10 Job Site Safety Tips for Construction Workers
Having a job in the construction industry is rewarding. You play a part in building essential structures such as buildings, bridges, and roads, making your community more visually appealing, safer, and functional. But working in construction is also risky and puts you in harm’s way. Construction is one of the leading industries for workplace injuries and deaths. This begs the question: how can you stay safe while performing this essential work? Here are ten job site safety tips that construction staff should follow to help construction workers protect themselves from injury while they meticulously and generously toil away.
Wear Proper PPE
Your personal protective equipment, or PPE, puts an extra layer between you and any potential hazards. It’s crucial to understand the kind of PPE you need for your particular role and wear it to the job site every day. Here are a few common PPE items you may need:
- Long-sleeved shirt
- Work pants
- Gloves
- Hard hat
- Goggles
- Mask
- Harness
- Ear plugs
- Hi-vis vest
- Steel-toe or safety-toe boots
Stay Alert
When you’re accustomed to your work, it’s easy to fall into a muscle memory stupor and go about your day zoned out and going through the motions. But this puts you at a higher risk of injury. If you’re not vigilantly paying attention to your surroundings, you can miss warning signs and stumble into hazards blind and unassuming. Don’t ever let your guard down: stay alert to catch and avoid job site hazards.
Keep Your Work Area Tidy
Making a mess is easy. Cleaning it up is significantly harder. But no matter how boring and time-consuming cleaning your work area is, it needs doing. A messy work area is a hazard in and of itself. You could trip over strewn debris or step on something pointy, resulting in serious injury. Messy areas also tend to be fire hazards. Flammable items can ignite and fuel massive blazes, and excess debris can block exit passages and make it difficult for you to flee from hazardous zones quickly.
Maintain Your Tools and Equipment
You have high-quality tools from trusted brands. But even the highest-quality tools will wear down with time and use. A once sharp saw will dull, a hammer will dent, and eventually, your tools just won’t work the same as they used to. Older tools may even break or malfunction, harming you—or someone else—in the process. Create a maintenance plan and stick to it to keep yourself safe and your tools in optimal working condition. Clean your tools, lubricate them, and if they become too worn down to use, let them retire so newer, more functional tools can take their place.
Consider Job Site Conditions
What are the conditions on the job site like? Make smart choices about your PPE, tools, and actions by considering your working conditions.
Let’s say it’s a rainy day. You’ll need rainy-day workwear to stay dry, such as a waterproof jacket and thick rubber boots. You’ll also need to be especially careful around electrical items, as water is conductive and can increase the risk of shocks. Or, let’s say it’s a blazingly hot, sunny summer day. Breathable or UV-protection workwear is essential if you don’t want to overheat. You’ll also need to be cautious when handling materials and tools, as the sun can heat up certain materials, such as metals and glass, to the point they’ll badly burn you.
As you can see, the job site conditions can affect the types of hazards you’ll face, so you need to plan accordingly for different types of weather.
Never Work Alone
Here’s another job site safety tip for construction workers: buddy up! If you’re the solitary sort, you may prefer to work alone. But in construction, it pays to have a coworker you can trust. A partner acts as a second pair of hands and eyes. They can assist you with strenuous tasks, such as lifting heavy materials, reducing the likelihood of bodily strain and injury for you both. They can keep an eye out for hazards and may catch things you miss. And, of course, in a worst-case scenario where you are seriously injured, you’ll have someone at your side to perform basic first aid and call for help, which can literally save your life. So, always pair up—never work solo.
Avoid Crowded Areas
While having a construction buddy is highly beneficial, you know what they say, two’s company, three’s a crowd. And crowds are something you want to avoid on construction sites. When you work in crowded areas, you greatly increase your chance of injury. There’s less room for everyone to move around, resulting in tools swinging and machinery driving dangerously close to you.
Try to maintain a reasonable distance from other workers as much as possible. If you can’t stretch your arms out and spin around without bumping into someone, you’re too close to others for safety and comfort.
Have an Emergency Response Plan
Do you know what to do in the event of an emergency? Where to go? Who to alert? If not, reach out to your supervisor or another senior team member and ask about the emergency response plan. The emergency response plan tells you exactly what to do if a fire, hazardous material spill, or natural disaster occurs, and following it can keep you safe.
Report Hazards Immediately
See something that doesn’t seem safe? Don’t ignore it. Alert your supervisor immediately so they can take the proper steps to eliminate said hazard. You can protect yourself and others by reporting hazards as soon as you notice them.
Follow Safety Procedures
Every job site has different safety procedures. Even if you think you know what to do in a hazardous situation, the protocol for this job may be different than the protocol for your last job. Before heading to your next workstation, read over the safety procedures for your job site to familiarize yourself.
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