Each year, fatalities and injuries occur at construction sites due to the dangers that surround them. Over 47.4% of all fatal occupational injuries took place in the transportation and material moving ,construction and extraction industries. The most common ways construction workers are critically injured or killed are falls, electrocutions, heavy equipment rollovers, and falling scaffolding. Construction site safety requires a considerable amount of planning and effort. To make any construction site safer, here are a few tips and suggestions.
Establish a Safety Culture in the Workplace
The best way to ensure your safety culture is to engage each and every employee. One of the cornerstones of your company’s culture should be a commitment to safety.
Your safety manager should form an executive, managerial, operational, and labor team to oversee and review safety performance. This is a good way to make the point that each employee is responsible for their own safety.
Prepare a Site-Specific Safety Plan
To effectively manage a project from start to finish, construction planning must determine the required resources and determine the order and duration of specific tasks. Plan out what safety measures can be put in place to reduce hazards and prevent accidents by evaluating the site and determining any current hazards.
As you put together your construction plan, examine each phase of it. Identify which jobs require safety precautions, personal protective equipment (PPE), and safety training to keep all employees safe.
Make sure everyone on the site is aware of the plan. You should not only consider your own employees, including site supervisors and workers, but also everyone else working on the project, including subcontractors.
Conduct Safety Training
All employees must receive a thorough safety orientation, covering all expectations and safety regulations. The program should also cover evacuation and first aid. Employees should not only know how to perform a task effectively, but also how to do it in such a way as to keep themselves and everyone around them safe.
Make sure everyone who works on the job site is aware of these important issues regarding driving on the job site: Use the specified exits and access points when exiting and entering job sites. The exits should be clearly marked.
A pre-use inspection should be conducted on all vehicles to ensure they are in good working order and free of visible defects that could result in an accident. The number of seats in a vehicle must be enough to transport the number of workers in that vehicle. Copies of the inspections should be kept. If there is any damage, notify the appropriate person and ensure the vehicle gets repaired before it is used.
You should ensure that your employees know how to prevent any accidents on-site, as well as accidents involving bystanders near the construction site:
- Maintain back-up alarms
- Check the area you for any construction hazards as well as other workers and pedestrians
- Back up the truck using a -trained, visible spotter
Allow Workers to Voice Their Concerns and Hold Each Other Accountable
Anyone on the job site, whether they are a safety manager or a construction worker, should feel free to speak out if they see harmful working conditions. Whenever they feel there is a concern that needs attention, they should feel free to express it.
Assure all employees understand their responsibility for their own safety and the welfare of others around them. When they fear retaliation, they won’t speak out about unsafe working conditions.
Establish Daily Safety Meetings
Conduct short safety meetings to emphasize its importance. Every shift should start with a review of the job being done that day and a discussion of the hazards and safety procedures involved.
Ensure all concerns about potential hazards are addressed before starting work. Talk about any accidents or near-misses that occurred during the previous shift. Discuss any instances of when workers were caught not following safety rules and others who used proper procedures.
Have everyone check their personal protective equipment and tools before starting work to make sure everything is in good working order.
Evaluate Your Work site And Adjust It When Necessary
Construction sites should be inspected before and after each workday. Tools and equipment should be checked to ensure that guards and safety controls are in place. Check that scaffolding and ladders are in working condition and usable. Clean and well-maintained sites prevent workers from tripping over misplaced tools and waste materials.
Keep Everyone Safe with an Updated Safety Plan
Safety managers and safety committees need to review the safety strategy as construction progresses. Decide which measures work, which areas need attention, and where extra training may be needed.
New safety threats emerge as work develops, so it is crucial to adjust the safety plan with changing work conditions. A zero injury environment at every construction site is achievable with careful planning and implementation.
If an injury does occur, we are your partner in injury treatment and coordination of care for employees who require the care of a specialist.