Safety is something that should be of significant concern to construction companies of every kind. This is an inherently dangerous business, and it’s essential that risks to site workers are managed.
A lack of effective safety can drive up absenteeism, reduce productivity, damage morale, and expose the business in question to a damaging lawsuit. But exactly which measures can we take to guard against all of these problems?
PPE
Personal protective equipment comes in many different forms. On a construction site, we’re concerned with three different sorts of threat. First, we want to protect ourselves against heavy falling objects. That means wearing steel-capped boots, and hard hats. Second, we want to ensure that everyone can see us, even in low-light conditions. That means wearing hi-vis clothing that combines fluorescent and reflective elements. Finally, we should think about the cold – which can pose a threat at certain times of the year. Heated body warmers, gloves, and thermal undergarments can all do a job, here.
Proper storage
Where tools, equipment and materials are not stored effectively, they become vulnerable to damage and theft. Tools might in some cases degrade prematurely if left out, which can make them ineffective and sometimes dangerous. Materials can cause trip hazards and a more general sense of chaos that tends to lead to more frequent accidents. An untidy workspace is a distraction that your site doesn’t need.
Certain materials, like plywood, will benefit from being stored flat, in a stack. Other materials will need to be kept upright. Your on-site warehousing should reflect the items being stored.
Cybersecurity
Nowadays, businesses of every kind are interconnected. This allows for new and more efficient ways of doing things – from managing personnel on-site with a user access control system to managing inventory automatically via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. And, of course, there’s the office and all of the computers and equipment therein.
While all of this might present your business with efficiency gains, it also creates an opportunity for malicious people outside the business. Guarding against these threats means investing in firewalls and other software tools. But it also means training your staff and impressing upon them the nature of the threat. If your administrative staff don’t know about phishing attacks, then you’ll be vulnerable to them, no matter how sophisticated your technical measures are.
Get audited
If you’re running a business, it’s easy to lose perspective on its strengths and weaknesses. For this reason, it’s worth bringing in another set of eyes to assess the problem. Safety audits can be performed regularly by a trusted, impartial third party. In many cases, they can make the difference between safety and ruin!
