Took this today. This is what I refer to as a "phone drone". He is not watching the traffic but is totally absorbed in fingering his phone. I see this all the time these days, young men with their heads down totally absorbed by the phone, while walking, working, driving etc. I am starting to think we would be safer without these devices.
There's an App for that. Maybe not yet, but you can bet there will be, some sort of proximity plus speed warning system... LOL! :beatsme
Yeah we've had to put a new work rule in place about this, No social media during work hours and personal calls kept to a minimum Young blokes were spending too much time updating their status and not concentrating on the job, Apart from the lost productivity things weren't getting done properly Got me buggered why you need to connected 24/7
It's terrible. Everywhere you look people are staring at their phones. I keep hearing that texting and driving is as bad as drinking and driving but law enforcement doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. That being said, I do have a smart phone and it's a great tool but I don't need to look at it 24-7
That right there is a either a fireable offense or re-assignment to a shovel. That's not being a hard ass, it could save the guy's life. Our flagging safety manual specifically states no cell phone uses while flagging period. I drilled this into the guys heads and I follow it as well while flagging.
A couple of years ago I was sitting in an office, and next to a window replacement job. The job was to take out the old 20' x 10' steel winders, and replace the whole thing in one piece with some translucent premade panels (with nice tilt out window and screens) Second floor job, old panels out, JLG comes up with (2) guys and panel, both wearing harness's. (3) guys inside ready to recieve and locate. (1) Outside guy is up and on window sill (critical moment) and his phone rings..... At this point job is halted, while he takes call...(4) other workers standing and moaning whilst they balance winder (10' x 20') unit on the ledge. 10 years ago, no one even had a phone.
Oh and wait until you spot a guy running a 40k forklift in a parking lot, yaking away.... That machine can do some damage to pretty much anything it meets. The cell phone/texting/surfing is pretty much crack/heroin/meth..... and remember YOUR tax dollars paid to hand these out to everyone.
Digger you said it, its worse than the the worst drug addiction.
My policy is no cell phone usage while operating. If you have to take a call or text, stop the machine- no shoulder holding phone up to ear while operating.:cool2 A couple of years ago I had an operator running a backhoe while I was in the ditch laying pipe. I looked up and saw the shoulder holding the phone to ear thing while he was swinging the boom over the trench. I really don't know how I climbed out of the ditch and up that out rigger so quickly to inform him in no uncertain terms that type of behavior will not happen on my job. Cell phones can be a dangerous distraction on a job site, our profession is dangerous enough, there is no need to add to it.
its really bad everywhere!! pay attention tomorrow at lunch, look around when u place your order. I will say over half the restraunt will be on a phone or in "phone drone" mode!!! I made a rule that mine stays in the service truck till I take a break or I need to look something up!! somebody ask me the other day "what would you do without a smart phone?" I tried to hand him the phone & said here ill show you!!! it was a lot better world when I had a answering machine at the shop & people didn't expect you to drop what you are doing to come to them RIGHT NOW!!
Just sat through a safety orientation video for a new nursing home we're working on. Cell phone or texting while operating will have you ejected from the job. I was told that "this is the first and last warning". Apparently some do take it quite seriously/.
Woah! That is dangerous. And it's a fireable offense just about anywhere.
I remember a few years back there was a flagger holding a stop sign in the middle of my lane with his back to me. I don't remember if he was on his phone or just looking at something down the road. He was on the end of a downgrade from me. I came up with the jake brake at full RPM fan blasting brakes squeaking all that jazz and stopped at the proper place, but he never even turned around to look. Some people....
In his defense I'm pretty sure he was on HEF
Ouch Man !
Ha! I don't get the whole social media deal. I tried it for awhile, all it did was drag up people I hadn't cared about for thirty years and don't care about now. FB is for chicks and Twitter's for twits. For gosh sakes...grown men shouldn't even say the work tweet out loud!
Yup, I have a phone, it lives in the truck, I make calls on it. And only when not driving.
Fire the worker, than fire the foreman as well, then fine the company about 10k and someone might get the hint, they are paid to do a job, not paid to text, play on toy's or chat on the phone.
I think fb is a commie plot.
Instagram is the only one I use, and thats only talking and looking at pictures of other contractors jobs and machinery.
Does this mean you had your phone at the ready to take a picture while driving
Finally, that question arises, I thought it might and I am surprised it did not come up sooner, if I had not posted that pic I would be thinking that too. Let me explain the circumstances. The flagmen had just stopped me and I was the first in line so to speak. As soon as he had me stopped he pulled out his phone and started checking it. The angle was just right so you could not see his face so he is pretty much unidentifiable. I didn't want the guy to lose his job, I just thought it was a good opportunity to get a pic without getting anyone in trouble. I have seen many other flagmen doing this also, so he is not the only one. So I am stopped waiting for him to let me go, and with this particular construction company once you are stopped, 10 -15 minute waits are typical. My phone is on the center console of my p/u truck. I usually keep it there as I am more likely to hear it if it rings and is much easier to access than in my pants pocket. I do pull over onto the road shoulder to answer and make calls when driving, if I am having a conversation while driving the phone is on speakerphone always, I hate texting but again do so stopped on the side of the road if unavoidable. So I pick up the phone and snap the pic, just intending to show it to some of my friends. That evening when I looked at the pic and saw that the guy was not visible but the phone was, I decided to post it here because I think this is becoming a major issue that concerns those that do hwy work. Now to the guys credit he does not and cannot see his opposite number around a long curve and over a mile away. He does have a radio to communicate with, you can see it sticking up out of his vest pocket. He is not using his phone to communicate with the other flagman. He also has me stopped blocking the lane so other traffic will presumably stop behind me, and since he had just stopped the traffic with me, no other traffic was passing from the other direction yet. He was using his radio until he had me stopped at which point he pocketed the radio and pulled out his phone and started pushing the keys with both thumbs. My issue is anyone standing on the side of a highway should be alert and aware of what is going on around them. I don't think whatever he was doing with his phone was so important that it could not wait until his coffeebreak or lunchbreak. Highways seem like dangerous places to me especially when I am not in a vehicle. I enjoyed all the comments so far, they seem to agree with my thoughts on this subject. I'm an old dog and maybe I just don't get it. If someone thinks that the guy in the pic is doing nothing wrong, please explain that to me.
Something like this might have the desired effect on our stop n go man. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HJHcCVfT8hM
Link doesn't work, Youtube says link is private
Bummer.......seems to have been removed from YouTube, still appears on wife's fb page. Iam not smart enough to share it from there, it's the one with the guy in front of the red MAN.
He dropped an m80 firecracker in the dudes pocket while he was busy on the phone. ....made him fall down while he ****
That happened to a friend at a bar many years ago. Someone stuck a silver salute in his back pocket as a joke. He ended up three weeks in the hospital, messed up for almost a year, and is still missing over half of one a** cheek.
Try this one....doesn't seem as funny now after OIH's post. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWAWj-TbM4