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Resource Management

Regardless of how simple, complex, large or small your project is you will need resources in order to complete it.

A resource is any material, machine, person or software that is integral to the success of your project. Ensuring you have the right resource at the right time and place that it is needed is where resource management comes into play.

What do you need?

People to manage and fulfill tasks

Machinery, tools and vehicles to enable them to carry out work

Raw materials, components and supplies that make up the product or service.

Where do you need it?

Usually at the project worksite or manufacturing facility however the transport and logistics behind getting everything to your location as you require it is part of resource management.

How many are required?

Goes without saying whether it is 1 or 100 of anything you still have to know “how many are required?” This comes from experience and knowledge of your particular field.

You also need to consider the productivity (of human resources especially) level in resource management. There’s no point in throwing all your equipment and people at a task and having 50% not being utilized.

When do you need it?

Obviously referring to your project schedule you will have a fair idea of when you physically need your resources in place. It is worth bearing in mind you will also need to note any mobilization time necessary to get your resource to where you want them when you want them – this is your “lead time” when it applies to materials & machinery; “availability” or “workload” when it comes to staff & subcontractors.

Ultimately efficiency & productivity in any project will be a reflection of how well resources are being allocated and managed.

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The problem with Back-Pack Blowers

As anyone in the landscape industry would be aware the back pack blower is now ubiquitous as a piece of equipment and pretty much all self respecting landscape maintenance contractors will own at least one and possibly a full fleet of various blowers for leaf and debris control.

 

Being a landscaper, the sound of duelling blowers is something you get used to. It doesn’t mean you like it, but you do realise it is the sound associated with getting work done and possibly meaning that that particular clean up project is almost finished.

To a member of the general public the back-pack blower is nothing less than a menace. Click To Tweet

Noisy, dust raising and polluting. A constant interference in their daily routine. Less tolerable* than a lawn mower, hedge trimmer or weed-whacker.

(*in truth, I believe the ‘tone’ of the back-pack blower engine is the issue rather than the volume – I am developing some results on this at the moment).

The town meeting was a positive discussion, both sides recognising that the back-pack blower is an important piece of equipment in allowing home owners to have their property looking the way they want it without the expense of laborious sweeping or hoards of manpower to rake up leaves and debris.

However the noise!

What can we do about it?

The largest complaint appeared to be marauding, guerrilla type landscapers who blitz a neighborhood with trucks emptying of crews mounted with backpack blowers who start blowing debris from property to property and public street. Regardless of time of day or indeed working day restrictions these crews ignore the wanton pleas from neighbors begging for peace and quiet over breakfast or evening meals.

To generate a solution we need to identify the main problems and the key points of argument:

Noise!!

Yes backpack blowers are loud. How loud is a matter of circumstance. How close are you to the source? Are you the operator or observer.

With noise, OSHA's permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 90 dBA for all workers for an 8 hour day. Click To Tweet

For most operators the solution is linear. Like all Safety Matters the goal is to minimise the risk of exposure which causes damage over time. Looking at the hierarchy of control and applying it to petrol backpack blowers for operators:

  1. Elimination – operators can not eliminate the noise of a backpack blower. It is a fact of life when it comes to operating these machines – the internal combustion engine makes noise.
  2. Substitution – this is where the option of battery powered machines may come into the picture as a possible option.
  3. Engineer – noise reducing exhaust, limited power ratings, machine built to place engine and exhaust as far from operator as possible. This step has probably reached the pinnacle of design limits.
  4. Administrative – this is governance; limiting time of exposure, training people in efficient operation (no need for 100% throttle 100% of the time) using as a last resort (rakes, brooms etc first)
  5. PPE – when all else fails you use PPE to mitigate the risk of hearing and vibration damage. Noise reducing ear muffs, goggles, gloves and a dust mask (if warranted)

For observers it is entirely different – you can’t hand out ear muffs to every passer by!

However you will find that while it is excruciatingly annoying for most observers, unless you are right on top of the blower & operator the noise levels will (generally) be within the ‘safe’ zone of <90dBl.

This does not eliminate the nuisance factor though which is more likely caused by landscape crews working an area. This means residents at home during the day may get no break from the sound reverberating around their community all day long.

The ability of this sound - in particular its lower frequency components - to travel over long distances suggests that GLB sound has a wide ranging impact on surrounding communities... Click To Tweet

Source – https://sciforschenonline.org/journals/environmental-toxicological-studies/JETS-1-106.php

Dust…

It is inevitable when using a blower that you are going to raise dust and debris into the air. Its inevitable using a brush too and a research paper in

Aside from the nuisance mentioned above, there are respiratory issues for operators and observers around the issue of air borne particles. A research paper found that in terms of Particulate Matter contribution backpack blowers  generate 100 times less  airborne debris than vehicles driving.

Also interesting is:

The broom operator was able to move the surrogate material along the concrete surface quite rapidly with the broom; resulting in emissions similar to those obtained with power leaf blowers.

Similar to above the solution here is operator training – lowest blower speed possible to move debris, gather in piles and avoid blasting big heaps of debris, limit blower use to cleaning lawns and borders as much as possible.

Engine Emissions & Pollution

This is a common argument however in modern equipment it really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as the EPA has mandated that all small engines must confirm to strict exhaust emission requirements.

We can refute this argument quite easily with facts where you will see in general the contribution factor of petrol powered equipment is minuscule when compared to vehicles.

Blower emissions

 

Possible Solutions & Best Practise

The number one alternative (brushing and wide-scale raking is not a practical alternative for commercial operations) to petrol powered blowers is battery power.

My personal issue with this is of the 3 key arguments only one point is addressed in a mildly satisfactory way while a second is neutral and the third is totally unsatisfactory.

Battery Powered Noise

Changing from petrol to electric or battery simply changes from one type of noise to another.

Battery and electric motors produce noise at a similar dB level as petrol!! The key difference which people tend to miss is the sound is a different frequency. Think of vacuum cleaner whine or similar from a cordless drill.

Battery Powered Dust

 Dust is dust, same old issue here if you have equivalence in power or airforce rating between the two blowers.

Battery Powered Emissions

This is the biggest issue.

Bear in mind the carbon, greenhouse gas generating, polluting contributions of the production of electricity to charge your batteries in the first place before you use this argument.

Renewable energy production from wind or wave is still a long way off. Unless you have already invested in windgenerators or solar banks you will be reliant on the national grid to charge your multiple batteries.

Not to mention the ecological damage caused by mining for battery minerals…

Best Practise

If you are not ready to consider battery power or alternative methods then you should at least train your operatives to be considerate and courteous. There is no need to be blasting a blower for hours as a chain gang (autumn/fall aside). Use it briefly for final clean up after maintenance operations or end of day neatness.

Consider pedestrians, cyclists and drivers if using near a road. Dust, dirt and particles are a nuisance – would you like an unexpected blast of grit to your face or paintwork? Drop the power and turn your back  for a few seconds, let people pass.

Throttle up and down reacting to the debris you are dealing with. There is no benefit to you and its definitely not quicker to run 100% throttle and push a pile of dirt in front of you. Make a small pile with the blower, pick it up with a shovel and use the blower to gather the residual into the next pile.

https://legacy.azdeq.gov/environ/air/download/Leaf_Blower_Training.pdf

Conclusion

Petrol backpack blowers whether you consider them a pest or not will be a part of our daily lives for a while to come.

Personally I think the next 10 years may see the costs of battery power balance out where power rating compares and renewable energy makes the choice a more environmentally sound one.

As for banning. It’s not really the landscapers fault when people employ them to do a job and then ask to remove their tools.

Are you ready to pay the additional cost for manual labor clearing leaves or sweeping your yard?