Sometimes, you need a rumble strip: A cautioning message to keep up alertness and attention to safety.

Every safety protocol used in hands-on labor is necessary, and Jeremy Neighbors, director of Safety & Compliance, believes precision and care are needed to keep everyone from potential dangers. F&S can help any department, unit, or individual learn tips and tricks to stay safe in the workplace or even at home.

Toolbox Talks (TBT) are documents that describe guidelines and best practices for a safety topic. They are available at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/TBT.

“When we perform activities every month, every week, every day, 10 times per day, we naturally become complacent,” Neighbors said. “It is like not remembering your morning commute, your brain gets you to work without incident…most of the time.”

Neighbors notes that F&S employees did suffer a few injuries from slips on snow/ice in the last year. “It just takes one time reaching too far.”

TBTs are used to keep everyone’s mind on safety tips and warnings for common and timely ways to keep workers out of harm’s way. During the summer, Safety & Compliance might promote warnings on indicators of heat stress, while more than 20 other topics cover eye protection, near misses, high visibility clothing, and, yes, ladder safety.

Neighbors equates the TBTs to rumble strips or automatic lane departure notifications during driving.

“They’re tools that tell our brains to shut off auto-pilot and pay attention,” he said.