SPLICES OF COLOR

When it comes to conveyor lift maintenance, some of the most common areas to monitor are the splices on the belt. Typically, belts fail first at a splice. When one starts to come apart, it can catch on the conveyor’s trip plate, for example, and stop the lift. And the belts on many conveyors have more than one splice. A simple way to keep track of the individual splices is to paint them with different colors, as Shawnee, Pa., has done. That way, staff can identify not just that a splice needs attention, but which splice. For example, a liftie might report, “The blue splice is coming apart, and needs to be fixed.”

DRYING MADE SIMPLE

It’s a fact of life in many ops departments: boots and gloves get wet and make life uncomfortable. We have seen more than one home-made drying system in break rooms, but this one, in the patrol room at Shawnee, Pa., is one of the more clever examples. It’s made of PVC pipe (which can often be salvaged from around the resort) and a simple blower. The blower recirculates hot air—it’s in a patrol room, remember—from the ceiling through the PVC pipes and to the boots and/or gloves. Holes in the end caps of the drying arms restrict the air flow so that recirculating air reaches the end of the drying line. No fancy heaters needed. Cost: minimal. Comfort: priceless.

GOT A LIGHT?

This idea came from a place we shall call Smokey Mountain. Creating these low-cost lights is a great way to recycle all manner of translucent containers—in this case, one-gallon milk jugs. The jugs have sand in the bottom, for ballast, so they can be used in a variety of locations and environments. The sand helps stabilize the candles, too, and the containers shield the candles from the wind. If your resort happens to have some chi-chi translucent containers, this could be an upscale way to light up the night. Full disclosure: we saw this bright idea at a nursing home.