Accidents happen all the time in the construction industry. However, while working at a construction site is inherently dangerous, it doesn’t mean that accidents should happen. In fact, with the proper procedures, training, and equipment, you should be able to prevent accidents entirely.
Your construction site safety largely comes down to your ability to manage the site and your employees. A smart manager knows that safe and healthy employees are more productive employees. And even though you carry worker’s compensation insurance, you don’t necessarily want to use it.
We can help. Keep reading for a quick guide on workplace safety at construction sites.
Conduct Regular Inspections
Common sense tells us that a construction site will naturally be more dangerous than an office space. There’s heavy equipment being used, power tools being used, and no shortage of hard, sharp, and dangerous materials. Furthermore, construction jobs are incredibly physical.
Yet, all of these factors point to one thing – the necessity of regular job site inspections. This is one of the best ways of ensuring construction site safety. You or another supervisor should constantly be walking around and checking the site for hazardous conditions or situations that need to be remedied.
Provide Each Contractor With the Proper Safety Equipment
In the construction industry, employee safety is paramount. If your contractors are constantly getting hurt, it means a delay in production. More importantly, construction site injuries have the potential to be permanent and/or life-altering.
As such, you must provide your staff with the necessary safety equipment for construction. This includes hard hats, sandblast helmet, gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, knee pads, and more. Furthermore, these employees must understand how important it is for them to comply with the requirements of using this equipment.
Fence Off the Site to the Public
When considering construction site safety, you also need to think about people who don’t actually belong at the site. This could be curious children, teenagers looking for an off-limits place to party, etc.
Though they don’t belong there, it’s up to you to fence off the area and keep them out. This is for two reasons.
First, putting a fence around your construction site, complete with “no trespassing” signs, reduces your liability. If someone climbs the fence and ends up getting hurt on the site, it’s not on you. Second, a fence will deter most children who might stumble onto your site, not knowing the potential hazards that it contains.
Ensure Each Contractor is Properly Trained and Certified
Finally, construction site safety depends on the experience and expertise of everyone present at the site. Therefore, it’s important to carefully screen the contractors who will be working on the site to ensure they possess the licenses and certifications that allow them to be there and conduct the work.
For example, someone without an electrician’s license has no business working on electrical. However, you also need to take time to train each employee regarding workplace safety. This can be done through morning briefs, through online programs, etc.
Want to Maximize Construction Site Safety?
If you want to maintain positive workplace morale, you need to keep your employees safe and healthy. You can do this by following our guide to maximizing construction site safety. Remember, just because accidents can happen, it doesn’t mean they should.
And if you’re looking for more business or safety tips, stick around. Read through some of our other business articles to find more helpful information and guidance.