Snake Awareness in Southern States

Why it matters

Rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and coral snakes live exactly where site work puts hands and feet: under material stacks, in crawl spaces, along slab edges, and in the cool of pipe and equipment left overnight. Most bites happen when someone reaches or steps where they cannot see, or tries to kill a snake instead of leaving it alone. Today: where they are, how not to meet one, and what a bite plan looks like.

Hazards

• ⚠ Reaching blind under lumber, pipe, and debris piles
• ⚠ Stepping over logs and material into the hidden far side
• ⚠ Crawl spaces, meter pits, and valve boxes with residents
• ⚠ Trying to kill or move a snake, when most bites happen
• ⚠ Bites walking through tall grass at dawn on rural sites
• ⚠ Wrong first aid: cutting, sucking, ice, and tourniquets all make it worse

Controls and safe practices

• ✓ Look, then lift: roll material toward you so the underside faces away, and use a tool to lift low stacks first.
• ✓ Step ON logs and stacks then over, never blind across, and light every crawl space before entering.
• ✓ Leave snakes alone: back away slowly, mark the area, and let it leave or call a removal service.
• ✓ Boots and long pants on rural and overgrown sites; snake gaiters for heavy brush clearing.
• ✓ Store material off the ground where practical to remove the shade snakes want.
• ✓ Bite plan: keep the victim calm and still, remove rings, splint loosely at heart level, and get to a hospital fast; call ahead.
• ✓ NO cutting, suction, ice, tourniquets, or alcohol; those old remedies destroy tissue.

Crew discussion questions

1. What venomous snakes are in this county, and can we recognize them?
2. Which spots on this site are snake real estate?
3. Where is the nearest hospital with antivenom?
4. Who still believes in cut-and-suck? Clear it up today.

Applicable OSHA standards

29 CFR 1926.50

More toolbox talks

• Ladder Safety
• Fall Protection Basics
• Heat Illness Prevention
• Lockout / Tagout: Controlling Energized Circuits
• Trench and Excavation Safety
• Silica Dust Control

Safety plans by trade

General ContractorLandscapingPlumbingAll toolbox talks