Guest Post: 5 Safety Construction Measures Every True Leader Must Take

Introduction:

Vince West, a recent graduate at Mass Bay Engineering that I've gotten to know in my area, and I have been discussing worker safety. He's authored this article based on his experience in the construction industry. I think these safety measures are applicable in all industries.

Workers’ safety is a key priority for any team leader in the construction industry, mainly because accidents in a construction site can be severe and life-threatening.

The global population is on the rise, making the demand for new and modern buildings also go up. To optimally benefit from this market growth, a construction leader must make sure that his or her employees are safe from any safety hazard and that they have all their concentration on the job. Here are five ways construction company leaders can safeguard their staff members: 

1. Be Proactive and Where Called Upon to Act, Do It Swiftly

A good leader does not wait until a safety hazard occurs in order to act. Instead, she or he proactively anticipates future hazards and solves them beforehand. If you visit the construction site regularly, you will be able to tell which working areas need to be improved upon as a precautionary measure. Better still, workers will share with you on their safety concerns, and yours will just be to make the necessary amends.

In some rare cases, however, neither you, nor your workers will be able to get their assessments right and end up ignoring a potentially high-risk area. The danger of that is that an accident may just occur out of the blue and injure some of the employees.

When such a disastrous thing happens, it is your duty as a leader to move swiftly and take the necessary steps. Having a rescue vehicle and a first aid kit at the ready will help you respond promptly to emergency safety concerns.

2. Have Proper Machinery and Equipment in Place

Some security concerns can be addressed by having the right equipment for the right job at the construction site. Well-maintained machinery reduces the probability of workers injuring themselves on duty to almost zero and improves efficiency in a big way.

As a true leader, making sure you provide non-construction resources such as water is a sure way of showing how much you care about your workers’ safety and comfort. In this particular case, water reduces dehydration amongst the workers thus improving their efficacy. 

3. Prioritize Employees’ Concerns about Their Safety

Incidents in a construction site cause injuries that can at times cost a fortune to treat. Now forget about that and think about what you stand to gain by maintaining high levels of safety standards for your workers. Consider these three benefits:

• Having basic safety regulations in place gives employees peace of mind and minimizes their turnover rate.

• Whenever employees complain about their safety, they are passing a message to you as their leader that you do not appreciate them enough. Granting their wish improves their perceptions towards the job.

• Employees become more engaged when they have no safety concerns to worry about. Statistics show that engaged employees are more innovative and productive.

4. Regular Inspections and Safety Training

Even when it’s a sure thing that a building has a strong foundation, a good leader will have experts inspect it on a regular basis and get a report on the same. While sharing the contents of the report with your staff members, have a trainer with you to shed light on the various safety concerns the report could have and most importantly, give solutions to some of them. Retraining is also necessary just to be sure that everybody is conversant with the safety situation at the site.

5. Get the Right Equipment For Your Employees

While working on the site, always ensure that your employees wear the right personal protective equipment (PPE) from top to bottom. You must ensure that whenever the workers do some grinding, cutting, or welding works, they all have face shields and safety glasses.

For foot protection, ensure that the workers wear slip-resistant, puncture-resistant, and safety-toed boots. When working with concrete or electricity, ensure that all workers put on protective gloves. Most importantly, ensure that all workers including yourself have hard hats at all times for head protection.

Conclusion

Many people consider construction sites as the riskiest place to work in. Potential workers are most often than not taken aback by cases of environmental and human-made disasters that claim lives and cause permanent injuries. Construction company leaders have the responsibility of looking into the matter and changing this general public perception.

Author Bio: Vincent West, a fresh Engineering Design graduate with a keen interest in all things practical, ergonomic and balanced, Vince is the brains behind WorkBootCritic.com. He has been researching construction safety gear on his own for a while now.

He's eager to spread the word on what he has learned and continues to learn through practice and thorough research.