5 best practices for safety management on a construction site

Annually, construction sites experience approximately 150,000 unintentional injuries in the workplace, ranking the construction industry as one of the most dangerous to work in, particularly for those who are on site.

Research done by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Safety supports this claim. Construction had over double the number of fatal work injuries when compared to Manufacturing.

Lists of best practices that can implement for safety management at a construction site:

1. Risk identification: To prevent accidents, the first and most important step is to identify potential risks and proactively mitigate them. However, there is a limit to the number of risks that can be identified.

2. Active supervision: It is important to look for and address gaps that can lead to accidents, but a more effective approach is to encourage positive behaviors and outcomes to avoid incidents.

3. Communication: Sharing important information about risks with all on-site stakeholders is crucial for a safe environment. For example, any high-risk observations should be immediately communicated to all workers.

4. Worker Welfare: Incidents are inevitable, but a culture of no blame and shame can encourage workers to be in their best state of awareness and report incidents without fear.

5. Safety training: Managers should implement safety management practices and workers should be trained on these protocols and how to be proactive in case of an incident. Regular safety training should be conducted.