The modern landscape of industry is made up of greater varieties of businesses than ever before. Today’s workers are just as likely to find opportunity offshore or in a specialized environment as they would in a traditional workplace like a construction site or manufacturing facility. But no matter the business, the No. 1 priority remains the same: keeping workers safe on the site.
Most companies spend a great deal of time and resources planning and implementing a comprehensive safety strategy, but they often take for granted one of the most important aspects of a safe workplace: reliable, plentiful and appropriately rated lighting. WorkSite Lighting, based in Prairieville, Louisiana, is a company that is looking to help businesses avoid that mistake by presenting a full array of solutions driven by the needs of work crews in diverse environments worldwide.
“One of our main goals as a company is to provide innovative lighting and portable power solutions that not only meet our customers’ regulatory needs but exceed their expectations with regard to quality and safety,” said WorkSite Lighting CEO Bill Matthews. “We want to help companies understand the importance of safe lighting and how it can be a centerpiece of safety planning. One of the ways we do that is by taking the time to talk to businesses about the types of products they need and designing unique products that address specific problems on the worksite.”
WorkSite Lighting specializes in creating explosion-proof lighting and portable power solutions for hazardous work environments, and Airgas On-Site Safety is one company that receives its inline explosion-proof lighting from WorkSite Lighting.
Airgas On-Site Safety’s regional manager of the West Coast, John van Kooy, is a repeat customer with WorkSite Lighting.
“I used WorkSite Lighting at another company, and I chose them again based on previous positive experience with them,” van Kooy said. “WorkSite Lighting’s experience, products and service make them a good choice for us.”
Airgas uses the inline explosion-proof lights for its rental business. “That type of lighting is usually event-driven lighting used for turnaround work,” explained van Kooy. “A lot of times those orders come late and have to be rushed, and WorkSite Lighting is usually quick to respond.”
WorkSite Lighting also specializes in helping companies meet or exceed tight safety standards and regulations for their type of industry. Standard lighting is not an acceptable solution for these environments as the potential for explosion or fire can be dangerously high. Examples of places where these conditions can exist are fueling stations, munitions storage, paint booths, grain elevators, mines, confined storage tanks, offshore rigs and oil field operations. Explosion-proof lighting is specially designed to eliminate the threat of sparking and to reduce radiant heat from the light source. These lights do more than just help a worksite reach compliance with safety regulations. They save the lives of workers by reducing the variables that could cause a potentially deadly accident.
The ability and readiness to innovate is what sets WorkSite Lighting apart from similar companies as many of its products are designed with knowledge gained from field experience and interaction with those who know hazardous environments best. Its customers also agree its quality products set it apart from its competition.
Dow Drobish, BS&G Rentals’ operations manager, believes WorkSite Lighting offers exceptional quality products and excellent customer service.
“WorkSite Lighting is a great choice because its employees are great, its products are great and its service is great,” said Drobish, who was first introduced to the company at the Offshore Technology Conference.
Drobish, whose company gets its LED rail lights and LED light plants from WorkSite Lighting, said he would use its services again.
“I like the way WorkSite Lighting conducts its business by offering quality service and knowledge about its products,” added Drobish. “You can’t go wrong with WorkSite Lighting.”
One example of WorkSite Lighting’s innovative, quality products is its exclusive Frac Tank Light. Specially designed for tank cleaning and inspection, the Frac Tank Light is explosion proof, corrosion resistant and impact and vibration resistant. It features two instant-on 70-watt LED lamps, each providing 5,800 lumens of clear, true-to-color light. The Frac Tank Light is unique because of its compact and adjustable frame, which allows workers to carry the unit through the narrowest openings. The unit is also designed to be hung from the lip of a manway opening and can even be climbed over in an emergency, allowing workers an unimpeded escape from a dangerous environment if necessary.
“The Frac Tank Light reflects our commitment to designing a product to fit a specific application,” said Alex Robeau, WorkSite Lighting’s vice president of business development and co-founder. “We wanted to create a product that was not only explosion-proof but smart in the way it is mounted in a confined space. It’s one thing to provide explosion-proof lighting, but an added advantage is placing that lighting in a way that provides a genuine upgrade to safety beyond its explosion-proof properties.”
Another lighting innovation pioneered by WorkSite Lighting is the Crane Mount Light, which is unique because of where it is attached — overhead on the boom of a crane. The Crane Mount Light illuminates a wide work area, making it easier for the crane operator to see workers and objects below, with fewer shadows. This allows the crane operator to work more quickly and safely, and allows a site to operate more hours in low light. What’s more, the Crane Mount Light can be outfitted with up to four 1,000-watt metal halide lamps, each rated at more than 110,000 lumens.
Offshore rigs place a premium on space; the smaller the footprint of an object on deck, the better. That was the idea behind another WorkSite Lighting innovation: a vertical mast for its Offshore Light Tower. Prior to WorkSite Lighting’s modification, offshore towers featured horizontal masts, which had to be positioned upward and locked into place. By incorporating a vertical mast and designing a more compact frame, WorkSite Lighting now offers a powerful lighting and power generation unit for offshore use with less space consumed than standard offshore light towers.
If a customer has a special need, WorkSite Lighting also provides customization options on most of its products. This is especially true of its portable power distribution units, which can be tailored to customer needs in terms of voltage, number and type of receptacle and frame design. Portable power distribution units greatly increase the availability of safe electrical power on a worksite.
WorkSite Lighting can also make electrical power and light available for work crews simultaneously through its offshore and mobile light towers, both of which are powered by diesel generators. Both towers feature customizable electrical distribution receptacles in addition to customizable lamps and generator motors.
Portable pneumatic power is also available from WorkSite Lighting through its skid-mounted 210 cubic feet per minute portable air compressor, which can be moved by forklift or four-point pickup. It’s another way in which WorkSite Lighting responded to the needs of workers on site, who now have another option to power air tools on the job, as well as a reliable alternative to fixed air compressors, which restrict their range.
“I don’t really even look for anyone else on lighting,” stated van Kooy. “WorkSite Lighting has my business. Their quality is always there, and they are able to always get what I need and in the time frame I need it. That is worth everything to me.”
For more information, visit www.worksitelighting.com or call (877) 861-5255.