There are tens of thousands of job site accidents every year. That’s why taking job site safety seriously is important if you’re a contractor. This article will help you do that. It features seven safety necessities for all contractors to help you keep your upcoming projects as safe as possible.
Photo by Zohair Mirza on Unsplash
Let’s get started.
1. Personal Protective Equipment
First, everyone on your job site must wear personal protective equipment at all times. Experts recommend using:
- Protective gloves
- Safety goggles
- Hard hats
- Full-face shields when grinding or cutting
- Hearing protection
- Fall protection equipment when working above 6’ from the ground
If your workers have all of this gear on hand, then if an accident does end up happening, they’re much less likely to be impacted by it seriously.
2. Visible Safety Warnings
You also want to make sure that you have visible safety warnings in the areas where they’re necessary. If people can’t see these warnings, they won’t take the precautions you want them to.
For starters, you should have visible safety warnings up around the perimeter of your job sites. But you may also need some in certain parts of your job sites where there may be unique dangers (such as falling objects from workers working at high heights).
3. Safe Break Areas
It’s very unsafe for a construction worker to spend an entire day working without a break (not to mention it’s illegal to ask them to do so). But when your workers take a break, they should be able to do so in an area that’s out of danger so that they can truly relax.
Try to set up a trailer or some other facility that’s entirely safe from the dangers of your job sites. That way, unsuspecting workers can’t be caught off guard by a dangerous situation when they’re not actively working.
4. Good Insurance
If you are an independent contractor, good insurance should be a critical component of Good contractor. Not only will a great workers’ compensation plan help any injured employees get what they deserve, but it will also help your company stay in business.
For example, if an employee gets injured on one of your projects, they’re entitled to financial compensation for that injury and the time they miss from work. Either that financial compensation can come entirely out of your pocket, or an insurance company can help you pay it.
If you have an insurance company assisting with workers’ compensation, your business won’t be at risk every time an injury occurs. Plus, your employees will always get the compensation they deserve regardless of what happens to them.
5. Training and Inspection
It’s also important to have comprehensive safety training programs and site inspection programs. These are the two pillars of any job-site safety plan because they’ll help you prevent the most accidents when done correctly.
Every new worker should go through your safety training plan. This should alert them to the major potential dangers they’ll face on the job site, how to be proactive about protecting themselves, and what to do if an accident occurs.
Having your job site inspected regularly will help you catch any dangerous situations before they can cause an accident. For example, maybe someone dropped a ton of nails without realizing it. An inspection could catch that before people start stepping on them and risking infection.
If you have good training and inspection programs, your workers should be less at risk of experiencing a major accident. Of course, that risk won’t go away entirely, but at least they’ll know how to keep themselves as safe as possible in the dangerous construction world.
6. A Comprehensive Safety Plan
It’s also really important to put all of this together into a comprehensive safety plan. Your safety plan is the master document that describes all of the steps you’re taking to ensure workplace safety and the specific steps to take in the event that various accidents occur.
It’s important to make your safety plan accessible to employees and supervisors for a few key reasons.
First, if an accident occurs, your safety plan will detail the best steps to take at the moment. That way, optimal decisions are made even in a tense moment.
Additionally, your workers can look up the answer to safety questions they’re concerned about pre-emptively. This can help them avoid accidents before they occur.
7. Enough Garbage Disposal Areas
Finally, make sure that you have enough garbage disposal areas throughout your job site. Waste is a major cause of injuries on construction sites. If your employees constantly have just to throw it on the ground, it could make your sites much more dangerous places to be for your employees.