Take the time this Construction Safety Month to explore all of the factors that go into safety on a construction site.
Safety is the most important thing on any construction site because no building, road, or any other structure is more important than everyone going home safe and sound at the end of the day. All injuries and fatalities are preventable, and everyone on a jobsite is responsible for their own safety and the safety of their fellow coworkers; this is achieved by respecting all of the factors that go into safety in construction.
Factors That Affect Safety
These are factors that impact safety on a construction jobsite, ensuring that every worker is focused on safety:
Empowerment: It’s an unfortunate truth that there are many in the construction industry that are decidedly anti-safety. While they don’t try to be unsafe, they are resistant to change for safety’s sake. They may label themselves as “old school” and claim they have little use for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), fall safety gear, and safety guards and safety stops. They may be unwilling to follow new safety protocols, and they may encourage others to not follow safety protocols as well.
Unfortunately, this type of negativity is toxic to a company’s safety culture and can result in injuries and even death. The answer is to empower employees to be vocal and insistent in their duty to protect their coworkers from harm. Encourage workers to speak up about unsafe conditions and activities and to advocate for a safe jobsite. Work crews pull together every day to get the job done; they should also pull together to ensure that everyone goes home unharmed.
Recognition. Spotting hazards can be difficult to do, and sometimes speaking up about them can be harder still. Companies crafting a culture of safety will find benefits in setting up a recognition program. This can include rewards and awards for ‘0 days without injuries,’ for those who recognize and act to mitigate hazardous situations, and through encouraging workers to praise one another for identifying and stopping dangerous situations, just to name a few.
Partnership. Workers should be encouraged to be “each other’s keeper” and understand that the actions of one affects everyone on a jobsite. Many people can be quite nonchalant about impacting their own safety, but they understand it crosses a boundary when they put their coworkers in danger. Fostering a safety culture that is represented as a partnership amongst workers—including all other stakeholders—can really be effective.
Impact. It’s important for workers to understand the impact of ignoring safety initiatives and protocols. Toolbox talks can focus on stories concerning injuries and deaths from the industry with teachable messages. Workers should also be encouraged to think about the quality of their lives—and those of their families, friends, and community—if they lost a digit, limb, eye, full lung capacity, and other common injuries. Similarly, workers can be encouraged to imagine the impact if they were to die due to a workplace injury, or even to imagine if their actions led to the death of a coworker.
Tucker Paving provides offer site clearing, site grading, stabilized subgrade, base work, asphalt paving, underground utilities, and concrete curbs, sidewalks, slabs, and tie-beams as part of our nearly 30 years of experience in the concrete and asphalt paving construction industry, and safety is always or #1 priority. Call us at (863) 299-2262, or contact us online, for your next project!
