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Ensure that your workers leave the site unharmed at the end of every shift. Here are a few tips to promote construction worker safety.
Construction sites can be dangerous places. Whether you are working alongside a busy highway or constructing a residential or commercial building, there are many people with all sorts of heavy machinery around.
In most places, job-related accidents and injuries are nuisances. On construction sites, they can be deadly.
As an employer, you are responsible for safe workplace practices. While there is always a risk of accidents, taking steps to ensure the safety of your construction team mitigates the risk and typically allows your workers to leave the site unharmed at the end of every shift.
Common Hazards on Construction Sites
Construction projects are prone to various hazards, including falls, electrocution, caught-in or between hazards, and struck-by hazards.
Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in the construction industry, accounting for 4 out of 10 Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) citations. Electrical incidents are also common on construction sites.
Importance of Safety in Construction
Emphasizing safety in your construction risk management program is essential to prevent injuries and fatalities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in construction, mining, transportation, and moving materials accounted for nearly half of the 5,486 total fatal workplace issues in 2022.
In all, a worker died from a work-related injury every 96 minutes in 2022.
Construction Risk Management Process: Where to Start
Encouraging construction worker safety is crucial to preventing injuries and fatalities in the construction industry. But where do you start with your risk management program?
Conduct a Risk Assessment
Start by conducting a risk assessment to identify risks and ensure hazards are identified and addressed. Risk assessments should always be conducted when new equipment or processes are introduced.
Coach Employees on Construction Risks and Safety Hazards
Every worker should be able to recognize common hazards on construction sites. These include fall hazards, electrocution hazards, falling objects, and other project risks.
Awareness is an important first step in ensuring construction site safety. Before any worker sets foot on a construction site, they need to be fully aware of all the potential risks that come with working on an active construction site.
Teach employees how to avoid hazards and what to do if they notice a particularly dangerous situation. Your company should emphasize its stance on always wanting to improve safety. Building awareness leads to more knowledgeable and informed workers who can avoid construction accidents.
Ensure Employees Know Their Role in Safety
As part of your risk management practices, you should implement a new construction site safety plan for each construction project.
Employees should have a clear understanding of site safety rules, where to find safety equipment, OSHA regulations, your company's safety guidelines, and how to identify warning signs.
Construction companies should never assume employees automatically know how to operate any type of machinery or even how to navigate a construction site safely.
A construction workplace safety plan should spell out what personal protective equipment (PPE) is needed, when fall protection is required, procedures for reporting incidents and near-misses, protective gear, safety practices, staying safe in environmental conditions, and so on.
The primary purpose of your risk management plan is to protect workers from all potential hazards, from minimal to more serious injuries.
Train, Train, Train
Lack of proper training often leads to potentially life threatening accidents. Many of a construction worker’s skills can be learned on the job, but safety must be taught intentionally rather than learned from experience during a construction project.
Train all of your new laborers on construction site safety tips before they set foot on the job site. If you are not sure how to manage construction risks, OSHA has excellent resources for identifying potential risks, mitigating risks, and developing strategies for your risk management program. Resources include pamphlets, training videos, worksheets, and more.
Track Attendance
Sometimes workers get relaxed about safety when they become comfortable with their jobs. Make sure all workers, including experienced employees, attend training sessions throughout the year to ensure their knowledge and skills remain fresh, and document their attendance.
In the event an employee is injured on a construction project and tries to claim they were unaware of appropriate safety procedures, your documentation will prove useful.
Require the Right Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Most construction projects are busy, chaotic places filled with people, equipment, and construction materials. Wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) can prevent injuries from falls, electrocution, and other hazards. This includes proper safety gear like hard hats, protective gloves, safety glasses or other protective eyewear, hearing protection, and half-face respirator.
PPE can also prevent long-term health problems, such as hearing loss and lung disease.
HiVis Clothing
Construction workers should always wear high visibility vests (HiVis) and clothing. It does not matter if the project risk is minimal due to a closed job site or if they are working along the side of a busy highway, HiVis clothing should be worn to ensure employees can see exactly where everyone is at all times.
Outfitting all your workers with the right safety gear is vital for maintaining a productive workplace.
Make Clear Communication a Priority
Lack of communication is a leading cause of workplace injuries. When workers do not know what to do or what to expect, they are more likely to make mistakes that could lead to accidental injuries.
As part of your construction risk management strategy, you should equip your team with walkie-talkies, smartphones, or headsets to allow for efficient and fast communication.
Encourage workers to reach out to you or a supervisor directly if they have any questions or concerns. Keeping an open line of communication is a simple step that can prevent a lot of workplace injuries.
Get Your Workers Involved
Create a safety team that includes members from all levels of your company. This team should be involved in reviewing and updating your safety procedures for each construction project. They should also be tasked with creating specific safety plans for each construction site during the preconstruction phase of the project.
Gather input from employees to create a corrective action plan that addresses what will happen when safety procedures are violated. Involving your project team in the formulation plan makes them feel more invested and valued.
Develop an accident response team consisting of a few workers who have basic first aid training. Choose employees who know what to do in the event of an accidental injury. They should also know how to mitigate existing hazards after an accident occurs.
Creating and reviewing accurate site plans is critical to a construction project's safety standards. A digital solution that complements this process is the ability to create floor plans on Canva. This enables seamless design modifications and collaborations among team members, which can contribute to safer construction practices.
When you involve your employees in creating, implementing and enforcing safety procedures, they are more likely to take safety risks on the job seriously. They are also more likely to reach out to you with questions or concerns if they already feel like their input is valued.
Conduct Daily Site Inspections
Do not create safety procedures and then forget about them! At the beginning and end of each workday, inspect the site to detect and address any possible safety concerns.
Is there any damage?
Check for damage to tools or equipment and other potential problems. Check in throughout the day with your inspecting tools to make sure everything still looks good.
Hold Daily Safety Meetings
Before work starts each morning, employees need to be fully aware of all the potential near miss accidents that come with working on an active construction site. Hold a short safety meeting and discuss the tasks that are scheduled for the day, as well as safety procedures that need to be followed.
Acknowledge any good practices from the previous day and address any problems or mistakes. Allow time for your team members to ask questions or raise their own concerns. A quick meeting ensures that safety is at the forefront of everyone’s minds as they start their day.
The Bottom Line
Working in construction can be dangerous. Fortunately, by making safety your top priority, you can avoid accidents and ensure the safety of your construction team.
For additional construction safety tips or help with implementing safety measures, please contact your certified HR expert. Not a current Stratus HR client? Book a free consultation and our team will contact you shortly.