Ticks, Wasps and Poison Ivy

Outdoor work comes with hazards that move. Most are a nuisance. One of them kills in minutes.

Stinging insects — the serious one

Wasps and bees nest in exactly the places we work: meter boxes, wall cavities, roof voids, equipment left standing, pipe stacks, brush piles.

• Look before you reach. Watch for traffic in and out of a hole before you put a hand near it.
• A nest gets dealt with deliberately, at dusk, by someone equipped for it. Not swatted at, and never with a pressure washer or a can of solvent.
• If you disturb one, walk away fast and in a straight line. Do not swat and do not stand still; they follow movement and release a scent that brings the rest.
• Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening emergency. Trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips or throat, hives spreading, dizziness, feeling of doom. This is a 911 call, immediately. If the person carries prescribed epinephrine, help them get to it — that is what it is there for, and it is used before the ambulance arrives, not instead of it.
• If you carry an EpiPen, tell your crew today and tell them where it is. Somebody unconscious cannot point at their bag. And say it even if it feels like private business — this is the one health fact that only helps if other people know it.

Ticks

• Long sleeves, trousers tucked into socks, and permethrin on clothing if you are in brush regularly. Repellent with DEET on skin.
• Check at the end of every day — behind knees, waistband, groin, armpits, hairline, behind the ears. A tick that has been on you under 24 hours rarely transmits anything.
• Remove it with fine tweezers, straight out, close to the skin. No matches, no petroleum jelly, no twisting.
• Watch it for a month. An expanding rash, fever or aching joints means a doctor, and tell them you had a tick.

Poison ivy, oak and sumac

• Three leaflets, no thorns, and it climbs as a hairy vine. The oil is in every part, including bare winter stems and the roots.
• Never burn it. The oil goes airborne in the smoke and reaches your lungs, which is a hospital problem.
• Wash skin with soap and cold water within about half an hour to remove the oil before it binds.
• The oil stays active on tools, gloves and clothing for a long time. People get a second rash from the gloves they took it off with.

Snakes and spiders

Watch where you put your hands and feet — under sheet goods, in stacked pipe, in brush. Nobody handles a snake. If somebody is bitten, keep them calm, keep the limb still and below the heart, and get them to a hospital.