Those of us that have been around the construction business for the past 20 or more years have experienced a huge increase in the participation from all levels of employees concerning safety.
In the early days when a HASP was written for a project, it was looked at as just another box that could be checked to start the work. HASPs were so voluminous nobody from the field level ever read them or in many cases could even understand them. Many Superintendents and Managers viewed safety as just a drain on the budget, something that reduced production and a lame excuse for some employees to be slow on the job. Near misses, minor injuries and incidents were ignored or hushed to avoid negative criticism from upper management. Whew! Glad those days are behind us.
Nowadays our HASPs and safe working procedures are viewed at RECON as vital pieces of every project that should be supported by employees from the top to the bottom. This evolved opinion helps keep employees safe, enables us to pursue more work and ultimately increases our bottom line. Now that is the type of evolution I can believe in!

Getting plenty of sleep is a very important part of your personal safety. Most people need 7.5-8.5 hours of sleep each 24-hour day. Sleep loss built up slowly over several nights can be as harmful as sleep loss in one night. Both produce a decline in performance such as slower reaction times, failure to respond to changes, and the inability to concentrate and make reasonable judgments.
Research that tested a fatigued state from continuous hours of wakefulness against blood alcohol levels concluded that:
•    17 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of .05
•    21 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of .08 (the legal limit in Ohio)
•    24-25 hours awake is equivalent to a blood alcohol content of .10
In addition to fatigue caused by shortened periods of sleep, the quality of sleep during the day is not the same as during the night. People have a natural tendency to be awake during the day. Every person has a circadian rhythm - an internal biological time clock. This rhythm follows
Typically, in a 24-hour period, our alertness is reduced between the hours of 3:00 and 5:00 during the day and the night. So during night shifts, workers are fighting against their natural rhythm to stay awake at a time when they would naturally sleep.
How about you? Do you get enough sleep? It is important that you do for your safety and the safety of your coworkers.

One of the RECON site requirements at the Vogtle Unit 3&4 jobsite is that all moving vehicles and equipment have flashing strobe lights.  While all RECON jobsites require personnel to wear safety/reflective vests, not all currently require the flashing beacons on equipment.  While a bright flashing beacon can even be seen during the day, the combination of the flashing beacon and reflective vests during dark or twilight hours has a tremendous effect.  The reflective tape on our safety vests really "pop" when they are around a flashing beacon.  It greatly improves the operator's ability to spot pedestrians in marginal or poor light.  The reflective tape can also be added to stationary hazards and moving equipment - providing a similar "pop" to highlight the hazards.  If working in anything but the best of light, it is recommended that other jobsite implement the use of the flashing beacons.

At some point in time every one of us at RECON will drive across slippery road conditions whether it is driving to work, driving during working hours or driving home. Dusty road conditions require a water truck to constantly water our haul roads throughout the work day. Freshly watered roads from a water truck or even a quick rain event can cause changes in road conditions and should alarm any driver to slow down, slippery when wet. When any driver is entering a freshly watered road or wet curve the driver's speed should automatically decrease.