Editor’s Note: This month we continue with the answers received for last month’s question. Once again, we eliminated the “Anonymous” byline to save space; any response without a name was submitted anonymously.
With about 100 responses received, our unscientific results show that 40 percent of you say that radios on the job are a safety hazard. While 60 percent are OK with music on the job, 22 percent of them say radios should be played with certain conditions.
I would think that a radio playing at a reasonable volume would not be a safety hazard. But when you have several subs who hate each other’s music raising the volume to drown out the other one’s music, this could quickly cause big problems and justify the no radio rule. Loud, competing tunes do not make a friendly, productive job site!
Safety hazard. Radios can be a distraction, adding more noise to an already noisy environment at most commercial job sites.
—Greg Hale, ATS Acoustical Thermal Spray, Inc., Christiansburg, VA
We listen to a radio every day at a low volume. I would sooner have my employees listen to a radio than an iPod with ear plugs in their ears.
—Dean Blattenberger, Owner, Blattenberger General Contracting
Safety hazard, a distraction that can quickly cause injuries.
I believe that one radio is good but multiple radios playing different stations is bad.
Radios aren’t a problem until they cause a problem. Volume low, music not offensive and company owned so a single employee doesn’t rule the radio!
—Red-Wood Construction Systems, Seattle, WA
If you’re a tradesman, you get it, but if you’re management, you don’t.
No radios on job sites is the safe way to run a job. Pay attention to what you are doing. Keep your mind on your work. Better production and safer.
Let people play radios. Have it understood that volume must be turned down when customers and/or inspectors visit site … and no obscene language.
General contractors need to get a grip. I could imagine them while sitting in their air conditioned office listening to their music. Let’s turn both off and see if their morale goes down.
I think radios on the job site help with the day to pass and does help morale. However, as the superintendent, I did control the volume and monitor the stations played so to be compatible with the majority of the workers. If there were too many complaints, they were turned off. All radios were to be on the same station on small sites.
—Mark K. Buchheit, Project Manager, LaClair Construction, St. Louis, MO
Too many radios playing at once ends up sounding like white noise, even if they are at a reasonable volume, and if the job is big enough, how much of the music are you going to enjoy anyway unless you carry your radio around with you everywhere you go? That is not practical.
It is a safety hazard!
Key word reasonable volume, and depending on the size of the job, no more than one. Also no cell phones with the ear buds.
Too many details about employees’ time while at work these days are controlled by the employer. I say, if somebody wants to listen to the radio and it doesn’t affect their productivity, let them do so. The only stipulation I would have is there would be no arguing over what radio station to listen to. If arguments happened, I would consider a ban on listening to the radio while at work.
I like the idea of a radio as long as it’s played at a reasonable volume and there is no rap or WAAF [a Boston rock radio station] playing. Music helps people’s nerves, keeps them in their own world and makes the day go by faster! Bring on the radios!
—Aj Tetreault, Tetreault Construction, Spencer, MA
I believe jobsite radios played at a reasonable volume can help morale and increase production.
—Mike Pena, Superintendent, HBI
No radios. Safety hazard.
No music, no work.
I have played guitar and keyboard in bands and acoustic guitar groups since 1966. Music is my whole life except when I am on my construction sites conducting business. The job site is no place for radios blaring in the background. I have never heard one being played at a reasonable volume. It is a distraction that can lead to mistakes and accidents. Enough said.
—Brian Clem, Clem Construction Company, Dallas, TX
Reasonable volume is the key. When we work with a bunch of guys, we play the same station. Nothing worse than listening to three radio stations with different music at the same time. Headsets are a problem and safety hazard. I have scared the crap out of quite a few subs who were listening to their headsets and did not hear me approach! Radios definitely make the day go faster.
I hate to admit it, but radios do seem to relax the troops and work progresses smoothly. As a matter of fact, I had this very discussion yesterday with my Site Safety & Health Officer. The company I currently work for does allow them—something I never did when I was in business for myself or the companies I’ve worked for prior to this one. The SSHO does require them to be turned down so if he yells an emergency statement he can be heard.
Also, they cannot use headsets; Bluetooth is acceptable because only one ear is “blocked.” If a radio gets turned back up they get one more warning before the radio is unplugged. So, the question: Yes, it is a morale booster (How many of us play a radio at our desks? My hand is up.), but it can be a safety hazard if the volume isn’t controlled. Quite a conundrum.
—Michael Stephens, Construction Quality Control Manager, P&S
Construction, N. Chelmsford, MA
A radio is the most important tool and the first one that comes on to the job (otherwise you are stuck with the voices in your head).
Yes, it does help the day go by and helps with getting in the flow! Not having a radio is stupid. If it helps the job go better, you think people would be all for it. You can hear a jackhammer going all day but not a radio—you tell me which one is a hazard!
I think it depends on the work. Interior drywall workers are usually alone in the unit. If the radio is turned low enough not to bother other subs, then fine. Other trades that are operating heavy equipment, using power saws and the like it might not be too safe.
As long the volume is under control I think the workers are in a better production mood.
Radios, yes. Reasonable volume, yes. If you want robots, buy robots.
Been in construction business for over 40 years and I’ve always enjoyed a radio on the job. I’ve been on many jobs with no radio and it always seemed to make the day go by faster with the background noise of a radio. The problem comes when there are other people with different taste in what’s being played. So if everyone agrees with the radio, that’s great; but if there’s a problem, try to be agreeable. Safety-wise, if it’s not too loud, I don’t see any problem with it.
Radios on a bilingual job site leads to disputes, so I vote to ban radios.
Nope. Safety hazard, and the job site is not a disco club.
I agree with this. As long as it is not very loud, it can help to keep a very calming effect.
No radios. Safety hazard for all.
—John Ball, JB & BT Drywall Repairs
Sites with multiple trades can be distracting or dangerous. Sites with few trades can be OK.
Key here is “reasonable volume”—that’s the issue. With noise from equipment, radios are usually turned up so loud that a shouted warning cannot be heard, hence the safety issue. If I have to choose between safety and morale, I choose safety.
Music can put people in a better mood. The problem is not everyone likes the same music and that causes problems. I say no radios on the job unless you are the only one on job site that day.
I feel they are hazardous. More noise, a distraction, earphones are an absolute NO, and workers scuffle about radio stations with the need to be louder than other radios.
I believe radios can be both a morale booster and a safety hazard. I have also experienced a radio being a point of an argument when the station being played is not satisfactory to all those within listening distance. The only way to satisfy all listeners is to allow them to listen with headphones, and that would most certainly be a safety hazard.
I do not believe there is a GC out there who wants to play the part of radio police; therefore, it is easier to ban them. I enjoy working with a radio, but I do understand why GCs would ban them. My #1 reason for being on the jobsite is to make $$. I can still accomplish that without a radio. Maybe GCs could start playing Muzak on job sites. Ha-ha.
Radios are fine, personal devices are inherently unsafe.
Rather work with music than not. Always makes me feel better.
Yes and no. Yes if it is at a reasonable volume level and the client doesn’t object. We often listen to the game. No in certain circumstances with some clients where they are offended.
Headphone radios are dangerous and too much volume with a regular radio is distracting offensive and dangerous. I don’t allow this.
—Kevin, KL Drywall LLC
GCs who ban radio playing are idiots. They are the people who take all the fun out of work.
Radios and phones should be a no-no. Not safe, just like driving and talking on the phone
Almost every GC we work for has banned them.
Safety hazard. Especially iPods on the job site because they [workers] can’t hear you or the dangerous situations that can happen in an instant.
Depending on the amount of people on the job and how many different stations are playing, it can be a mess. Only one radio played at a reasonable volume can be a good and upbeat motivator.
A man who monkeys with a radio on my time isn’t a keeper.
Unsafe! Crew members can’t hear a problem or communicate.
Volume control is the problem in the field. I would have to say no to radios because it’s hard to enforce volume on the construction site.
I like radios. Keep them below painful hearing thresholds.
On a large construction site the “reasonable level” tends to creep up and up until one crew plays its country loud enough to hear it over another crew’s rock until it all completely overpowers my NPR.
I was on a job once where there was no radio anywhere on the project. I asked the superintendent if that was his rule or his company’s rule. It was his rule, and it was all about safety.
When some of my crew asked if we could play a radio, I told them that was fine, but I chose the station. Sometimes that was enough to put an end to it, and sometimes I made converts to the widely varied programming on KANZ, High Plains Public Radio.
Sometimes, when nobody is looking, I change the stations on other radios.
—John McElwee, Fresno
