Safety and Jobsite Practices
Domain 4 - Safety and jobsite practices
This domain tests whether you can keep a landscape crew alive and citation-free: excavation, utilities, power lines, heat, equipment, chemicals, and traffic.
Excavation and utilities
- Call 811 at least two working days before digging and respect the tolerance zone around marked lines. 'We know where the lines run' is how gas mains get hit.
- A trench 5 feet deep or deeper requires a protective system (sloping, shoring, or shielding), a competent person inspecting daily and after rain, a ladder within 25 feet of lateral travel, and spoil or equipment kept at least 2 feet from the edge.
- Irrigation mains, drain lines, and footing excavations all count as excavation.
Power lines and equipment
- Keep equipment and ladders clear of overhead lines - 10 feet minimum for voltages under 50 kV, more for higher voltages - and use a spotter.
- Skid-steers and trenchers: seat belt, ROPS, no riders, shut down before servicing. Chainsaw work needs chaps, eye and face protection, hearing protection, and a helmet.
- Never leave a running machine unattended on a slope or near a trench.
Heat and chemicals
- Nevada summer: water, shade, rest, and gradual acclimatization for new hires; know the signs of heat illness and stop work to cool the person.
- Pesticides: applicator licensing through the Nevada Department of Agriculture when required, the label is law, SDS on site, PPE per label, backflow protection when filling tanks, spill kit on the truck.
Worked example
A crew opens a 6-foot trench for an irrigation main in sandy soil and sets one ladder at the near end. Violations: no protective system, ladder beyond 25 feet of the far worker, spoil piled at the edge. The fix costs an hour; a collapse costs a life.
Traps
Treating shallow residential work as exempt; skipping 811 for small digs; tolerating no PPE for one quick cut; storing fuel cans in a closed truck bed in July; dismissing heat symptoms as weakness.