Three Things Civil Contractors Can Do To Improve Safety at Site

The civil construction industry has been fraught with many accidents taking place due to the lack of safety among the workforce. There are three ways that the industry needs to do to prevent further accidents:

Employ the Right Personnel

So your builders are licensed, registered and insured? Good, but are they trained for occupational safety? The civil construction industry does not only need workers with license and insurance coverage but also with the adequate occupational safety training. The industry should pay attention to safety training as much as it pays attention to equipment upgrade and job generation as its survival lies in workers who emphasise safety in their work functions.

It is bad publicity for construction firms if they encounter accidents and word goes out that workers were not following safety rules, that contractors ignore signs of possible risks, and that management was being lax in implementing stricter safety rules and penalties. Smooth work flow all boils down to workers who perform safe and efficient work at all costs and never resorting to shortcuts.

Implement Safety Rules and Regulations at the Work Site

Accidents at work happen because the safety rules are not in place. It is not that hard enough to implement them, but workers get negligent at times and contractors don’t seem to bother about it as long as the workers can do their works. This is a blatant disregard for workers’ safety and a fodder for work delay and financial losses.

Some of the important safety rules that should be implemented in construction sites include:

·         The wearing of protective gear when inside the work premise

·         Workers should always have safe access to working grounds.

·         Equipment and tools should only be operated by competent workers. Workers should be taught how to use tools and equipment properly. They should not also leave tools lying around at the site.

·         Installing barrier guards, guard rails, flashing lights or caution sites in the area and around areas of safety concerns like deep trenches.

·         Spoil pile should be disposed according to avoid impeding work flow and prevent pollution.

·         Vehicles should be parked at designated parking sites, not near deep excavations and not even to be left at areas of safety concern after work.

·         Management should inform and educate workers on the site’s evacuation plan.

Management should also look to employ adequate medical personnel at the site to attend to injured workers immediately and provide first aid care. They should also employ professional safety inspectors and regularly train their workers to observe occupational safety and penalise them for any violations.

Provide Options for Safe and Non-Destructive Work

Construction works can be dangerous or annoying because of the methods that contractors and workers use. For instance, it is dangerous to excavate using sharp tools and drills when the ground happens to have live electric cables. It is also disturbing to conduct drilling operations near hospitals and schools. In both instances, the contractors can utilise vacuum excavation, a non-destructive excavation method. Vacuum excavation can help protect the electric cables while it digs up the ground and it can also be used as an alternative to drilling.

There are many technologies today that can replace the destructive methods long used in the civil construction industry. Contractors and management should invest in new technologies or equipment that will allow workers to perform their tasks in a safe and efficient way.

Safety, not profit, should always be the most important concern in the civil construction industry. This they can ensure by hiring safety-minded labourers, implement safety rules and providing work alternatives like non-destructive excavation in place of traditional digging methods.

Yunz Contracting provides a variety of level 1ASP civil constructing services including non-destructive excavation, traffic management, land clearing and electrical and industrial types of works.