Safety
General Principles and Procedures
Personal Protection
Home and Basement Safety
Tree Removal Safety
General Principles and Procedures
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Physical Limitations: Work with a partner, and know your limits. Always lift with your legs, with knees bent to minimize back strain. Volunteers with pre-existing health conditions, in particular, should perform only those tasks that are within their limitations.
Safety Training: Team leaders should start each shift with a safety training. Team leaders should become familiar with these guidelines.
Watch Out: Roads are busy with trucks, bulldozers, cars, garbage trucks, and heavy equipment. Broken glass, sharp metal, and other hazardous material is likely to be on the ground. Please watch your step and keep an eye out for machinery.
Medical Preparedness: Have a personal first aid kit available. Team leaders should know the phone number and address of the closest medical center or hospital.
Risk, Liability, & Insurance: Please see the FAQ for information about risk, liability, and insurance.
Age Requirements: Please see the FAQ for information about participation age requirements.
Homeowner Consent and Release: Please see the FAQ for information about homeowner consent and release.
Spiritual and Emotional Well-Being: It is very common, in fact, quite normal, for volunteers to suffer shock, stress, survivor’s guilt, or emotional strain after serving survivors of a disaster. Sometimes the aftershocks appear immediately, a few hours, days, or even weeks or months. There is no one “correct” way to react or respond to a traumatic event as a survivor or volunteer.
If you are experiencing stress reactions, try these things:
- You’re normal and having normal reactions to an abnormal event. Don’t label yourself crazy.
- Talk to people; talk is the most healing medicine.
- Reach out; people do care. Spend time with others. Give yourself permission to think and feel and share your feeling with others.
- Keep a journal, write your way through those sleepless hours.
- Realize that those around you are under stress.
For family members and friends:
- Listen carefully. Spend time with the traumatized person.
- Help them with everyday tasks like cleaning, cooking, caring for the family, minding children.
- Give them some private time.
- Don’t take their anger or other feelings personally.
- Don’t tell them that they are “lucky it wasn’t worse;” those statements do not console a traumatized person. Instead, tell them you’re sorry such an event has occurred and that you want to understand and assist them.
Experiencing a Traumatic Event Handout (.doc) contains more information.
Personal Protection
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Safety Equipment: Always wear or use appropriate safety equipment. This may include eye protection, N-95 respirators or masks, gloves, heavy or waterproof boots, long pants and shirts, face protection, etc. See the Sample Equipment Checklist.
Sanitation: After working, wash your hands with sanitizer or soap before eating. Wash clothing separately in hot water, and consider using bleach or adding a cup of vinegar to your laundry load.
Home and Basement Safety
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Walk-Through: Team leaders do a walk-through of the site with their teams when they arrive, to orient team members to hazards. Do not perform work at homes or in areas that pose a risk to volunteers, or at which you feel uncomfortable for any reason. Common hazards include:
- Mold: Surfaces with more than 10 square feet of mold can cause health risks.
- Uprooted Trees: Uprooted trees leave large holes that can twist ankles.
- Power Lines: Watch for overhead power lines, or downed power or telephone lines. Call the power company or phone company if you see downed wires that may pose a safety risk.
- Slippery Surfaces: Stairs, tile, and other surfaces may become slippery when wet.
- Poor Lighting: Basements and other areas in homes can become very dark when the power is out. Battery-powered lanterns or head-mounted flashlights provide light while keeping hands free to work.
- Standing Water: Standing water is dangerous because it can hide hazards, spread chemicals and disease, and conduct electricity. Do not work in standing water.
- Chemicals and Sewage: Old chemical containers often leak, and sewage can back up after a disaster such as a flood.
- Asbestos: See Asbestos, below.
- Tight Working Spaces: Watch for tight working spaces where tools being used could injure other workers.
- Gas Lines: Know where gas lines are. Do not work in areas that smell of natural gas.
Gas Lines: Do not cut or attempt to repair gas lines. Do not work in homes with broken or leaking gas lines. Encourage homeowners to shut off gas if you suspect a problem. Report broken gas lines to the homeowner.
Electricity: Turn off electricity before working in homes with wet or damp floors, or when removing drywall. When removing drywall, be careful to not damage or cut electrical wires.
Drywall & Insulation Removal: Remove drywall to at least 12 inches above the water line. Try to remove drywall in large sections for easier cleanup. Remove wet insulation. Drywall and insulation must be bagged, or garbage collectors will not take it. Use caution when breaking through drywall; someone could be on the other side of the wall.
Drywall is produced in 4′ x 8′ boards. When contractors replace drywall, they always cut existing drywall to 4′ above the ground so they may easily slide the new drywall in place. As a courtesy, remove drywall to either 4 feet or 8 feet above the ground, even if there were only 3 inches of standing water.
All drywall screws must be removed before drywall may be replaced. If you have power tools available, remove existing drywall screws.
Nails & Sharp Objects: Beware of nails, broken glass, or other sharp objects. Do not leave wood with nails on the floor. Always bend down exposed nails to avoid puncture wounds. Tetanus and other needed immunizations should be current. Treat wounds with soap, clean water, and, if available, antibiotic ointment.
Mold: Please see the FAQ for information about mold safety and why we do not spray for mold.
Asbestos: Some older homes have asbestos. Ask the homeowner if the home contains asbestos. Volunteers may never work in a room that contains asbestos, and may never work in a home in which asbestos has been disturbed. Masks and respirators alone are not sufficient to protect against asbestos.
Asbestos in many products and many places. An incomplete list includes: Insulation for pipes and boilers, or tiles. In insulation, it may resemble shiny, lightweight gravel, brown or gold in color. If you think you may have encountered asbestos, leave the home, notify the homeowner, and church leaders.
Pumping Water in Basements: Each year dozens of basements collapse when they are pumped too quickly. Basement flooding occurs when the water table rises above the basement floor. The soil around the basement becomes saturated and extremely heavy, pushing inward on the basement walls. The water inside the basement pushes back, stabilizing the walls. If a lot of water is pumped out too quickly, the saturated soil can cause the basement wall to collapse, causing further damage and injury.
When pumping, pump slowly, in increments. Consult a contractor with pumping expertise.
Carbon Monoxide: Never use equipment that produces carbon monoxide gas. This may include charcoal grills, camp stoves, or equipment powered by internal combustion engines, such as generators. Carbon monoxide gas is colorless and odorless, making it difficult to detect, and in an enclosed space it can be deadly. Do not use generators inside homes. Generators should only be run outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.
Flooring: Remove carpet and carpet padding. It is OK to remove linoleum and tile, but do not remove sub-flooring. Even if subflooring is rotted, removing subfloring creates an extreme hazard by making a hole in the floor.
Condemned Houses: Never enter condemned houses for any reason. Watch for signs posted on or near the entrance (usually red).
Closed or Unsafe Areas: Do not attempt to enter areas that have been designated closed, unsafe, or off-limits by civil authorities.
Tree Removal Safety
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Using Chainsaws: Operators of chainsaws and other dangerous equipment must be competent and trained. On-the-job training is not allowed. Wear face shields and ear protection. Please bring your own bar oil, 2-cycle oil, sharpened chains, and gas if you can.
Team Size: Experience has shown that chainsaw crews should have one chainsaw for every 4-5 volunteers. Any more and volunteers sit idle; any fewer, and the chainsaw operator cuts wood faster than it can be hauled away.
Youth: Youth who may otherwise participate in recovery efforts may not operate chainsaws, and should stay a safe distance from chainsaws in use.
Risky Trees: Do not remove trees that pose a risk to safety or property. Examples include: Out-of-reach branches, branches hanging on power lines, trees with a diameter greater than the chainsaw blade, standing trees, trees leaning on houses, etc.