Lea Taylor, Negosentro | Key Ways To Avoid A Construction Accident At Your Business’s Construction Site | A construction site is extremely dangerous. The risk of accidents is high, and there’s also a big possibility that someone can lose their life if something goes wrong.
As a construction site owner, it is your job to make sure that the site is safe to help prevent dangerous and life-threatening accidents. Preventing construction accidents can also save you from costly litigations later on.
Below are some of the most common construction accidents and how to avoid them.
Electrocution or Electrical Accident
Electrocution is one of the leading causes of death or life-threatening injuries on construction sites. It is a preventable danger that is often caused by the negligence of the workers or the party responsible for the construction site.
There are three types of electrical accidents that typically happen on construction, and they are:
- When a construction worker comes in contact with an overhead power line.
- When a construction worker comes in contact with transformers and live wires.
- When a construction worker comes in contact with electrical currents from using electrical tools, machinery, and other appliances.
Aside from the fatalities caused by electrocution on construction sites, there are also long-lasting effects that electrocution can have on workers who manage to survive the accident. There are construction workers who got electrocuted while on site that end up suffering serious electrical burns, brain damage, internal burns, and in some cases, cardiac arrest. Electrocution often requires treatment from specialists and long-term hospitalization or care for the patient.
To avoid electrocution or electrical accidents on a construction site, you must:
- Ensure that your construction workers maintain a safe distance from overhead power lines or other source of electrical current. Provide any necessary training or use signs to indicate safe distances that workers should maintain from potential sources of electrocution.
- Double check your equipment. If your workers are going to be working close to electrical circuits, do a double check to make sure that all power tools and machinery are grounded. Just don’t forget to pull out the plug prior to checking your machinery and power tools.
- Check the condition of the power cords as well. Look for any indication of wear and tear on power cords, and replace them if necessary.
- Enforce that your construction workers always wear protective gear. Be sure to provide protective equipment for all your construction workers especially if they are working around electrical circuits or parts.
Falling from a Height on Construction Sites
Falling from a height is also one of the leading causes of death and life-threatening injuries on construction sites. Construction workers are typically in danger of falling off an overhead platform or elevated work stations. Fortunately, it is one of the easiest construction accidents to prevent.
Here are key tips to prevent these types of accidents on a construction site.
- Double check your equipment and make sure that your workers are wearing complete protective gear. Be sure to check all your equipment before working and that they are in good condition. Also, make sure that all your construction workers are wearing correct protective gear such as hard hats, protective eyeglasses, safety-toed footwear, and gloves.
- Check all ladders. Have all the ladders on the site double checked for cracks, breaks, or defective parts before using them every day.
- Be sure to cover floor holes that your worker might fall into. You can do this by using floor hole covers, railings, or toe boards.
- Be sure to provide every open-sided elevated platform, runway, or floor with a guard rail and a toe board. Building these around any area where a potential fall might occur can prevent your workers from slipping and falling.
- Provide safety harnesses, nets, railings and hand railings. Areas of concern should be supported with extra safety measures for all your workers.
Struck-By Accidents on Construction Sites
These type of accident happens if a construction worker is struck or hit by something. It could be falling debris, a flying object, a slipping or swinging piece of equipment, or a hard object at a ground level.
To prevent these accidents from happening employers should:
- Enforce their workers to always wear safety gear. Employees should have protective gear when working; this includes hard hats to protect their head and face from falling debris.
- Double check to make sure that all suspended materials or platforms are secured. Checks should be done regularly to assess if new security measures are needed.
- Provide proper training for workers. All workers should know how to maintain a safe distance from heavy moving objects at the site, especially those overhead.
- Keep all construction materials organized and properly stored. Use locked areas to store materials, designate a manager or supervisor as the individual with access to these.
- Train your workers how to use construction vehicles and heavy machinery properly. Be sure that all workers are up-to-date with training.
Keeping all your construction workers safe is one of your duties as the owner of the construction site. Ensuring the health and safety of your workers on a construction site is not an easy task. It requires a great deal of training, strict enforcement and repetition to make sure that all your workers are safe and free from accidents. You should also have lawyers like Greg Trif on board so that they can guide you if any such accident happens at your place. If you’re a business owner who wants to be aware of the best measures to include to increase safety in your construction site, or if you’re a worker who wants to be more knowledgeable of what can happen in the case of construction accidents, perhaps lawyers from this site can help.
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Lea Taylor
Lea Taylor is a law writer who spends much of her time writing pieces on law topics for the common reader. Lea is the resident comedian of the office, often cracking jokes to lighten the mood. She always has a delightful story to make everyone smile.
