[Lanelle]

A while back folks were discussing the use of radios at the job site. This takes us to a level well beyond the Walkman. Check it out: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Oakle...oductDetail.do

[VoodooChile]

Sweet! And at $500 a pair, no member of your crew can afford to be without them...

"Tunes on Site" Thread Here

[Lanelle]

Ok, here's the less expensive pair: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Oakle...oductDetail.do

These are still too expensive to lose or step on. I do think that the file download capability is pretty cool.

[dan deutekom]

When the price drops to $69.99 at Walmart for a knockoff version I will be first in line to buy a pair.

[jerry and sons]

These look great but the don't look loike they have any hearing protection. how do you justify 500 bucks, when ten years down the road you won't be able to heaf because you have gone deaf. Try home depot they have ear protection and and radio all in one for $49.

[Bill Schwab]

W do not allow radios, personal communications equipment, (cell phones, pages, radios) or any other distractive devices on the job sites. All that stuff is, is a workmans comp claim waiting to happen, and a loss of production hours when they start loosing focus or taking personal calls on our companies time. Radios that impair hearing are dangerous because the employ cannot hear what is happening around them, and boom boxes disturb surrounding neighbors where we work.

[PSUscaper]

I love my work tunes! Before I cut a patio in, I put them on, tune in a good station, and crank the saw up.....some of my best cuts have been made while listening to the radio.

Not sure, but guess its kind of like wearing a walkman during a good workout. Music has always gotten me pumped up, and I find myself much less stressed as you don't think about the 500 more pavers you have to cut and how heavy the saw gets after you've been holding it for 10 minutes. Kind of puts me in my 'zone'.

[GLAN]

Some like them.

I don't...........I don't see how there would be hearing protection if you have to make the radio loud enough to hear?

I provide the foam plugs for the men. Any other hearing protection they want to bring in is fine. Cell phones....No, no, no. I don't mind that they have one and bring one for use during lunch or some unkown emergency. But that is why drivers are given Nextels.

Had a Butt Head this last summer......Every time I catch up to them he is on the phone....Go in the back....There he is on the phone...See them driving down the road. There he is in the back on the phone....That went on for a couple days. He and I had a chat..The next day end of the day he and I had to have another chat. Day after that he was driving with me. His phone rang I grabbed it and threw out the window. Told him that's it. You have a choice. Consider yourself fired right now. Or, I don't want to see you with another phone while working.

Next day I caught him in the corner of my eye in the back of a house on the phone.......I rushed the crew to load up and leave.....We left him behind. He came in the next morning. Pissed about leaving him behind. I told him at that momment you no longer work here and I was not under any obligation to chaufer you around.

[jwholden]

I hate to be against the grain on this one.

I will admit 100 % that there are plenty of people who will abuse cell phones. However, I also know that everyone in the world who has a 'normal' job is allowed to carry one.

I suppose it is an all or nothing attitude. You can't let one guy talk on his cell phone for a few minutes a day when the bad apple talks for a much longer.

I think it comes down to hiring the right people. Either they get that the cell phone is not a toy, or they don't work here. Either you keep the radio down low enough that it doesn't annoy the homeowner or the neighbors, or you don't work here.

We are working with people who 'should' have the common sense to know and understand these basic principles.

[VoodooChile]

Look at it this way. Your saw produces 100 dB of noise. The Walkman phones are rated at a very good Noise Reduction Rating of 30 dB, so the tunes only need to be at 70 dB to equal, at 85dB to be heard over the noise of the blower, saw. etc.

85 dB according to my Gemplers catalog is equal to "a tractor idling...barn cleaner, conveyor, elevator: You begin to lose your hearing at this dB if you're exposed to it for eight hours or more per day." ....So limited prolonged exposure to less than eight hours and you are good to go with the musical phones.

That said, at 85dB you are not gonna hear everything that might be happening on a job site....at 70dB you are gonna hear much more, like an employee screaming the saw set your pants on fire.

And I hear ya Bill about the cell phones; gonna need to adopt a policy that cell phone use is limited to breaks, cause some guys think they are getting paid for only one hand.

As for tunes, I was on a roof all day, and there is no way I'd slam shingles without my good friends Traffic, Junior Wells/Buddy Guy, and Wayne Hancock. Same with laying flagstone or plugging prairies and woodlands. Music doesn't need to be loud to be good, and I'm convinced the guys I work with much prefer to listen to someone who can sing than me. The more tedious the task, the more need for music to maintain productive motivational levels.

Obviously, a six-pak isn't an option...

[GLAN]

Voodoo you bring up a good point about the tedious and boring work. Yes, background music can aleviate a somber mood and perhaps motivate...Not everyone likes the music I listen to....and i can't listen to Spanish radio to long, I tolerate it but after a while it becomes like needles pressed into my head.

For those boring jobs.......I would rather talk with my men, stir up a round of conversation. I use that opportunity to learn a bit more spanish as well as help those that need to understand english better. My men like the fact that I am willing to learn more and more Spanish, though I don't use it much. The greatest satisifaction is them learning English. Not many employers take the time or the effort.