5 Simple Ways to Protect Your Construction Workers from Workplace Injuries

Not only overlooking health and safety can give rise to dire consequences for you and your construction team, but can also drag you through the courts, getting you into tons of legal trouble. You can get slapped with hefty fines for having failed to provide a safe work environment, putting a big dent in your profit. In the worst-case scenario, your reputation will likely be shattered, and taking it to its former glory can take considerable effort and time. Despite these foreseeable repercussions, many construction businesses tend to cut corners on health and safety and instead prioritize cost savings and profit margins.

According to the OHSA, one-fifth of all workplace injuries occurred in the construction industry, pushing the construction industry to the top of the list of the most hazardous industry in the U.S. On average, two construction workers perish each day, while thousands more are severely injured.

Regardless of if you have just started a construction business or have been running a construction firm for quite some time, ensuring the provision of a work environment that is safe and without health-related risks should be of the utmost importance and priority. There are several ways to weave a culture of health and safety into the fabric of your construction team, and they won’t cost you cost an arm and a leg.

Create Health and Safety Awareness

Before a worker is allowed to set foot on a construction site, he or she must be made fully aware of all the possible hazards. In the construction industry, an ignorant worker is probably one of the biggest threats to the health and safety of the workforce. Knowing the dangers associated with a job while maintaining a state of alertness is an effective means to prevent workplace accidents.

Every single person on your construction team should be aware of the risks related to the job and the proper ways to prevent them. It is your responsibility to ensure that they are aware of the dangers that arise from working at a construction site and conducting the allocated tasks, and also that they have been informed of the ways to avoid getting hurt and causing injuries. Workers who possess no knowledge of construction site safety must not be allowed on construction sites.

Ensure Employees Utilize the Correct Personal Protection Equipment

To effectively institutionalize a working culture of health and safety, you must give your employees the proper gear. Without the provision of the correct equipment, you won’t be able to maintain a safe working environment for your employees as there will always be a risk of injury resulting from the use of improper safety gear.

You should make sure that all OHSA-required PPE is readily accessible and that each of your employees uses the correct PPE at all times. Using the correct PPE can mean the difference between a non-life-threatening injury and a fatal injury.

Your employees must only be using the PPE that is relative to the types of jobs they are conducting. Construction workers who are equipped with incorrect gear are likely to make errors, risking the lives of others working in the same vicinity. Not only this, but you should also ensure all safety equipment is well maintained.

Provide Health and Safety Training

Construction workers gradually gain most of their skills through working in the field over a while, but the skills of working safely are different. Safety is the most fundamental skill set that construction workers must have before they enter job sites.

OSHA and other agencies have published a ton of resources that you can use to train your construction team on safety practices, including worksheets, training videos, and pamphlets. Several organizations have gone beyond this by providing both online and face-to-face training sessions. You should encourage your employees – no matter how experienced they are – to refresh their knowledge of safety by regularly participating in safety training sessions. These sessions can go over simple topics like fall protection and the correct use of ladders, but the main objective is to make sure that everyone on your team is properly trained.

Working in such a dynamic environment where the probability of fatalities and injuries is relatively high necessitates proper training. Untrained construction workers can easily get injured or killed, but having arrogant workers makes everything worse. You may need to take them down a peg or two to effectively prevent workplace injuries that will jeopardize you financially and ethically.

Keep Your Workplace Tidy

Keeping the workplace tidy is one of the simple things that will contribute to the provision of a safe working environment for your construction team. Maintaining a reasonable level of tidiness and cleanliness helps to prevent accidents like trips, slips, and other easily-preventable mishaps.

Something as simple as having a pile of tangled hoses on the floor or tools that have been left on the ground can pose a tripping and slipping hazard. You should make sure that your team is paying attention to the tidiness and cleanliness of the job site – not only it will make the job site look neater, but also a safer place to work at.

Maintain Clear Signages and Proper Documentation

There are some legal barriers that construction companies must address before they begin building, and they have to obtain all proper registrations, licenses, and permits before commencing their work.

You must properly keep all your legal documents in a safe place and maintain plenty of copies of these documents. Additionally, you have to ensure proper documentation of everything in terms of health and safety that is going to occur or to be done at your job site. It will protect you from public scrutiny and legal trouble down the road.

Last but not least, construction sites are dangerous places where many little things can go out of hand, endangering the lives of workers and the public. It is important that you highlight any hazards with posters or signage to bring the attention of everyone nearby to the presence of the hazards. This is a cost-effective way to reduce accidents – dangers like falling objects, turning of heavy and heavy vehicles, and use of hazardous chemicals can be indicated with signages or posters.

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