Construction site safety should always sit on the front burner because the last thing you want at a building construction site is a case of workers sustaining fatal injuries or an accident that leads to the loss of lives. Clearly, there are construction site hazards and they will always exist but it is your responsibility as a foreman/construction engineer to ensure that the likelihood of fatal injuries and the loss of lives is prevented by taking safety precautions. Below are 5 avoidable hazards in construction site safety and how you can be proactive in your approach.
Head Accident Hazard
In a case of an accidental blow to the head from a heavy object, construction workers can suffer injuries. Head injuries can prove extremely fatal or result in a long-term damage to vital parts.
Construction Site Safety Tip: You must ensure that construction site workers wear their hard hats at all times. A typical construction site potentially puts workers at the risk of having objects falling from above landing on their heads. There is also the risk of mistakenly hitting their heads against hard objects that are stationary. In 2013, a 26-year-old man suffered a head injury at a construction site and eventually died.
Scaffolding Accident Hazard
A scaffolding is a temporary structure on the outer part of a building. It is made of wooden planks and metal poles and usually used by construction workers while building, carrying out repair works or cleaning a building.
As useful as scaffoldings are, they can pose a hazard to workers. If not properly erected, scaffoldings can become death traps especially in the case of a fall. Did you know that about 2.3 million construction workers frequently work on scaffolds?
A recent study has revealed that when you protect workers at a construction site from scaffold-related hazards, you would be actively preventing an estimated 4,500 injuries and 50 fatalities per year.
Construction Site Safety Tip: A competent worker should be saddled with the responsibility of inspecting and reinspecting the scaffolding from time to time to ensure they are in safe condition. You should also ensure that scaffolds are 10 feet away (at the barest minimum) from electric poles and power lines at any point in time. In May 2018, a man fell from a scaffolding at a construction site after he was accidentally struck in the head.
Fall Accident Hazard
Did you know that by the numbers, falls actually account for the highest number of fatalities at construction sites? Such falls are not associated with scaffolds. A large number of such accidents involve factors like human error, unstable working surfaces as well as construction workers failing to use equipment that protect them in cases of falls.
Construction Site Safety Tip: There are several ways you can prevent fall-related accidents at construction sites by using safety nets, restraint systems and guard rails. You should also consider working with aerial lifts as well as elevated platforms to give workers a safer surface to work on. On June 22, 2018, a 47-year-old construction worker fell to his death from the 15th floor of the building.
Ladder Hazards
As useful as ladders are, if not used under safe condition, they can put the safety of construction workers at risk. Did you know that there are as many as there are 24,882 injuries and as many as 36 fatal accidents in a year due to accidents involving ladders at construction sites?
Construction Site Safety Tip: The first thing you should do is to ensure that the right ladder is used at any given point in time. You should also ensure that a competent worker is assigned the responsibility of inspecting all ladders for defects before they are used. One more thing, you should never overload a ladder beyond the limit assigned to it by the manufacturer. Ladders can result in serious accidents.
Trenching Hazard
A trench refers to a type of depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide. Within the ambit of construction and maintenance of infrastructure in civil engineering, they play a huge role as they are used to place easily damaged infrastructure (like telephone lines and water mains) underground.
Construction Site Safety Tip: The golden rule for trenching states that you should never allow a construction worker to enter an unprotected trench. When building a trench, you should always provide an exit route out of it. Such exits can include a ladder or ramp. On a final note, you should consider installing supports to cut down the chances of soil movement.
Final Thoughts on Construction Site Safety
Do not take anything for granted. For all aspects of your construction work, you should assign experienced workers to double-check every equipment and tool that you intend to use on the site. These types of equipment also need to be inspected from time to time as construction work progresses. It’s fine to make a deliberate attempt to reduce construction cost when building a home but you should remember to cater to the safety of site workers.
