Managing Health And Safety On A Construction Site

When it comes to running a construction company, there are a few factors that will no doubt be on the mind of any business leader. Firstly there will be profits. This generally comes down to getting the job done on time, within budget, and without wasting materials. While a job can be planned well, things do go wrong and this can cause setbacks. The longer your team is on-site, the more money it is costing. Ultimately, this will eat into the financial returns.  Image Credit Pixabay.com License CC0

The second concern will be health and safety. This is a massive area, and negligence in this area could result in fines or even custodial sentences for company directors. 

Keeping The Focus On Safety

No matter how far behind schedule a project ends up running, it is vital that care and attention are paid to every aspect of the health and safety of the staff, visitors, and passers-by. At no point should corners ever be cut, no matter how over budget the project is running, and how quickly you need to get the job done. Not only are you putting lives at risk by doing this, but you are also risking considerable penalties in the event of an accident. Rushing a job is, therefore, a false economy. 

Testing And Safe Use Of Equipment

When it comes to health and safety on-site, one of the major areas of concern surrounds the safe use of machinery. There are lots of potential hazards on a building site, from heavy plant machinery such as bulldozers, steamrollers, cranes, and dumper trucks, through to Lifting equipment and items such as jackhammers, 

All of these items could post a risk to the users, other workers on-site, and anyone passing by. For each item, a risk assessment should be carried out to see if there are any concerns. This risk assessment should be reviewed regularly, particularly if there are any changes to the equipment in any way. 

Full training needs to be provided to all staff who will be using the machinery. Document any training carried out, and be sure and hold refresher sessions from time-to-time to help brush up the knowledge and skills of your team. 

Use Clearly Visible Signage

Everyone needs to know about any potential dangers on site. Whether this is staff who are working there, visitors to the site such as architects, or landlords, or whether there are members of the public that will be passing close by. 

Use warning signs wherever needed and make sure that they are clearly visible. Someone should make regular checks to ensure that all signage is still where it should be, that nothing has fallen over, got damaged, or has gone missing. 

Consider using barriers and boards around and over areas of particular concern. Regularly check any area where the general public may be walking to make sure that there is no loose debris or any trip hazards. Keeping the area clean and tidy will prevent many accidents from occurring.