Being Safe

Colonial National Historical Park is enriched with natural beauty. I don't exactly remember what the name is for this body of water, only because we have so many.

Asphalting takes a long time and requires a lot of patience. Doing this in 90 degree weather is hard, but add a few extra degrees for humidity and heat from the asphalt.

Be cautious during every activity, you never know what's going to happen. I'm on the Colonial Parkway (23 miles long connecting Yorktown & Jamestown) picking up trash and OTHER things. Roadkill is all too common on the Parkway.

The Powhatan Bridge as you see is this picture was struck by a boat last summer. It is one of COLO's massive project to fix the bridge and do some additional road repair. In this picture Tim (Civil Engineer on the right ) is talking with a subcontractor (left).

Always wear the necessary equipment. This is COLO's Civil Engineer, I had the pleasure of shadowing him for a few days. He too is named Tim. COLO has anywhere from 5 to 10 big projects occurring at once. We are currently at a site that is for the Glasshouse, Jamestown location.

Be familiar with the equipment you use. Never use a piece of equipment you are not comfortable with. I am on a "roller" after laying the asphalt I was given instructions to use the equipment and was later allowed to use it.

Many of our maintenance vehicles have orange hazard lights. Since the accident at the Appomattox Court House, all vehicles including riding mowers will have orange hazard lights. This is especially important to our park because we have a 23 mile parkway that is used daily by commuters. This is COLO's trash truck.

Unfortunately, the National Park Service had suffered a loss not to long ago. For those of you who have not heard a Park Service employee at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in VA lost his life during a tragic accident. This post is to emphasise how safety should be at the top of list, even while conducting routine activities. Be safe and be smart.