Every year, about 150,000 accidents occur on construction sites. That’s a big number. But some job sites are more vulnerable to accidents than others.
By embracing construction safety best practices, your can bring down the risk of accidents occurring on your job sites. We’ll tell you how to do that in the sections below with our top tips for construction job site safety.
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Top 8 Most Frequently-Cited Standards In Construction
OSHA is the organization that sets the standard for construction site safety regulations. If you follow their recommendations, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your safety goals.
With that in mind, here are the top 8 most frequently-cited OSHA standards in construction.
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Scaffolding
When used improperly, scaffolding can cause serious fall hazards.
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Ladders
Ladders with metallic components should not be used near any electrical work or power lines.
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Fall Protection
If possible, use aerial lifts for fall protection instead of ladders to give workers a safer and sturdier elevated platform to complete their tasks.
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Hazard Communication
Ensure that information about job-site hazards is available to all employees in every language and in the format they might want to access.
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Excavations
Design and implement a protective system for all trenches that are 1-foot deep or greater.
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Head Protection
Safety net systems and body harnesses should always be used when necessary.
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Construction workers should avoid sturdy, steel-toed boots that are both slip and puncture-resistant.
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Electrical
All electrical tools and equipment should be reviewed regularly for defects.
Construction Site Safety Best Practices to Implement for Success
Keeping your job sites safe is all about understanding potential safety issues and resolving them proactively. If you can do that, then your workers’ risk of injury should go down significantly.
Here are six strategies you can use to make that happen.
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Start With An Assessment Of Your Current Vulnerabilities
Every job site is different, so when you move to a new one, you can’t expect your old safety practices to be a perfect fit. Instead, you’re going to want to assess the unique risks presented by the new site and adopt your safety practices to meet them.
Assessing risks is a practice that you should do throughout your projects because the tools and people you use may differ from one phase of the job to another. Also, new safety risks may arise during those transition phases.
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Require All Workers to Wear PPE
One of the most important things you can do for your workers’ safety is to require them all to wear PPE while on the job site. Doing this will ensure that everyone has a minimum level of protection against various types of work-related accidents.
Your exact PPE requirements will vary based on the job that you’re doing. But these requirements typically include things like:
- Hard hats
- High-visibility vests
- Steel-toed boots
- Strong gloves
It’s also a good idea to get into the habit of checking your workers’ PPE from time to time. Because after prolonged use, their gear may no longer offer the same protection as when it was new.
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Train Employees Before Assigning Them to Use Heavy Equipment
It’s also really important for all of your employees to have completed training programs before assigning them to work with dangerous equipment. Otherwise, you could be giving someone access to a dangerous tool that they’re not actually familiar with.
Even though some of your workers may say they know what they’re doing, it’s good to confirm that yourself before letting them loose. You could do that by implementing an on-site training program that every worker has to pass before they can start working with certain types of equipment.
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Conduct Daily Site Meetings and Safety Inspections
Managing your construction site safety is a never-ending process, and every day presents its own unique challenges and opportunities. That’s why it’s a smart idea to get into the habit of conducting daily safety meetings.
You can use these to ensure that everyone is staying on track with your job site safety goals. They also allow your team to communicate with you about any safety issues they notice while working, which you might not catch yourself.
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Get Your Workers Involved
Ultimately, you can only do so much to ensure that your job site remains safe. If you really want to bring down the risk of accidents occurring on your job site, you will need to get buy-in from your team.
One way to do that is by putting together a safety committee. This committee can feature representatives from each part of your team.
Doing this can help your workers feel more involved with the process of ensuring your job site remains safe. And when your employees feel like they’re part of this, they’re likely going to take your safety rules a bit more seriously.
It is very important that your workers understand OSHA’s best practices as well.
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Provide the Right Equipment
Construction equipment can be expensive. But it’s important that you don’t try to cut costs too much when it comes to the tools and equipment that you give your employees to work with.
Otherwise, you could risk allowing tools to decay to the point where they become dangerous to use or buy from brands that aren’t as reliable as they should be when it comes to job safety.
Job Site Safety Training
Part of making sure that your construction jobs are successful is ensuring that your workers can complete their tasks safely and efficiently. That’s much easier to do when you provide your employees with on-site training.
Job site safety training from a company like AOTC could be exactly what you need to kick your safety practices up a notch.
We can help you assess your vulnerabilities and train your employees on the construction site safety best practices. That way, you can be confident that your team will get the job done without risking their safety.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business.