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Whether you have recently started a construction business, or you are well established already, correct health and safety procedures are very important. Ignoring health and safety codes can get you into a lot of legal trouble and could result in large fines that will eat into your profits. Not to mention that you could seriously injure yourself or one of your employees. This article will outline some of the key things you need to focus on in order to carry out work safely, specifically safety tips for construction workers.
Personal Protective Equipment
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) covers a range of different workwear. You should be wearing hard hats, boots and High Visibility clothing at all times when on site. However, there are plenty of other pieces of equipment you should be using in various situations. Respirators should always be worn when carrying out work that raises a lot of dust or rubble, and you might want to consider goggles to minimize the risk of debris damaging your eyes. If you are operating loud machinery, then ear protectors must be worn. If they are not, the damage won’t be instant, but over long periods your ears can deteriorate.
Maintain Equipment
As a construction worker, you will be using a wide range of different equipment on different jobs. If you do not keep your machinery properly maintained then you are putting yourself at risk of injury on a daily basis. Tool that you use everyday will need to checked regularly. Equipment that you do not use as often will still need to be checked but not quite as often. You will be heavily penalized if you are found to be using equipment that has not been certified. There are plenty of companies out there that will certify your equipment for a small fee.
Follow Health and Safety Codes
It seems as though health and safety codes are never ending, and making sure you follow them all can slow things down. However, you should never skip any of these regulations. Although it may speed things up for the moment, if anybody is injured and it is discovered that you have not been following regulations, work will be halted immediately and you will be subject to huge fines. Visit ASSE.org for clear outlines on safety for general construction, as well as the equipment you may be using.
Keep a Tidy Workplace
This is a simple one but it can often be overlooked. You might be following health and safety codes to the letter, and using equipment that has been certified as safe, but there are still risks. If your workplace is untidy, there will be trip hazards or risks of spillages. If you keep on top of it, it will only take a minute or so to properly pack away tools once you are finished with them, and you can avoid any unnecessary accidents. that could result in an employee needing help from a workers’ compensation lawyer. Click here for some tips on keeping your site tidy.
Report Problems Immediately
If you see anything that you think might be unsafe, tell somebody. Even if you are worried about slowing things down, it is better to have a few days delay than it is to have a major injury on site. Dangerous buildings or structures should be reported to a local authority and all work should be halted until a surveyor has been to check their integrity.
Safety and health are such important components when discussing any work environment like construction. Thank you for sharing these tips!
I think all construction workers should must read it. It is just awesome. Thanks a lot for sharing such a post.
Thank you for sharing this well-written article. I also want to add the importance of using signs all over the construction site. When I was working in construction, we usually order construction health and safety signs from a provider that my boss knows. This experience taught me the importance of using safety signs. Yes, they’re just hanging there all day, but they serve as constant reminders on all the safety measures that you should observe, especially if there’s no one there to tell you what to do. Without safety signs, all people working in or nearby a construction site will be at risk.
Hey Dequiana,
Great tips 🙂 A must-read and must-share article. It is very important to wear Personal Protective Equipment at all times. Effects to health may not be immediate and the effects could be felt during retirement. I have a family member who worked as a welder for most of his life, he had take for granted the PPE provided for him. At the age of 57 he had an eye operation and now at 64 he is suffering from hearing loss.
I’m glad the article resonated with you. Thanks also for sharing the importance of safety through your family member’s story. I appreciate it.
These are definitely some great tips! Getting injured at work is no fun, especially when you have to deal with making a federal injury compensation claim. After a couple of frustration months, I found a company that provides assistance for federal compensation claims at no cost. They helped with my paperwork, doctors visits and even talked to claims representatives. It made everything a lot less hectic to deal with!
Mark Taylor´s last blog post ..Federal Injured Employees: Handling Second Opinion Requests
Safety and security must be on topmost priority for all companies to ensure that their employees will last long in their business. Keeping them valued help the company to get better results and services, thus better revenue.
These tips are very useful for guiding purpose as workers should provide protective equipment like helmets during the work so that there head could be safe and no injury would come in head and feel protected.
Glad you put PPE as the first one in the list. As a manger at a metal fabrication shop, I often see new hires show up totally unprepared for their first day. No boots, no helmet, no respirators…nada. Sometimes it seems as if common sense has gone out the window.
I liked what you said about how it would be smart to hire construction workers who follow the safety codes. It does seem like that would help protect the employer and the employee as well. It does seem like it would be smart to look for someone who has a good record of safety.
Thanks for the awesome tip about keeping a construction site clean in order to avoid trip hazards or risks of spillages while following health and safety codes at the same time. Speaking of cleaning, one way to keep it clean is to hire a company to do the cleaning for you. Doing this will not only help everyone on the team focus on the project itself while keeping it safe for everyone on it.
Great tips Dequiana!The best way to ensure the safety of workers, it is essential to regularly check machines and equipment used on the site. The information you have shared through this article is just really awesome and very helpful. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful post and I really liked it.
Well written article and I believe wholeheartedly that workplace safety is key to any business’s survival.
Great tips. The safety of the workers should always be on the top of the list as nay damage caused can result in a huge delay to the execution of the project and that holding time can add up to some additional cost as well.
I can see how it could be really useful for a business to make sure that their employees and customers are safe and taken care of. Getting some help from a professional could be really useful. It was interesting to learn about how safety workloads and equipment can help promote a safe workplace as well as a tidy workplace. It could be really useful for them to get some help and allow them to be safer.
Great safety tips! thank you for sharing this valuable content
I agree with every factor that you have pointed out. Thank you for sharing your beautiful thoughts on this.