Commercial general contractor business is a rewarding and very lucrative enterprise. But unlike other office-centric industries, construction environments bear plenty of safety concerns that require policies and practices in place to ensure the safety of workers. According to the latest statistics from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 5 out of 13 job-related deaths happening every day in the United States are from the construction industry.
While numerous factors account for the safety of the work environment at a construction site, such as maintenance and upgrading of equipment, and proper attire among others, the most overlooked of them is effective workforce management. Commercial construction companies need not only to focus on development issues but should also treat workforce management with the equal weight it deserves.
Effective management of the construction workforce can be a life-saver as it can greatly mitigate the most common safety hazards at a construction site. The following are some of the actionable practices your project team can have in place to help you promote construction safety.
1. Proper workforce scheduling
Are the right workers doing the right work at the right place? Are you mixing less-trained workers with managers or foremen with much more experience? Some of the construction safety hazards are often related to having personnel with inappropriate skills working at something they are not suited to. Another cause of accidents is overscheduling workers, which can result in fatigue.
Without the right scheduling plan in place, you could be putting not only your workers in danger but also jeopardizing the project’s smooth execution.
Ensure that you have the right number of workers with appropriate skills at a particular site to avoid overscheduling. Always conduct a duty roaster to check how many workers are present and how many are needed before work commences every day.
2. Accountability by workers
Lack of proper supervision can result in some of the employees portraying some strange behaviors, knowing that they are not being monitored. This can not only affect construction productivity but can also create an unsafe workplace for other workers. If a worker assigned to operate a machine fails to do it as required, any mishaps by the equipment could end up endangering not only the worker but their colleagues on site. Therefore, every construction site should have a safety director and field safety supervisors deployed at all times.
If you do not have a construction safety plan in place to keep each on-site worker accountable, you could be increasing the chances of hazardous outcomes. Even though micromanaging workers is not what is recommended here, having a system similar to that can increase your construction management output.
3. Workers’ location tracking
How do you know employees are working at their allocated locations? Do they arrive at their respective sites on time? Are they taking frequent breaks when they are not supposed to? Location tracking is a great concern in any construction site. A worker can choose to be unaccountable by missing at the site to where they are allocated.
It can be very wary and tiresome for the foreman to keep track of each worker on site. This may shift their concentration to the most important tasks to be executed. It is the duty of a general contractor to ensure that the project runs smoothly according to the schedule while reducing miscellaneous expenditures resulting from wasted efforts and time. With the correct tracking tool, the Human Resource team can easily monitor those mischievous workers taking unscheduled breaks, at the wrong site, or taking unauthorized overtime after site closure.
Location tracking of employees helps project managers to know whether they are entering hazardous sites or nearing heavy equipment. It prevents risky accidents and ensures construction safety during projects. Tracking software can also combat worker fatigue by tracking the number of hours worked.
4. Streamlining communication
Proper communication is a great concern for industrial and commercial construction companies relying on a huge and mobile workforce. Fielding calls, messages, or emails reporting illness, requesting time off, or making inquiries can be really difficult and can waste resources. If workers make inquiries and don’t get feedback in time, site workflow may get interrupted, endangering construction safety and causing hazardous occurrences due to lack of proper communication.
When workers aren’t sure about the goals or what to expect for the day they are more likely to get involved in accidents.
Commercial general contractors should always provide streamlined systems of communication to allow every worker to consistently communicate with the HR team hence eliminating mistakes and saving more time for productivity. This can be achieved by having the workers equipped with communication devices such as headsets, smartphones, or walkie-talkies to allow quick and efficient communication between the workers.
5. Use of appropriate equipment and tools
Use of construction safety equipment and tools is often adhered to by most construction firms, but still not to satisfactory levels. For any residential or commercial construction, the foreman needs to ensure that their team members are using the right tools and equipment for the tasks at hand. Additionally, having protective gear is equally vital for safety in construction environments. This will not only ensure the safety of workers but also save the commercial contractors time solving issues with the respective regulatory authorities over non-compliance.
Regular inspection of the equipment should be done and faulty ones replaced to ensure no malfunctioning equipment or damaged tools are being used. Workers should always be equipped with protective gear, including helmets, protective goggles, dust masks, gloves, and shoes with forwarding metal caps among others. No worker should be allowed on site without the full protective gear as deemed necessary.
6. Creating awareness
Ignorant workers are perhaps the greatest potential danger to construction safety. Every little mistake they make due to a lack of knowledge but not only themselves but everyone else around them at risk. As such, every worker, regardless of their duties or position, must be made aware of all the possible hazards that can occur at a construction site.
Understanding the perils at a site and creating a state of awareness is actually the number one effective way of curbing accidents at construction sites.
7. Appropriate training
Even though many of the skills required at construction work can be learned at work, safety is a unique skill that when learned beforehand, workers are more likely to adhere to it at the site. General contractors in San Francisco should always ensure that their workers have the appropriate training on construction safety before entering any site to work. Experienced workers must be put under safety refresher courses during the course of the year.
Case Study: Use of Active RFID System
A case where construction firms have managed to improve safety and enhance the efficiency of workers is that of Lettire Construction Corporation’s recent adoption of active RFID systems built by Triax Technologies to track their workers. This system helps the company track 140 of its workers on-site at a given time to ensure that their presence at the site is authorized, safe from harm and that they are working where they are supposed to be.
Workers simply have photo ID cards with RFID tags that can be tracked to see who reported working, at what time, and where they are.
Conclusion
Much of the work to be done to ensure the workplace is safer for the construction workers mainly depends on the construction management strategies of the general contractor. If the management is poor or ineffective, the results will be very evident with unaccomplished goals, increased miscellaneous budgets, and lack of safety. Construction companies should also ensure they meet the local compliance requirements as stipulated by law before commencing work at any site.
Constructive Solutions, Inc. deeply understands the gravity of maintaining a safe environment during the construction process and so, has a highly trained team of professionals to execute our projects.
Get in touch with us to discuss your next commercial construction project.
FAQs
What safety precautions to take while dealing with heavy construction equipment?
Construction workers should follow proper techniques to lift heavy equipment and if required, must ask for help. Innovative technology like exosuits and construction wearables ensure labor safety while lifting heavy equipment on-site.
What construction safety certifications should I check before hiring a workforce?
The three mandatory safety certifications to look for before hiring a construction worker are OSHA 10, OSHA 30, and First-Aid/CPR Training. There may be additional construction safety certifications depending on the local regulatory bodies.
Why is developing an emergency response plan important for construction safety?
An emergency response plan or team will be instrumental in handling emergencies like toxic material spills, electrocutions, falls, blasts, natural disasters, or any other fatal incidents. The team will be responsible for reporting potential safety hazards and quality issues, and so are extremely important.
Relevant Resources:
- Construction Safety: 7 Challenges and Prevention
- 6 Pro Tips For Choosing The Right Commercial General Contractor In San Francisco
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It’s a great point that the employees need to be held accountable as well so that safety is a high priority. My sister is trying to get some new construction equipment for her worksite this year. She needs to make sure that the equipment that she is using is safe and can get the job done on time.