Keeping Your Team Safe
Site safety is an important part of any construction project.
Not only does it impact the health and safety of your team, but it also impacts the end result. While personally, we don’t go out on site, we do know how important it is to manage and maintain a safe work environment, especially when working with scaffolding, excavations, and other possible dangers. Making workplace safety a priority protects our people.
The Safety Culture
Creating a ‘safety first’ culture is more than just following rules; it’s about making health and safety a part of our everyday work. Leading by example is the easiest thing we can do…. Having a fully trained and committed workforce is a very (very) close second. Comprehensive health and safety training means that safety is more than a box ticking exercise, it gives your workers the skills to protect themselves and everyone else around them.
Handling tiredness and pressure
Fatigue is something has a big impact on workplace safety. It’s a bit difficult to track down accurate figures of workplace related accidents as a result of fatigue but we do know that it costs UK industry from £115- £240 million a year. It’s really important not to underestimate the risks that arise from people being overtired at work, even if you have complied with all the current regulations.
Some things you can do to support your team with this include:
- Regular breaks
- Support healthy eating habits
- Build an environment where people can talk openly about stress and tiredness
- Make it easy to access mental health support
Providing adequate facilities
We know how important it is to have good facilities on-site. The Workplace Regulations 1992 require us to provide welfare facilities, a healthy working environment, and a safe workplace. The very minimum includes:
- Clean toilets and washbasins – on some sites you do need to think about how far someone might have to walk to access these. If you are using existing facilities that your customer owns i.e. office or café toilets, then you need to make sure that these remain accessible the entire time your crew are on site.
- Access to drinking water
- Rest areas for breaks
- Changing rooms when needed
- Fresh air – that includes using ventilation systems if access to outside air isn’t possible
- A reasonable working temperature – if outside temperatures, such as a heat wave, impact your working conditions then there are additional steps you can take, feel free to check out our blog on how to protect yourself from heatstroke.
- Adequate lighting
- Sufficient space with suitable equipment
- A clean space with the right kind of waste containers
- Well maintained facilities and equipment with obstruction free paths, windows that can be opened and that transparent (normally glass) walls and doors are safe.
Personal Protective Equipment
Talking about PPE seems a little too obvious but it’s one of those elements that can easily be ignored in the name of convenience. PPE literally serves as a barrier against workplace accidents. Some of the basic personal protective equipment you might need include:
- Safety helmets
- High-visibility vests or jackets
- Steel toe-capped boots
- Hand/arm protection whether you need cloves or just long sleeves
- Safety glasses, goggles or a face shield
Having the right PPE isn’t enough; we need to use and take care of it. Some things to remember including:
- It’s a proper fit
- It’s clean, fit for purpose and stored properly
- It’s replaced when it needs to be.
Managing Site Access and Security
Controlling site access and security, especially in hazardous work zones is another way to reduce risks. Clear boundaries, fences, gates, and barriers all help to lock down an area, while a check-in system helps keep tabs on who is on site.
Common Site Hazards
Obviously, construction sites can be dangerous places if we don’t adopt a safety-first culture, serious accidents can and do happen. Common accidents on construction sites across the UK include:
- Falling from height
- Falling objects
- Trips and slips
- Faulty equipment
- Multi-vehicle collisions
- Vehicle/Pedestrian collisions
- Noises that are tool loud and/or last too long
- Vibrating tools
A lot of accidents happen because of a momentary lapse in judgement or a minor distraction which is why adopting a ‘safety first’ culture is so important. Making workplace safety protects our people first and foremost but it also boosts productivity and reduces the risk of costly accidents. By making safety our top priority and working together, we create a safer construction industry for everyone.
