New safety videos
When it comes to learning about safety, nothing works as well as a video to showcase the issues.
Florida Materials’ safety department recently added to their video library, producing three new videos for trainers and plant personnel.
The topics—Jobsite Procedures, Glove Usage and Double Clutching and Shifting—are some of the most common areas for injuries and vehicle incidents. They are well worth documenting.
Produced under the guidance of Eric Schubert, safety manager north, and Frank Sullivan, assistant safety manager north, they will get plenty of air time around Florida.
The first video, Jobsite Procedures, covers a number of dos and don’ts regarding jobsite hazards that drivers encounter each day. It is a good example – especially for new employees - of what goes on everyday at various jobsites. It’s also a refresher for seasoned drivers. The video includes nearly all of the division’s equipment from moffetts to mixer trucks to drywall boom trucks.
Glove Usage covers the types of gloves to use while working with rebar, track and stud, chemicals, chutes, truck wash liquids and many more common hazards encountered daily. Proper use of gloves can prevent many finger and hand injuries.
The third video - Double Clutching and Shifting - shows the importance of using the clutch and proper shifting as well as down shifting. It is expected to help enhance a driver’s capabilities in all situations and also reduce maintenance costs associated with clutches and transmissions.
All three videos are valuable additions to the Florida Materials Division’s arsenal of safety training tools.
Florida Materials tackles grid iron
Area sales manager Frank Prieto visits a football field undergoing a facelift with FieldTurf, which uses a special aggregate blend called Rinker Turf. Thanks to Frank, along with director of quality Jim Cox, Krome Quarry manager Haim Pilsoff, FEC Quarry manager Bob Martin and FEC loadout manager Ron Hart, the Florida Aggregate Division was successful in producing and selling Rinker Turf Aggregate on several projects including Miami Country Day Prep School, Gulliver High School, Traz Powell (serving Miami-Dade County public high schools) and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
What does the seemingly low-tech business of selling rock have to do with the high-tech business of sports science? Normally, not much. But when it comes to designing a state of the art football field in south Florida, the two businesses are working on a new product that’s getting rave reviews from both athletes and coaches.
FieldTurf uses a new kind of fibre mat that is sprayed with a rubberized infill. A special type of aggregate is used in several layers to form a composite structure, giving the field its unique properties. After speaking to a variety of contractors building football fields in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Frank Prieto, area sales manager for south Florida, saw the need to produce a special kind of aggregate for these new fields.
Working with a group of football field design engineers, Rinker Materials’ Aggregate Division developed a proprietary aggregate blend called Rinker Turf Aggregate to meet the highly demanding specifications of the new fields.
“This new type of artificial turf has significantly improved properties over grass and Astroturf,” says Frank. “It has a long life, minimal maintenance, good appearance and helps prevent injuries to athletes.”
“Supposedly, athletes won’t get rug burns like they did from Astroturf,” says Howard Greg, assistant director for the Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department. “The field has a revolutionary quality in terms of texture and feel. Knees and ligaments won’t tear. It’s state-of-the-art, so we’re real excited about it.”
Chuck Sennett, Miami Country Day School athletic director, says, “We used to have to consider cancelling or moving games for fear of tearing up a wet field. Now, we’ve got a surface that drains quickly and holds up to anything we can dish out. It’s clearly a better surface that any we’ve seen.”
“Frank has done an outstanding job in developing this unique opportunity,” says Rob Duke, general sales manager for Florida Quarries. “Rinker Materials has long been recognised for its specialty products serving golf courses across the state. Football fields represent a natural extension for us. Our goal is to be the premier aggregate supplier for all sport fields in the state.”
