When you are working on a jobsite, you need your senses to work for you. It’s tempting to avoid using all the protective gear that you need to preserve your ears, hands, face and more. But if you don’t, you may end up in a situation that is beyond all sense. Here are five reasons to stay sharp.

Sight Increases Accuracy
When you are working in a dimly-lit space on the jobsite, your ability to see is crucial. Sometimes, the tight nooks and crannies of a building require work, but they don’t make it easy. You’ll need adequate lighting to do the job with a high degree of accuracy. If you don’t have that lighting, you’ll spend most of your time squinting and straining to see. That puts you at a higher risk of mistakes or injury. It can even make it more difficult to see what you’re doing in regular light, if you let it happen long enough.

Sound Is Important for Awareness
Unlike your sight, you can use sound all around you. The noises of the construction site give you a sense for what is going on in various places. You’ll need that kind of awareness if you are walking in areas where you can’t see completely in front of you. Wearing protective headphones can help to keep your hearing sharp, especially if you are using loud equipment. It’s also good to have the ability to hear sounds happening behind you. That way, if someone isn’t paying attention to your presence for some reason, you may still be aware of theirs.

You Need to Smell Trouble
There’s a reason that a lot of toxic solvents or materials on the jobsite smell bad. If something smells terrible, that’s an important reminder to you that it exists and it may need to be managed. For example, chemical cleaners smell sharp and they may burn. If they are dumped or leaking into a space unseen, you may not have any indicator other than the horrible odor. It’s easy to think of your sense of smell as the least important one, but you would find life very difficult to live without it. When you’re working with toxic materials, be sure to wear appropriate protection for your mouth and nose.

Touch Improves Precision
Your skin has a way of getting used to certain stimuli, like very hot water or very cold surfaces. Eventually, your skin might not be as reactive to these things. While that might seem like a benefit, especially if you’re tired of hurting your hands, you should know that it’s not a good thing. Your skin is an amazing organ because it remembers what it feels. You can use that to inform you about the state of the task that you’re working on. But the more you push it, the more likely you are to dull that sense. Eventually, you might notice that you can’t feel certain things anymore. And that makes you more likely to get seriously injured.

You’ll Be Safer With Your Senses Intact
You may think of your senses as five separate abilities, but it’s better to think of them as a complete package. Your body uses all five at once to gain information about your environment and keep you aware of things that you might not be able to see or hear. Losing one can make it harder to use the others to your maximum ability. In short, it’s easy to skimp on protective gear when you think you don’t need it. But all it takes is one minor slip to trigger a lifelong problem.

Keeping your senses about you is an important part of running a contracting business. For expert guidance on passing the contractor licensing exam, visit CSLS today!