Survey Safety

Highway work exposes surveyors to high-speed vehicles, creating significant collision and injury risks. Warning signs and flaggers are essential to alert motorists. Using offsets whenever possible is the safest approach to avoid working directly on roads. When highway work is unavoidable, all recommended safety guidelines must be followed strictly.

Surveyors must wear bright orange reflective vests to ensure visibility to motorists, coworkers, and hunters. Hard hats and safety shoes are mandatory in construction zones. In snake-prone areas, boots and leggings provide essential protection. Light-colored clothing helps detect ticks more easily in tick-infested regions.

First-aid kits must contain antidotes for allergic reactions to wasps, bees, and yellow jackets. In tick-infested areas, surveyors should use insect repellent, wear long-sleeved shirts, tuck pants into boots, and wear light-colored clothing for easy tick detection. Regular peer checks for ticks ensure early removal and safety.

Surveyors must wear gloves when working in briar patches or poison ivy to prevent skin irritation. Exercise caution when cutting bushes, watching carefully for snakes. Avoid sudden movements and stay alert to wildlife in the surrounding area to ensure personal and team safety.

Steel tape conducts electricity and poses serious electrocution hazards near power lines. Using steel tape in proximity to electrical infrastructure can result in fatal injuries. Surveyors must maintain safe distance from power lines and use alternative methods or electronic distance measuring instruments when working in such areas.

Rough terrain presents multiple hazards including uneven ground, wildlife, insects, and vegetation. Surveyors may encounter snakes, ticks, wasps, and briars depending on location. Proper protective equipment, insect repellent, and awareness of surroundings are critical to mitigating these environmental risks during fieldwork.

Surveyors must never look at the sun through a telescope without special filters, as direct solar observation causes serious, permanent eye injury. Proper optical filters protect vision during instrument use. Eye safety is critical to preventing irreversible damage that could end a surveying career.