I am training a couple new guys and my first rule is about phone usage.From the time you arrive at the yard in the morning they can check their phone once before they leave the yard,once before they get out ready to set up the pump,and once when they leave the job.Zero phone usage when riding or waiting on concrete,period.i mean check the phone and not spend time talking to your boyfriends.When arriving at the yard they cannot play on their device at all,they are required to get out of the truck and begin the end of day routine.Does this seem like reasonable treatment and training method for a possible future operator?

i suppose you are payed by your company to train them.then train them by company rules, no more no less. Remember when you learn a monkey to climb you get the coconuts on your head. 

Cell phones are a ticking time bomb.  Were all guilty but when it's your business your butt is the one on the line.  Seems like a signed company policy rule sheet would be good back up for liability.

Constantly being on your cell phone ,whether at work or not,removes a person from being aware of what is happening around them. I live in SE Louisiana which is full of people who will either run you over or worse,I need to pay attention to what is going on around me,

I think its way to strickt. What if there is some problem with the pump? Or they want to let dispatch know the job is running late? Then its suddenly ok to use it? Whats the problem if the operator checks his phone when he needs to wait for concrete for an hour ? Or gives a call home to tell what time he's comming home? In my eyes you are treating them like children. You trust them with a $200.000+ machine but can't trust them to use their phone in a sensible way? It should be enough to tell them to only use the phone when they have good time for it and not let it go out over maintainance and stuff.. I wouldn't except a treatment like that. That said I am not a trainee.. (Just my honest opinion;-)

I am in total agreement. I don't even let my guys keep them in their pockets when pumping, it stays in the cab. They can go back to the cab to check it between loads.  Don't forget there's a guy at the end of that line whose life can be ended in a blink if something happens. Even if they aren't going to answer it the ring or vibration can distract an operator and that's all that take for tragedy. I don't even take my phone out of the cab. 

Good work Train them all like that, I do and I have sent several good operators out there and the phone is sitting on the dash while they pump. oh and those machines are 500k.

I know what pumps cost. 200.000 and up for a propper used one. So 200k is the cheapest machine they will be running.

A deadly accident because a phone is vibrating in your pocket? How do we even come up with these problems? Can we not handle any distraction anymore? Shall we also say nobody can talk to the operator anymore? No pictures may be taken on the buildingsite using flash? No noise from grinding or drilling etc? 

There are also pump remotes that vibrate when the battery is going empty. Is that also dangerous?

But of course any pump company should figure out its own way of doing things. I just think its quite practical to be able to contact the operators out there. And an operator that can't handle a slight vibration in his pocket while pumping should not be on any pump in my opinion. 

I mean.. You feel the phone vibrating, You empty the load, stop the pump and look who it was. If its someone important like dispatch you call them back. If its not important you just ignore it. What's the problem? I just don't see it.. I've been running pumps for almost 20 years. Always had my phone with me in my pocket. It never even came up in my mind that this could cause any problem..

as I do not usually agree with Bis , but Dipstick and pumpnfinish you are taking for granted that these operators/trainees will do as you do and not have the phone hanging from their ear while pumping a elevated deck or a wall with a hoseman walking it , yes in a world where guys acted and did things the appropriate way this is way to strict , but from what I see everyday it is a policy that needs to be in place , the good always have to pay for the bad.

https://www.facebook.com/johanolie/videos/10208439905146918/

The worst example an operator using his phone to film his own work. so yes Dipstick we are the last boy scouts

Guess i just care more about the poor guy at the end of the hose hanging from the boom i'm controlling than the damn phone.