# Small Companies and Tailgate Talks



## Electrician-Guy (Dec 15, 2018)

What do you guys with small companies, or that used to be small companies do for tailgate talks?


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

We used to perform them via phone, and then everyone would sign a PDF document and send it in.

Now we can do it via FaceTime, I then just use my DocuSign account to collect the signatures.

We don't get to see each other, so we use FaceTime and such for company meetings and stuff.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

We have about 4 beers after work then I tell them to not get hurt.


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## daveEM (Nov 18, 2012)

My 87 chevy had flat bars holding the tailgate. That was awhile ago. You could have a good time on a tailgate years ago.

My datsun has little tiny wire ropes holding the tailgate. Afraid to sit on it.

My neighbour sits on it. Talks about escalators.


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## TGGT (Oct 28, 2012)

What is a tailgate talk?

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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

TGGT said:


> What is a tailgate talk?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


Safety meetings


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

TGGT said:


> What is a tailgate talk?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


Maybe a 'toolbox talk' is used more?


Job safety meeting.


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

We're all service technicians with a pretty big territory so the usual work day includes 2-4 hours of road time and most jobs are one man.We have a running group text. Some of it is safety, some is work related alerts and news, and some is what I guess you'd call team building or male bonding. I think everybody takes a photo or two every week and shares them around. Some are good, some are showing the crazy things we run into. It's the same thing as you get with a tailgate/toolbox talk.


Trust me, we've probably seen it all from the crazy ridiculous chemical plants to the couplings that are ready to fly apart and we pack up and walk away for safety reasons.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

We have a tailboard as a pre job brief.
Some GCs we work for require a tool box talk like Mac mentioned.
I don't think small jobs and service work are easy to work them into.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

I have one every morning:

"_If you get hurt, I am dumping your body in the meadowlands._"

And then they will say something about being buried next to Jimmy Hoffa and I will crack a small smile and chuckle, pretending like I am joking.


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

That's really motivating.


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## The_Modifier (Oct 24, 2009)

No need! I have simply told them when they were hired, that the split second before they get injured they were fired and considered trespassing on the jobsite. :devil3:


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

Our company sends out one page safety topics each week we have to read and digitally sign and return. Some of it I never encounter like using a cutting torch but I know how to use one.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

flyboy said:


> That's really motivating.


It is. 0 reported injuries in 20 years. Beat that record :biggrin:


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

HackWork said:


> It is. 0 reported injuries in 20 years. Beat that record :biggrin:


The beatings will continue until morale improves! :vs_mad:


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## nmblack (Aug 25, 2017)

with my company, we sign and and discuss a job safety analysis every morning prior to starting work. it covers all tasks scheduled to be performed that day, risks involved, and what to do to avoid said risks. and usually 1 day of the week, our safety dept. administers a toolbox talk for discussion and signature collecting. basically, my company's management and safety dept. will be swimming in dough with all of my autographs when i become a NY yankee.


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## Forge Boyz (Nov 7, 2014)

nmblack said:


> with my company, we sign and and discuss a job safety analysis every morning prior to starting work. it covers all tasks scheduled to be performed that day, risks involved, and what to do to avoid said risks. and usually 1 day of the week, our safety dept. administers a toolbox talk for discussion and signature collecting. basically, my company's management and safety dept. will be swimming in dough with all of my autographs when i become a NY yankee.


Ok, honest question here. What does this accomplish as far as actually working safely? I can see doing a JSA if you are doing something unfamiliar and/or potentially dangerous. But what does it accomplish when you are going over the same things every day? After a while it becomes a rote answer that has no meaning. Seems like it's more a way to get a signature on a paper saying that the employee should know better and therefore it's his fault he got hurt.
Don't get me wrong: I do not condone working dangerously and I never want to be on a job when someone gets hurt. I also do think there is a time and place to step back before doing a task to discuss how to safely accomplish it if it is possibly dangerous.

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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

Forge Boyz said:


> Ok, honest question here. What does this accomplish as far as actually working safely? I can see doing a JSA if you are doing something unfamiliar and/or potentially dangerous. But what does it accomplish when you are going over the same things every day? After a while it becomes a rote answer that has no meaning. Seems like it's more a way to get a signature on a paper saying that the employee should know better and therefore it's his fault he got hurt.
> Don't get me wrong: I do not condone working dangerously and I never want to be on a job when someone gets hurt. I also do think there is a time and place to step back before doing a task to discuss how to safely accomplish it if it is possibly dangerous.
> 
> Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk


In my (and others) opinion, that is precisely all it is. A company wide cheap assed CYA. It started off ok with topics that related to the work we provided but it has greatly devolved into a catch all that almost no one reads anymore because they require an immediate response when you get the email or you get written up.

https://www.safetyservicescompany.com/industry/general/


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## zac (May 11, 2009)

It's usually required by the insurance company insuring the contractor. The company I worked for even had safety guys that would go to jobs and inspect conditions etc...

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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

Forge Boyz said:


> Ok, honest question here. What does this accomplish as far as actually working safely? I can see doing a JSA if you are doing something unfamiliar and/or potentially dangerous. But what does it accomplish when you are going over the same things every day? After a while it becomes a rote answer that has no meaning. Seems like it's more a way to get a signature on a paper saying that the employee should know better and therefore it's his fault he got hurt.
> Don't get me wrong: I do not condone working dangerously and I never want to be on a job when someone gets hurt. I also do think there is a time and place to step back before doing a task to discuss how to safely accomplish it if it is possibly dangerous.
> 
> Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk


In the real world, it accomplishes absolutely nothing in terms of actual safety.

The only thing actually accomplished here is the stroking of the egos of the safety nazis and keeping said worthless.......well.....people, on the payroll.


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

JSA/JHA or some job briefing has been tossed around the safety morons as somehow making jobs safer as a so called best practicewith zero evidence of it. It has gotten so pervasive that it is now a requirement in 70E. Utilities have been doing it for years.

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## lighterup (Jun 14, 2013)

Lighterups Tailgate meeting....






as I talk to myself and bitch about the company


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## nmblack (Aug 25, 2017)

JSAs are utter trash. But hey, if they want to pay me for 20 or so dead minutes in the morning while it's slowly filled out, I am by all means for it. The only time I'm not pencil whipping and actually reading through them is when I'm new to a site and want to understand what we've got going on 

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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

nmblack said:


> JSAs are utter trash. But hey, if they want to pay me for 20 or so dead minutes in the morning while it's slowly filled out, I am by all means for it. The only time I'm not pencil whipping and actually reading through them is when I'm new to a site and want to understand what we've got going on
> 
> Sent from my R1 HD using Tapatalk


Last couple of companies I had worked for we built out an extension on a power plant, did some hospital work, and a water treatment facility.

The new guys to the job were required to go to the GC's office and get oriented for the job site and project. It was about 2-4 hours (depending upon GC) to go through a bunch of videos they had put together. None of which had anything to do with the actual job site or work being preformed, just a bunch of canned crap to cover their butts.

What a complete waste. Time would have been better spent having the new guys escorted around the site, being informed of what was where, what was going on, special things to look out for, etc...

But safety is only a concern to people for insurance and liability reasons. Safety as far as death is only a concern for them when death actually occurs, and that is usually for the above stated reasons. 

Think of how quickly the lawyers get involved, it isn't to make sure it doesn't happen again, it is to make sure they limit their liability financially.


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

lighterup said:


> Lighterups Tailgate meeting....
> https://youtu.be/WDYqfb7HaAs
> 
> 
> as I talk to myself and bitch about the company


"Pretty cheap Conehead"


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