Summer is often the busiest time of the year in the construction industry. Longer days mean more hours to develop projects in the field and more jobs to work through. This also leads to more time in the sun, heat, and humidity for your team and machinery, creating potential health and maintenance risks. Here a few summer safety tips from Hawthorne Cat to keep your most valuable assets safe from the summer sun:

An arc flash is a dangerous explosion caused by electrical energy. The change from solid state to gas vapor produces a volatile force. At the terminals, arc flash explosion temperatures can exceed 35,000°F. The immense electrical energy vaporizes metal and can cause destruction of equipment, intense heat, fire, molten metal, shrapnel, blinding light, and toxic smoke. Arc flash incidents are often fatal.

Although construction projects are typically on a very tight working schedule, equipment owners and operators should make safety a priority. Help prevent accidents, increase revenue and maximize uptime by following equipment safety guidelines. Caterpillar and Hawthorne Cat educate customers about proper safety techniques for operating equipment. Each category of equipment, such as Compact Machines, requires specific safety precautions.

Electrical systems can be extremely dangerous if they are not properly maintained and regularly checked. Components such as automatic transfer switches, circuit breakers, switchgear and UPS batteries are often overlooked during routine electrical maintenance checks and can cause power failure and injury. 

In his latest video,  Jeff Payne, Preventative Maintenance Instructor for Caterpillar, explains the importance of performing a daily walkaround for your fleet. 

Safety is a top concern at Caterpillar. From the design of our products to the quality of our equipment training, we strive to promote the safest working environments possible.