A survey party working at a construction site is always in a dangerous situation. Where blasting or logging is going on, inform the powder crew or logging crew of the location of the area in which surveyors are working. Also, instruct the individual crew members of the survey party to be on the alert at all timesparticularly to listen for the warning signal given by a crew using powder to set off a charge or a logger felling a tree.

When surveying near highways, railroads, or airstrips, use red flagging generously unless you are working in a combat area. Place flagging on the legs of your surveying equipment and at a few places along the tape. Put flags on rods and range poles. Attach some flagging to your hat and also to the back of your shirt or jacket.

Think constantly of personal safety when working near heavy construction equipment. Let the equipment operators know when surveyors are in the vicinity. Also, alert all members of the surveying crew because an equipment operator's  vision is often obscured by dust or by the equipment itself.

When ascending steep, rocky slopes, do not climb directly behind another crew member. If the crew member were to accidentally fall, loosen a rock, or drop something, it could mean serious injury to anyone directly below the crew member.

When your work involves excavation, you should observe definite precautions to prevent accidents.

To avoid slides or cave-ins, support the sides of the excavations 5 ft or more deep by substantial bracing, shoring, or sheet piling if the sides are steeper than the angle of repose. The ANGLE OF REPOSE is the maximum angle at which material will repose without sliding. Trenches in partly saturated or otherwise highly unstable soil should be stabilized with vertical sheet piling or suitable braces. Foundations of structures adjacent to excavations should be shored, braced, or under-pinned as long as the excavation remains open. Excavated or other material should not be allowed to accumulate closer than 2 ft from the edge of an excavation. In a traffic area use barricades, safety signs, danger signals, red lights, or red flagging on at least two sides.

Do not enter a manhole until you are certain that it is free from dangerous gases. Do not guess. If there is any question at all as to whether a sewer is free of gas, wait for clearance from a competent authority. If necessary, provide first for thorough ventilation. Do not smoke in manholes; and if illumination is required, use only a safety flashlight or lantern.

Avoid contact with ALL ELECTRIC wiring. Never throw a metal tape across electric wires; if you must chain across wiring, do it by breaking chain. Avoid placing yourself so that you might fall across wiring in the event of an accident.

When walking, stay at least 2 feet away from the edge of a vertical excavation. Near thoroughfares or walkways, excavations should have temporary guardrails or barricades; and if permissible, depending on combat conditions, red lights or torches should be kept alongside from sunset to sunrise.

Before climbing a tree, be sure it is safe to climb, and carefully cheek the condition of the branches on which you are likely to stand. Different kinds of wood vary greatly in strength. Oak, hickory, and elm trees that have strong, flexible wood are safer for climbing than trees such as poplar, catalpa, chestnut, or willow, which have soft or brittle wood. Limbs of all trees become brittle at low temperaturemeaning that they break more easily in cold weather than they do in warm. Dead branches or those containing many knots or fungus growths are usually weak. When standing on a limb, have your feet as close to the parent trunk as possible. Climb with special care when limbs are wet or icy. Wear goggles when working in bushy trees; they may prevent an eye injury.

Before climbing a tree, be sure there are no overhead wires passing through its foliage. If you MUST take a position in a tree within reach of live wire, place some sort of insulating safety equipment between yourself and the wire. DO NOT allow tree limbs to contact live wires because moisture in a limb may cause a short circuit.

If you require cutting tools to clear a working space in a tree, haul them up with a handline, and lower them by the same device. Tools should never be thrown up into a tree or down onto the ground.

If a structure has an access opening and is below the street, such as a manhole or a transformer vault, it should be protected by a barrier or other suitable guard when the cover to the access opening is removed.

Do not cross ice unless, and until, you are certain it will support your weight. Both the thickness and the nature of ice are important in determining its carrying capacity. Because part of the supporting power of ice is derived from the water below it, a layer of ice that is in contact with the water surface is safer than one that has no contact with the water surface.

An ice layer usually becomes thinner over cur rent, near banks of streams or lakes, over warm springs, and over swampy ground. Rotten ice that can be identified by its dull color and honeycomb texture has little supporting power.