Last year one of our older techs decided not to wear the specialized sheet metal gloves when installing some new ductwork
On a worksite, safety protocols are of primary importance. Deadlines are important, and staying under budget is important, but if you don’t have safety for your work crew, nothing else really matters. If someone gets hurt, forget about making the deadline because you will be short handed, and forget coming in under budget because medical bills and insurance spikes will cripple you. Long story short, if you want to run a profitable contracting job, you need to be safety conscious on every job, every time. I work for an HVAC contractor as his site manager, office manager, and safety consultant, so I wear a lot of hats around here! HVAC work has statistically far less workplace injury than other kinds of construction, because it is more specialized work, but we are still not without our incidents. Last year one of our older techs decided not to wear the specialized sheet metal gloves when installing some new ductwork. One tiny slip, and his hand was lacerated down to the bone, and the cost of his medical care was more than what the company made from the ductwork installation. A man got hurt, and the HVAC company lost a lot of money, so you can see why we take safety so seriously. First and foremost, the health of our HVAC techs is the top priority, but the financial health of the company is also important, or else all of us are out of jobs! So if you have ever wondered why HVAC techs are so damned slow in every job they do, now you know why.