Make Sure You Follow These Snow Shoveling Safety Tips!

Although we’re known as a professional landscaping company in the Spokane area, Impeccable Landscapes does more than just aerate lawns and remove trees. During the long, cold months of winter, we also provide snow removal services to many businesses and apartment complexes in Washington.

People hire us to take care of their snow removal because they know that there are lots of things that they’d rather be doing with their time than shoveling snow or trying to keep ice from forming on the sidewalk that leads to their business.

Shoveling Snow Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!

According to the US Consumer Products Safety Commission, more than 118,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices and other medical offices for injuries related to snow shoveling or manual removal of ice every year. Don’t be one of them

We’d really love to help you with snow removal service this winter (and we think you’d love it too) but if you INSIST on shoveling snow all by yourself, follow these tips to make sure you’re doing it safely.

1. Warm Up First

Snow removal is exercise, and like any form of exercise, you shouldn’t do it without properly warming up your muscles. Some stretching, squatting, and light cardiovascular exercises will ensure that everything is limbered up and ready to shovel.

2. Use The Right Shovel

Just because you bought it at the hardware store doesn’t mean it’s a good tool for removing snow from your driveway. The cheapest snow shovels are often the most cumbersome, meaning they make the job harder than it needs to be, and put you at risk for injuring yourself.

A good snow shovel is as light as possible–3 pounds or less–and features a reasonably-sized blade. Sure, a giant blade makes it seem like you can scoop snow off of half of your driveway at once, but can you really lift that much..over and over?

You should also seek out a snow shovel with a long shaft so that you don’t have to stoop when it’s time to pick up the scoop of snow. As a general guideline, the shovel (blade plus handle) should be elbow height when standing upright. We also recommend that your shovel be made of plastic or wood because metal handles get far too cold.

See? There’s a lot to think about when shoveling snow!

3. Pace, Don’t Race

We realize that shoveling snow is an unpleasant task, especially if you’re trying to get to work on time. But trying to shovel wet, heavy snow as fast as you can is a good way to a) become so winded that you give up before the task is done or b) give yourself a heart attack. Aim for 15 scoops a minute. It will seem slow at first, but when your arms and legs start getting tired, it will be  a pace that you can continue without killing yourself. Remember, slow and steady wins the snow shoveling race.

We hope these snow shoveling tips help with the task ahead, but remember, if you’d like to avoid this chore altogether, simply call Impeccable Landscapes for professional snow removal services today!