One glance is all it takes to reveal the inherent risk of construction sites. The constant buzz of machinery and construction workers in an unfinished and potentially unstable structure exposes them to a fair share of hazardous conditions.
This is true anywhere around the world, including Australia. In fact, in the country, there are on average 35 claims every day for injuries sustained during construction work—a testament to the sheer danger rooted in these development areas.
A majority of these injuries come from man-made miscalculations and errors: machinery accidents, falling objects, lacerations, and burn injuries, to name a few. Some people may sustain injuries from falling from a high place.
Other health risks like respiratory illness may also be prevalent in construction sites improperly storing and using dangerous chemicals.
With all these potential risks being a looming threat to the workers’ lives, supervisors and construction site owners need to keep the place as risk-free as possible.
Health and safety compliance isn’t only encouraged—in many places, it’s mandatory for legal operations.
If you want to stay on the good side of the law, here are six tips to help you maintain a safe construction site.
1. Conduct Safety Training For Staff
It’s not enough for you to keep your construction site as safe as possible—you must also ensure that everyone who works on your site has some knowledge of how to stay safe.
There are multiple ways you can ensure worker safety. One of them is by offering ongoing training sessions to your staff. These training sessions should consist of hands-on and practical lessons to ensure that there’ll be no room for misinterpretation. This way, they’ll know how to maintain good habits in the workplace that won’t bring them or their team in harm’s way.
Note: The training material should contain tips on how to deal with high-risk scenarios, like chemical spills and bone fractures. It should also have instructions on operating specialised equipment and machinery safely, particularly the ones you have on your construction site.
Once you progress through the construction project and undergo new processes, then it’s also important to update training programs for your staff to ensure they’re on top of the latest safety protocols.
This way, you can minimise and prevent emergencies from the outset.
2. Create Emergency Plans
Let’s be real: things can go wrong on the construction site, even if you’ve set up stringent preventative measures.
As such, it’s important to prepare your team on ways to respond to these potential emergencies.
For example, suppose a hazardous chemical has spilled and is at risk of contaminating the place. In that case, you need to have a designated storage holding area and specialised equipment called bunded storage to contain this spillage. Click here to learn more about this type of storage container.
Furthermore, if there’s an accident in the workplace, you need to have someone on the shift who can administer a first-aid response. Furthermore, you should have accessible medical equipment and a first-aid kit on-site at all times.
By being prepared, you’re reducing the risk of expensive medical bills for your staff as well as long delays at the construction site. So be sure to adequately prepare for these moments.
We wish you the best in your construction process!
3. Enforce PPE Policies
Another way to mitigate personal injuries is by ensuring that workers adhere to strict attire policies.
If your construction site is full of hazardous activities and materials, it’s important to have personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure a high standard of safety.
Note: PPE equipment consists of clothing such as helmets, safety glasses, gloves, and boots. It also consists of a suit for more hazardous construction projects, like when dealing with asbestos removal.
By enforcing PPE policies, you’re promoting a culture of safety to the entire workforce. This, in turn, can help in minimising accidents from happening.
Furthermore, and most importantly, it can also serve as protection for when the workers have to directly deal with hazardous materials—which can be the difference maker in them getting long-term health issues or getting away scot-free.
4. Set up and Follow Signs
Rules and guidelines are crucial markers that guide people to safety—and in an environment as dynamic and risky as construction sites, this is an indispensable addition.
Signposts help inform others of hazardous areas or potential risks when engaging with certain equipment. It can also instruct people on what they can tamper with and what they can’t. They also serve as navigational markers that can help people find their way around an area.
If people neglect signs, they may end up hurting themselves or wandering somewhere where they’re not supposed to be. This can be troublesome for multiple parties, but especially the victim if they end up needing to go to the hospital because of failing to read these signs.
Having said that, it’s crucial for site owners to put up signs that help promote worker safety. This not only ensures your workforce stays productive and healthy, but it also helps stop random passersby from wandering around the construction site, getting lost, and potentially damaging materials.
5. Inspect Equipment and Tools
Your construction workforce is most definitely going to have some tools and equipment with them to help them undergo the project.
But if you want to ensure that these tools don’t break down on you or are inefficient due to wear and tear during the property development process, then you have to regularly inspect them and ensure they are up to par.
If your tools aren’t as potent as they once were, such as a blade that’s been dulled or a creaking wirecutter, then you should look into having them replaced.
Craft a system with the project supervisor to track down the health of the tools and machinery used on site over time. You can keep track of them using a spreadsheet or a physical checklist.
The same inspection concept applies to construction vehicles like cranes, excavators, and bulldozers. Be sure to regularly maintain and inspect these tools; having them getting too worn out can lead to inefficiencies (or injuries) in the construction project.
If you notice any problems, replace parts of the vehicle or rent out a different vehicle entirely. This can ensure productivity remains the same while simultaneously keeping workers in safe hands.
6. Foster Open Communication
If you’re leading a team of construction workers, get them to engage in a culture of open and honest communication.
Encouraging workers to share their concerns, suggestions, and observations can be the difference maker in sweeping construction-related issues under the rug and having the project built to completion.
Communication shouldn’t only be done amidst working. There should be proper avenues where workers and supervisors can coordinate with each other more formally.
For instance, there can be weekly meetings, daily huddles, and even anonymous reporting tools that can facilitate dialogue between relevant parties.
By promoting team-orientedness, everyone will feel valued in the collective, which can lead to better productivity and a happier workforce overall.
