Like infectious germs infesting our surroundings, enormous numbers of work and health hazards pervade the construction site. Each one of these dangerous threats has the potential to bring extensive damage to human life caused by accidents and contaminations.
From the physical injury caused by misuse of electrical tools and mechanical equipment to the poisoning and disease inflicted by toxic chemicals and rat infestations, the possibility of injury and illnesses abound particularly in the mismanaged and unsafe construction work environment.
Construction site safety is the primary goal of the construction phase health and safety plan required by the government for building projects. Drafting and implementing this plan to ensure personnel and public safety on site is the primary responsibility of the principal contractor.
In as much as the construction workers and other personnel are already responsible adults, they are capable of getting properly educated about safety and security in the construction site.
A lot of these common accidents could actually be avoided by simple common sense if only each one would observe some practical steps. Simple as these may be, these tips could very well save any thinking person from falling into excavation holes, serious head bumps, painful broken bones and other preventable physical injuries and ailments.
The following are some common sense and practical tips for construction site safety:
• Go For “Safe Fix” – means putting on your hard hat and other protective gears when you’re on site. Consider yourself as going into battle with the construction work and health hazards as the enemy’s ammunition set to attack you. Gird yourself always on full battle gear, completely armoured for your utmost protection when in the construction battle ground.
• Glass is Breakable – While you may find the sign “FRAGILE: Handle with Care” conveniently pasted on mailed packages, you would not see this same sign posted on glass structures in the construction site. Common sense would tell you that glass is fragile which means if you put your weight on it by leaning or stepping on it, it would break, make you fall and possibly injure you with the broken glass pieces if not totally take the life out of you if you fall through a glass window from the thirtieth floor.
• Ledge Means Edge – This means if you place tools, equipment or brick on the ledge, they would most probably fall over the edge. More than breaking the tools or equipment chances are you would break somebody’s head on whom the hard object fell.
• Mask Beats Dust – Wear protective mask in dusty areas of the construction site especially where asbestos and other poisonous fumes are present.
A lot of these practical safety tips, listed here or unlisted, have been precious lessons learned from traumatic and not-so-traumatic construction site accidents. Beyond the technical tools and training that the construction health and safety plan could provide, employing the use of simple thinking and common sense could very well prevent a lot of complicated accidents, injuries and ailments in construction sites.
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