Safe Work Practices

Safe Work Practices, just published by the Timber Framers Guild, explains Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards specific to timber framing, including the relatively ambiguous ones related to height safety and fall protection. This 100-page manual has undergone a peer review by 30 professional timber framers.

Safe Work Practices follows Part One of the Guild's apprentice training curriculum and includes chapters on Shop Safety, Hand and Power Tools, Site Safety, Height Safety, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and Hazardous Materials. Also included are a sample Method Statement, fall protection plan, review questions, and more.

One of our reviewers, whose insurance agent saw this manual, commented that if all shop and field carpenters read it and answered all the questions, they may be eligible for a reduction in premiums.

This safety manual will be most useful in timber framing shops for training new employees and as a refresher for seasoned veterans. The ring binding allows the book to lay flat, keeping it open to the relevant section while the reader is being introduced to a new tool or procedure.

Special thanks go to the following for their contributions to the manual: Mafell North America, Timberwolf Tools, TimberTools, Hundegger USA, Bensonwood Homes, Macdonald & Lawrence, Trillium Dell Timberworks, Lab Safety Supply, Capital Safety, Miller Fall Protection, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Timber Frame Business Council, Gord Macdonald, Dennis Marcom, Joel McCarty, and all those other TFG members who have set good examples in shops and projects throughout their careers.