Cell phones in the cab

Unless it's job related or an emergency save the chit chat and texting for lunch or after work. Had a young man zig zagging around on a scraper come to find out he was texting one of his friends, well what if he zig zagged into the water truck?. All the young operators seem to think it's fine and they all have a phone in their pocket. As far as I'm concerned as an empolyer I want your head in the game not stuck to a phone. Phones can make a job run smooth when used properly but can be just as distractive on the job as the highway if abused. Just had to vent

I agree pete, Also nothing as bad as working your a$$ off, or busting a gutt lifting something to look around and see someone texting!

Pete,

I've got no problem with the phones in your pocket, but using them is a different story. Our drivers are not allowed to use a phone when driving on the highway or on rail. Some railroads don't even allow anyone in the vehicle to use a phone if the vehicle is moving. If they are a danger they'd get one warning then they'd be history.

The question of whether its safe or not, I think is separate from questions of whether one should be taking calls on company time. If you have to stop working to take personal calls, then you shouldn't be doing it. (Do as I say, not as I do.)

It's my opinion that any normally coordinated person should be able to drive a vehicle with an automatic transmision and talk on the phone at the same time. I specify an automatic because with a standard transmison you need one hand on the wheel and the other to shift. Now, dialing the phone--that means you have to take your eyes off the road, and that's where the hazard exists. So, I really have no problem with answering a call while tooling down the road in my car or pickup truck. Fortunately, PA hasn't made hand held cellphones illegal while driving yet.

Texting? I don't do it at all, so I don't know exactly how distracting it can be, but I imagine it pretty much requires at least one hand and your eyes to be involved, so I'd say that's a definite no-no.

at work here you can have your phone with you but you cant be on it in the work area or driving/running a piece of equipment.....

Well said Dpete and digger, I fight this problem everyday. I have made a policy of no texting except at lunch and the phone only for urgent matters but you just can't be everywhere to enforce. A lot of time gets wasted on all of the jokes that are sent via text, I enjoy a good laugh myself but as hard as it is to make money in this economy it feels like there isn't much appreciation for there job. It really feels like adult daycare sometimes instead of everyone working together to make it through these tough times.

I agree whole heartedly. I do carry my phone with me, great when the project manager needs to get ahold of me. Wife knows to only call when its important. I do use direct connect from time to time, but most of the time its when I have a few seconds in between tasks.

Insurance companies are going to start cracking down on phones. It is costing them a fortune, and they are starting to pressure companies around here to make phone policies. IUOE Local 324 is telling us to leave our phones in our cars, or have them if they are for work use only. In fact, a lot of a larger jobs that require you to sign any paperwork at the beginning, most of the time it has a phone clause in it. The local has also told us that if we have signed that, they cannot do anything if we are let go for phone use. I agree with that decision, as I see several folks abuse the phone on a daily, and sometimes minute by minute basis.

Last outfit I was with was very, very strict about phone useage on the job. Boss would fire you immediately if he caught you with one, at least that's what I was told, unless it was a company supplied phone. The outfit I'm with now is pretty lax about cell phones, although for the respect of my boss I don't use mine for personal use during the work day, ever. I do keep it on me in case of emergency or if I need to get ahold of the boss and vice versa, but that's it. There are times I'm a 5-10 minute walk from where the rest of the crew is working finishing something up by myself, so I think it's a good idea to be carrying a phone but only use it for job related issues.

They way I look at it is, if we made for 100 years without these things, we can make it 10 hours. I tell my crew no-way on the phones. I even get mad when my boss calls me when I'm trying to do something. For some reason, I have to carry mine all the time. Then he gets mad cause I dont answer right a way. What a circle.
Makes me long for the days of a bag full of quarters!
Jason

digger242j said:

Texting? I don't do it at all, so I don't know exactly how distracting it can be, but I imagine it pretty much requires at least one hand and your eyes to be involved, so I'd say that's a definite no-no.

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I walked into a sign once texting. . . :beatsme

Edit: My dad works for a construction company and carries his work phone on him. I can call him (although I don't call often) during his workday and he can pick up and talk for a bit, but if he's busy he just says "Hey I'm gunna hafta call you back daughter."

I don't really see the big deal as long as it's not texting (although I love to do it) or abusing the privilege to make 3 minute personal phone calls here and there. So long as it's not busy and your not slowing down progress or putting other people at risk and such.

I know this is a little off the original topic, but I think a personal phone should be left in the car for the simple fact it cant be used for business. If the boss wants to get a hold of you let him/her give you a phone or radio. I worked for a guy last year that abused the fact that his employees had phones. He would call throughout the day to see how jobs were going or to let us know of changes and such. All the while refusing to compensate us for the use. Wasn't really costing me much, but I constantly thought about what he would do if all of us didnt have cell phones. He would have to buy some sort of com device whether radio or phone. It just rubbed me wrong considering I have always figured if your working for me, driving my truck I am the one responsible for making sure I can get a hold of you not the other way around. I even offered the guy the use of my motorola radius radios (I have them left over from my ready mix business) if he wanted to get a frequency for this area. He didnt want to spend the time and money to get a frequency. Anyway as much as it sucks not being full time employed right now I am happy not to deal with his BS. Sorry, rant over!!LOL!

Years back the Corps of Engineers had no policy regarding cell phone usage for us contractors. Just about everybody had one, but we were all responsible adults with jobs to do and used them sparingly, if at all, during work hours. Then one contract we had a guy flip a truck because he was on a cell phone. The guy was a real jerk to begin with- wise a$$ punk college kid with zero knowledge, skill, or appreciation for his $50+ per hour job. In fact, they caught him earlier with a laptop in the cab, doing his homework, while he was driving the truck! They should have fired him, but didn't, and later he got distracted by his cell phone and went over an embankment. He didn't get hurt, but it was a pretty good spill and caused some lost time for the rest of us because we had to fish it out and set it upright, etc... inevitably, the head corps honchos found out and banned cell phone use, period. If they saw you talking on a phone you were fired immediately whatever your reasons. In fact, a few contracts later our foreman's dozer track separated and flopped off, so he called the rental company to send a mechanic out. A corps bigwig happened to be up on the dike, saw him on the phone, and demanded he be fired! We did manage to straighten that particular instance out and keep our foreman after a bit of a fight, but that's how strict they became. Only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel:Banghead

Stupid college kids!

HEO Girl said:

Stupid college kids!

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We had some other college kids on that job (BTW, I have nothing against college kids in general, I was one myself) and some of them were really good- they wanted to learn, asked intelligent questions, did their job and were glad of the chance. This particular joker was a real piece of work, though. An arrogant know-it-all that wasn't going to be told anything by anybody, he effectively ruined what had until then been a very relaxed work environment. And was he sorry or apologetic? Not at all! In fact, his parting shot to the rest of us was that he was studying to be some sort of environmental engineer and that he was going to be back as the boss of us all :lmao:lmao:lmao Funny, I never saw him since...


So, HEO Girl, if I told you that I could get you a summer gig as an artic truck driver, five days a week, eight hours a day, two fifteen minute breaks and a half hour for lunch, at $52 an hour, BUT you absolutely COULD NOT have a cell phone with you during work hours, would you take it? Would giving up the phone for 8 hours a day be worth it?

dieseldave said:

So, HEO Girl, if I told you that I could get you a summer gig as an artic truck driver, five days a week, eight hours a day, two fifteen minute breaks and a half hour for lunch, at $52 an hour, BUT you absolutely COULD NOT have a cell phone with you during work hours, would you take it? Would giving up the phone for 8 hours a day be worth it?

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I would do it in a heart beat! Screw the phone!

Haha I actually told someone at work randomly that I wanted to be an Ice Road Trucker . . . you woulda thought I said something really weird cuz they looked at me funny. I always say I wanna be something, like a Heli logger, or be on the deadliest catch hahaha. It keeps people wondering about my sanity

On local jobs as in sites that are in a defined area ,we now only allow authorised users to have a phone but on wind farm and road jobs phones are a necessity due to the size of the job but as for operating and using that can be an automatic dismissal,so to use the phone get out of the cab.

HEO Girl you gave me some good laughs today,thank you

Wow I didn't know they were so strict with cell phones on job sites and such. Getting fired for using your phone would stink. But I guess if people are abusing the privilege then somethin had to be done.

That's what I'm here for dozerdave! To turn peoples frowns upside down. I could be like the site cheerleader or something. Go team! . . .

It is easy to enforce. They tell you if they have an emergency in the morning if caught on the phone fired otherwise.

I dunno. It seems like cellphones are just acting as a focal point for rage against wasted moments. How many employers would fire you on the spot for taking a minute or three to stop and BS face to face with a coworker? You might get chewed out, but really...

What about a two minute pause to "finish this cigarette"? :beatsme