How to keep your construction site safe
Construction sites are notably dangerous areas. In order to ensure the safety of yourself and the people working on your site, you should follow some basic safety guidelines.
1. Know the law-there are laws in place to keep people safe on construction sites. You can learn quite a bit about construction safety laws by going to the OSHA website at oshasource.com. One of the laws that you should watch out for is the age restriction on construction job. Kids under sixteen years old are not allowed on construction sites. This is something to watch out for. Construction crews will often employ a young guy to do the "running" on a site. This means he will go get tools and clean up the site. The problem is, a kid under 16 is too young to be on the site in any capacity. Kids ages 16 and 17 can be on the construction site but there are laws limiting the jobs that they can do and the equipment they can use.
2. Keep the area clean-a clean and organized job site is generally much safer than a sloppy site. People will be carrying big pieces of lumber and other materials. Having stuff sitting around invites trip and fall types of accidents. Any power tool should be put away as soon as the worker is finished using it. This will prevent accidents related to the cords. Similarly, anything that is spilled on a site should be picked up immediately. Spilling a box of nails won't seem like too big of a deal until someone falls and gets one through their hand.
3. Workers should wear appropriate attire-there are times during construction that hard hats will be necessary. Anytime a crane is being used, all persons on the site are required to wear hard hats. Workers should also wear sturdy work boots to prevent foot injuries and falls. The appropriate attire will be specific to the specific job and the subcontractors should be in charge of making sure that their crews are wearing the proper clothes.
4. Use safety equipment-Sometimes people don't want to use safety equipment because it takes too much time. Too bad. You should insist that safety equipment is used on your job site. Safety equipment might include protective glasses and hardhats. It also includes a whole bunch of equipment to prevent falls. Anybody on a roof or a scaffold should be wearing a harness and be clipped into a stable anchor. There can also be a net placed below an upper level work site to ensure that objects don't fall onto people on lower levels.
5. Run a tight ship-if you are managing a construction site it is your job to make sure that the safety regulations are followed. Do not allow small infractions and you will not have to worry about larger infractions. One thing to watch for is chemical impairment in workers, particularly after a break. For whatever reason, some workers will enjoy a cold beer on a hot day and then come back to work. If you are in charge of the work site, you need to make sure that no workers are on the site while they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
6. Protect the equipment-besides making sure the workers is safe, you should also protect the equipment on your site. Construction site theft is a growing problem. To keep the stuff on your site safe you should make sure that the site is secure over the weekends and that expensive equipment is always locked up safely as soon as it is finished being used.
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Tags: construction_site job_site work_site safety OSHA safety_guidelines safety_rules building danger safety_equipment proper_attire harnesses hardhats
