that driver to see pedestrians and other obstacles.
- Pedestrians: wear bright clothing or something reflective on you or your backpack.
- Pedestrians: consider that a driver may be blinded by oncoming headlights and be unable to see you in the road.
Hazardous Crosswalks
Icy roads, with or without poor lighting, make crosswalks hazardous.
- Pedestrians: assume drivers DON'T see you.
- Pedestrians: Wait for cars to stop before stepping into the crosswalk.
- Drivers: Acknowledge pedestrians waiting to cross so they know you've seen them.
- Pedestrians: Make real eye contact with the drivers/look for them to acknowledge you, if possible, and then proceed with caution.
Winter Walking
Even a small amount of snow or ice can be dangerous. Watch out for wet floors when you enter buildings. Snow may get tracked inside and then melt, creating a slip hazard.
- Waddle like a penguin.
- Free traction devices are available to employees at EHS.
- Keep your hands free and out of pockets. Avoid using your phone for any reason while walking.
- Use hand rails where provided.
- If you see ice, scatter sand. Sand is available in many locations around campus; watch for cans labeled "Sand" - while they may look like it, they are not trash cans and should not be used as such.
Winter Driving
In addition to the standard "buckle up" and "slow down - take your time" reminders for any time of year, winter driving takes skill and preparation. Keep in mind this may be the first time for some drivers to practice these skills.
- Clear all your windows, completely, before starting to drive – even a small amount of snow buildup on the outside or fog on the inside can block your view of a pedestrian.
- Studded snow tires and four-wheel/all-wheel drive do not make your vehicle invincible; you will still need extra time to accelerate to a safe speed and come to full stops.
- Travel with extra warm clothing, food and water for yourself; keep a full tank of fuel and have proper maintenance performed for your vehicle.
- Delay travel, when possible, until road conditions improve.
- If you should slide off the road, stay in your vehicle while you wait for assistance.
For additional information, please contact EHS at 208-885-6524 or safety@uidaho.edu.
In order to minimize the potential fire hazards associated with holiday season decorations, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) has prepared the following information to guide your decorating plans. The list below is not an exhaustive list of concerns but summarizes a few of the major points. For the full list, visit the Holiday Decorations page on the EHS website.
General Decorations
- Fire code requires all decorations to be non-combustible or treated with a U.L. listed fire retardant.
- Use only U.L. listed, non-heat producing holiday lighting strands and follow manufacturer's recommendations on number of strands that may be plugged into each other.
- Power strips with a fuse or circuit breaker are recommended if there are not enough outlets. Do not run electrical cords through doorways or under throw rugs or loose carpeting and never string cords across doorways or walkways.
- All decorations must be kept away from exit signs, fire alarm devices (pull stations, smoke and heat detectors, etc.), fire extinguishers and emergency and normal-use light fixtures. Exit signs and emergency lights must not be obstructed in any way.
- Use of open flame (e.g., candles, luminaria, incense) is prohibited.
Holiday trees have additional concerns to address, such as height, location and lighting used. Again, for the full list, visit the Holiday Decorations page on the EHS website.
Culture of Questioning
Questioning certain practices with safety in mind is an essential attitude to keep you and the rest of the Vandal family safe. Questioning challenges the complacency that grows in familiar situations and drives change. Questioning safety practices, or perhaps a lack thereof, is vital to developing a culture of safety at the University of Idaho. The goal is for everyone to return home at the end of every day just as healthy as when they arrived on campus.
Safety issues are often recognized but go unreported because a person doesn't know whom to contact or assumes that someone else is already taking care of it. At U of I, we want everyone to challenge these assumptions, question the situation and report the issues. The Report a Safety Concern form was created just for this purpose. It allows for anonymous reporting if you choose, as well as the option to upload an image of the safety problem when appropriate. It is available for anyone to use, and concerns will be directed to the proper campus unit to correct the problem.
Students and employees are the eyes and ears of the community, and your help is essential. Get involved in the safety training opportunities available to you, ask questions if you have a concern about a procedure, take part in safety inspections and report issues right away - issues cannot be corrected if no one knows about them. Timely questioning and reporting can prevent accidents and near misses. If an accident or near miss does occur, report this as well; investigating the reason will help avoid another injury.
As a supervisor, you have additional influence - lead by example and ensure safety is a core value in your team's activities. You are encouraged to do workplace inspections, ensure your employees are current on their safety training, talk regularly with your employees and discuss accident investigation reports with them and the U of I EHS staff. EHS has many resources available for you and the EHS staff can assist all supervisors in their safety efforts.
Our Vandal culture is how we think and act in all our activities. Avoiding complacency and continuously challenging existing conditions that might pose a safety risk allows us as a community to identify discrepancies and take appropriate actions before an accident or near miss occurs. Put safety first and we can achieve the safest possible working and learning environment for our Vandal family.