For a site manager, a key concern is ensuring crew safety. Construction sites remain one of the most hazardous work environments in modern times, and it’s essential that managers can calculate and understand the magnitude of the risks.

Luckily, we now have access to a much larger range of tools and solutions than ever before. From getting the right PPE for the crew to providing in-depth safety training, these are a few important ways to work on ensuring crew safety.

PPE

One of the most important elements of crew safety in all construction settings is PPE. The type of PPE required will depend on the hazards that are present in the worksite and the hazards that individual workers face in their specific role.

It’s important to ensure that PPE is high quality. Whether that’s a particle filter for people drilling in stone, or gloves for general labourers, you cannot compromise on quality and effectiveness.

Create stable pathways

With larger construction sites – especially those large enough to need substantial quantities of building supplies driven through daily – a network of stable pathways is required.

You can hire modular roadways from companies like Davis Track Hire, which are designed to provide both a stable path for vehicles and pedestrians and to protect the ground underneath.

Getting the right pathway can be especially important on worksites where the ground is unstable and delicate, such as in more rural construction sites.

Risk assessment

The practical measures outlined above are great examples of solutions for worksite hazards, but first, hazards must be identified. For construction site managers, this means taking the risk assessment process seriously.

Following HSE guidelines, go through every process, piece of equipment and project that you expect to be present on the worksite. Try to understand the different hazards that each of these poses, and work on finding the best risk mitigation strategies based on those identifiable hazards.

Employee training

Lastly, it is important not to rely solely on technology and equipment to keep your crew safe. Arguably the most important aspect of safety on construction sites is providing safety training. This needs to cover everything from how to use dangerous machinery properly to how to raise the alarm in the event of a serious chemical spill.

This training will need to be closely related to the actual hazards present on the worksite and will require regular updates as well as staff and employer refreshers. In some cases, training may only be required every 12 months or more, an accurate record will need to be kept on behalf of workers to ensure they are up to date.

Crew safety should be a central part of the site planning process, from the very beginning. It will dictate how you proceed, with many aspects – such as pathway hire and employee training, in advance of the project’s start date.