Landscape Standards
Federal OSHA landscaping standards are actually both General Industry (29 CFR 1910) and Construction Industry (29 CFR 1926) standards. Knowing if construction standards are applicable to your company is really just knowing if you will work on sites that are still in the construction phase. Fortunately, OSHA has published an aggregated list of possible standards that may be applicable to your landscape business
here.
Landscaping Safety Checklist
Like the OSHA standards, your landscape safety checklist will contain info based on the actual hazards and activities your company performs. We found this really nice
landscaping checklist for you to download.
Here's another one in case you don't like the first one.
Landscaping Safety Tips
When thinking of safety with regard to landscaping, you must segment "lawn care" into a separate category. While some companies do both landscaping and lawn care, most do one or the other. For this reason, we'll just list tips for landscaping in this section. Here we go:
- Wear PPE such as protective gloves, footwear, knee pads, etc.
- Ensure adequate water is readily available at all times
- Ensure sunblock or clothing protects exposed skin from the sun
- Ensure proper lifting techniques are used while lifting
- Watch out for stinging insects, rodents, and snakes
A more exhaustive list might be available at the OSHA website or a trade website.
Landscaping Safety Manual
A landscaping safety manual or safety plan is a document that outlines the landscaping company's safety policies, procedures, and programs. It serves as a resource for employees to reference certain hazardous situations. This document is also requested by workers' comp insurance providers, OSHA, your clients, and other entities who want to verify that your company operates safely. These documents are difficult to create from scratch, so most people use templates. You can download our ready-made
landscaping safety manual template instantly if you don't want to write one from scratch.
Landscaping Safety Topics
Great landscaping safety topics will deal with hazards and topics specific to the landscaping industry. Here are a few topics you'll want to include:
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Insects, Rodents, and Snakes
- Heat Illness
- Safety Lifting / Ergonomics
- Hand Too Safety
Of course, there are more topics to be found depending on the kind of exposures your landscape employees are subject to. But these are a good start! If you want more safety topics, check out our
safety meeting topics library yourself!
