If you’re part on a large building project, chances are that you and your employees are working on a busy construction site.
Despite staff working at dangerous heights on scaffolding or operating heavy machinery, these sites are often found in built-up areas with plenty of people passing by. In the last business year alone, almost 10% of all fatalities in construction were sadly members of the public.
With health and safety regulations stricter than ever before, how can you ensure that the safety of the public is protected as much as that of your staff?
Minimize hazards
Due to the nature of the work, some hazards will be permanently present on a construction site. Here are the main offenders and some measures you could take to reduce the risks:
- Falling from a height
- Accounting for almost half of all construction deaths over a five-year period, falling from a height is a constant risk in construction.
- To help protect your employees and the innocent members of the public walking beneath them, you should use barriers on scaffolding wherever possible. Check the structural integrity of raised platforms and test any lifts before operating them manually.
- Falling objects
- Accidents happen: one minute some heavy or harmful materials could be high up on a platform, and the next they could be knocked to the floor.
- To highlight hazards, you should use clear warning signs (like these) to raise awareness amongst workers, to limit the risk of public contact, and to deter any nosy intruders.
- Furthermore, employee training should cover manual handling and risk management to ensure widespread understanding and awareness.
- Unrestricted access
- It’s imperative to control site access to restrict any unwanted or uninvited visitors onsite: keep entrances clear and well signed to limit the risk of pedestrians being struck by works vehicles.
- Set up fencing and barriers around the perimeters of the site to manage a dedicated entrance and exit.
- Keep others safe around electricity by only allowing qualified electricians to undertake electrical works.
- Specific boundaries should be clearly outlined; where possible, use netting, boards, and barriers to avoid any spills or falling objects over public roads or walkways.
Statistics from The Health and Safety Executive show that the rate of fatal injury to workers in construction is four times higher than the average rate across all industries.
Limiting access and raising awareness of the risks is key to further ensuring the safety of your colleagues and the members of the public who could be vulnerable to the hazards of a construction site.
