Construction Safety Advice Your Workers Will Love You For

Article published on Mar 08, 2018 Construction Safety Advice Your Workers Will Love You For

As the manager at a construction site, the single most important thing you can do when delivering the building is to ensure the construction safety and security of all the people on your crew and all the people that may pass by. The life-and-limb safety assurances of these people is paramount to your job as the manager of the site.

So what kind of accidents occur, and how can you prevent them from happening? This is an important topic; not paying attention could lead to fatalities (in fact, according to OSHA statistics, around one-in-five fatalities on the job were in the construction industry).

Here’s an easy to follow construction safety guide to the most common causes of accidents on a construction site, and how you can work to prevent them.

Slips and falls

On most construction sites, there will be work taking place at heights. That means that there is always the chance that a missed step - or another kind of mistake - could set one of your workers up for a harmful fall. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be at a great height for a slip and a fall to end up doing a large amount of damage.

How can you prevent this? Well, for starters - for people working at height, make sure they have fall protection in case of accident. Make sure harnesses and lifelines are constantly inspected and in good working order, and be sure that any debris or materials that may cause slips and falls are promptly removed from dangerous areas.

Electrocution

With the heavy wiring and electrical work that comes with any building project comes the very real danger of electrocution. This type of accident, according to the prior OSHA statistics, makes up about 8% of all construction accidents. With the types of currents running through buildings, these electrocutions could lead to extreme injury or death.

How can you prevent this? Through extreme safety measures. Make absolutely sure the right type of workers are doing the right type of tasks - if they don’t have the training to be doing electrical work, they shouldn’t be doing it. Additionally, make sure all of the workers who ARE doing the electrical work are fully informed and briefed about the technical details and dangers that come along with the installation.

“Worker Motion”

This type of injury refers to the problems that happen when workers twist or move themselves into a position that can provide pain. It’s not a pleasant one, but it’s very common.

How can you prevent this? Encourage workers to stretch out and get loose before shifts, avoid carrying too much weight over small periods of time, and try to avoid sudden movements as much as possible. Also consider laying out some of these durable construction mats to prevent slippage.

Hand Tool Harming

Hand tools like box cutters, drills, sanders and grinders are also common causes of injuries and can compromise construction safety on site..

How can you prevent this? Again, by proper training in the use of these hand tools and by ensuring that protective materials (like gloves) are worn on all occasions.

Vehicular accident

With all the heavy trucks and equipment on the jobsite, there is always the potential for something to go haywire with vehicles.

How can you prevent this? Having the right and qualified people to drive these vehicles is the best start for safety; additionally, use safety materials like jersey barriers to block off the areas where you need the vehicles to go.