construction sites
The construction industry is one of those industries that need to maintain high-level of safety standards because each year a large number of workers lose their lives while working on construction, renovation and demolition projects. In addition to that, a significant number of workers experience serious injuries due to which they have to quit their jobs.
The injuries received by construction workers at job sites affect their personal and professional lives to a great extent. Therefore, it is important for general contractors to hire a safety manager or safety officer. While executing both large and small scale construction projects.
Slips, trips, and falls are very common on construction sites which lead to serious injuries, therefore necessary steps should be implemented to reduce such problems. So, if you are a general contractor, here is how you can ensure safety to construction workers.
1. Create Safety Awareness Among Workers
One of the very first steps in raising the safety on construction sites is to create an awareness among the workers about the possible hazards. This makes them more responsible even before they set foot on job site.
2. Hire a safety officer
One of the first steps that you should take towards ensuring safety to construction workers is to hire an experienced safety officer who has an in-depth knowledge of construction safety trends. It is the responsibility of safety officer to ensure that proper safety policies are followed by the workers. Safety offers have to be accountable for introducing and implementing the policies that help minimize the risk of accidents and injuries.
A safety offer is accountable for carrying out site safety inspections which help in minimizing slips, trips, and falls.
3. Give Proper Training To Workers
Sites worker
Before you assign a task to the workers on the job site, it is important for you to provide necessary training to them. Make sure that you give relevant training to the workers so that they can perform their duties effectively. For example, if you talk about the workers who have to transfer materials and equipment from one place to another, they must be aware of all the important safety measures which can prevent them from slips, falls and trips.
They must know how to hold a particular equipment safely so that they do not injure themselves in the process of moving it from one place to another. Similarly, when it comes to using power tools and heavy machines you must give proper training to workers. They must know how to use power tools and other equipment safely to stay away from potential accidents.
4. Hire Trained Demolition Workers
If in case you are working on a demolition project wherein you have to demolish certain parts of a building or structure, then you must take the support of well-trained demolition workers. You can hire controlled demolition services like Brokk demolition or hydraulic bursting to improve safety on construction sites. The best part of hiring these services is that they produce very less dust and noise.
That proves to be very helpful for the health of the workers. The use of dust-free and noise-free demolition techniques helps in safeguarding construction workers from diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, lung cancer, and breathing problems. In addition to that, construction dust also leads to several skin problems and eye infections. So if you use effective techniques you can easily prevent workers from facing those problems.
5. Improve Communication Between Workers
It is very important that workers on job site can easily communicate with each other during a problem. You can give them necessary tools to enhance communication, which can prove to be very helpful in improving their safety. Most of the times, when an accident takes place on a job site, workers fail to communicate with other workers, which create enormous problems for them. One of the biggest problems faced by workers in the lack of communication is that they fail to receive the necessary help at the right time.
6. Provide Proper Safety Gear To Workers.
Providing all the important safety gear to construction workers is very important for improving their safety. Each worker on the job site must have necessary safety gear. Such as safety shoes, proper clothes, safety vest, helmet, masks, and proper goggles etc.
Apart from that, you should try to keep the workers away from moving vehicles. Also, clean the site frequently to ensure a quality working environment for them.