Top tips for improving construction site safety

Construction sites can be incredibly dangerous places for workers and any visitors to the site. You can avoid many accidents by taking a few simple steps to improve worksite safety – this includes properly educating everybody onsite, using high-quality safety gear and enhancing communication.

There are hardly few industries as hazardous as the construction sector. Unfortunately, accidents occur on construction sites on a regular basis and cause a tremendous amount of damage and even cost lives. With this in mind, it is vital that site managers carefully assess the safety of their construction sites and look for ways to make it safer for everybody.

Here are a few tips for boosting construction site safety:

Discuss with employees

First, you will want to meet with your workers to discuss safety in the workplace. You can remind them of how they can work safely, but this also provides them with a platform to highlight how safety can be improved. For instance, the addition of an Emergency planning and response team could make your workers feel a bit safer around the work they do.
This is effective because it makes them aware of certain dangers in their roles that you may not consider.

Education

Once you identify the hazards around the workplace, you will need to educate everybody onsite about these and how can they stay safe. You can communicate this at the point of entry to visitors, but you should also place construction signs around the area so that people are always aware.

Safety Gear

In addition to being educated, everybody onsite should also have the necessary safety equipment to reduce the chance of sustaining an injury in case an accident occurs. This safety gear may include goggles, hardhats, work gloves, high visibility jackets, and sturdy footwear. As all construction workers will be required to wear this type of gear for every project they work on, there are many places where you can purchase them from. For example, they can be bought from BIG Safety and other companies alike.

Check equipment and tools

A large percentage of accidents occur due to faulty equipment or tools. Therefore, you should check every piece carefully and must avoid usage of any faulty piece of equipment.

Communication

Another contributing factor to accidents in the workplace is a lack of communication. Construction sites are complex areas with a lot of people carrying out a lot of different jobs, so it is important that people are aware of their surroundings. Each morning, the team should meet so that everybody knows who is doing what and where. In addition to this, it is also wise to have communication devices – like handheld radios – so that people can communicate with ease.

Tidy work floor

Due to the nature of the work, construction sites become a mess very quickly. Although it is impossible to keep the area completely free of dirt, it is important that it is kept as tidy and organised as much as possible.

Regular meetings

Regular meetings where you discuss safety will ensure that it remains an important factor and it also allows employees to raise any new concerns that they may have or suggestions for improvements.

Safety is paramount when it comes to construction sites. While some accidents are unavoidable, it’s easy to avoid many of them by following the above simple steps. The proper implication will not only help the project to run smoothly but will also avoid a major accident.