Top 10 Safety Warning Signs of the Work Truck Show

The Work Truck Show features the toughest trucks and commercial bolt-on hardware on the planet. Rigs from bare-bones compact pickups to giant over-the-road haulers are outfitted with purpose-built packages to perform critical jobs that make all our lives easier, such as utility repair, snow plowing, street sweeping, farming and bulk hauling. These jobs are necessary, but they’re also dangerous. With all the moving pieces and heavy parts required, operational warning signs can make the difference between a successful job or a very bad day. Here are the Top 10 safety warning signs of the Work Truck Show.

No. 10: Fall Hazard (always know where your feet are)

We’ll start out nice and easy. If you’ve ever strapped stuff to the top of a car or SUV, you’ve probably stepped on the bumpers, tires or door sills to load your gear. As appealing as those surfaces might look to help you get on the road fast, they don’t always provide the best leverage or traction. You might slip and fall, but at least you’re only a foot or two off the ground. On commercial trucks, there are lots more places to step where you shouldn’t step, from which a fall could result in untimely death or serious injury. You can fall in love with your truck, just don’t fall off it.

No. 9: Hybrid Vehicle Warning (keep hybrid commercial trucks away from the bathtub)

Here’s a shocker: Passenger cars and SUVs aren’t the only hybrid vehicles on the road. Commercial trucks are some of the biggest green vehicles on the planet, with similarly gigantic power needs in order to keep rolling down the highway and running certain utility applications on electricity only. These trucks have huge battery packs and 220-volt plug-in ports for recharging. The electrical components aren’t tucked neatly away, out of sight under the seats or in the engine bay -- they often hang right off the frame rails directly under work equipment. Green is good, but that doesn’t mean it’s without hazard.

No. 8: Lift Warnings (if you’re not careful, they’ll lift your spirit, too)

Repairing a fully burdened commercial vehicle can require a heavy-duty lift capable of hoisting 30,000 pounds of more; if a work truck breaks down, you’re not going to unload every nut, bolt, screw and roll of carpet before the truck is fixed. Let’s say you’re working on a bus. It would be a very bad day if you lowered that people-mover on your head, or didn’t run when it started falling, or installed the lift on an uneven surface, or raised the sides of the vehicle at different rates. Not good at all.

No. 7: Serious Crushing Injury (your foot could look like Pac Man)

Commercial trucks out in the field can’t always depend on concrete pads for sure footing, or they require extra stability to do a job, so they come with outriggers to level the truck out. Of course, that means the truck’s weight is transferred from the tires to the outrigger contact pads. If your foot is under one of these when that happens, it will give a whole new meaning to the term “flat arches.”

No. 6: Overturning Hazard (gravity is not your friend)

Outriggers may not be enough to stabilize a rig -- assuming you didn’t already lose your foot. If a work truck is parked on a slope and equipped with a cherry picker for off-the-ground utility work, moving the boom too far out from the center of gravity could provide a hands-on lesson in Sir Isaac Newton’s theories. That’s also another reason to lay off doughnuts.

No. 5: Danger, Electrocution Hazard (if the hybrid truck doesn’t get you…)

The dangers keep building for cherry pickers. If the outriggers and gravity don’t get you, running the basket into electrical wires could finish the job before it’s even started.

No. 4: Danger, Electrical Hazards, Take 2 (no more wire hangers)

It’s also not safe to hang your clothes off a cherry picker basket if it touches electrical lines.

No. 3: Danger, Sever Hazard (your fingers might be reattachable)

Turning blades and sharp tools for landscaping and construction jobs that make short work of wood and metal likewise scoff at your fingers. Lose attention for a moment or make a wrong move, and they’ll be gone before you blink. If you’re lucky, maybe you can get them reattached.

No. 2: Danger, Crush Hazard (your fingers are gone for good)

Auxiliary motors for powering booms and tools have lots of moving parts, like drivelines and gears. Similar to cutting tools, lose attention for just a moment and the turning parts will grab whatever they can. It’s unlikely you’ll ever get them back.

No. 1: Danger, Running Driveline (power takeoff can take off more than power)

The drive shafts that are used to turn a truck’s wheels or for power takeoff have some of the scariest warning labels you’ll find on work trucks. If you’re not familiar with PTO, think of it as using a truck’s engine to power machinery out in the field via a secondary drive shaft. The auxiliary drive shaft is connected from a PTO unit attached to a truck’s transmission to whatever equipment needs the power. If you get too close to a spinning driveline, either under the truck or out in the open, you’re going to need a whole lot more than a chiropractor to get the kinks out.