The construction industry accounts for the largest number of workers across the world. Due to its high-risk factor, working on a site is one of the most hazardous job roles out there. So providing safety and maintaining safety measures inside the site is of utmost importance. Construction workers are considered the backbone of every society. They provide people with durable shelters, safe constructions like schools, and secured structures like bridges and buildings. You must keep them safe while they work hard to make our lives safer. 

Most of the construction sites need to use heavy equipment and machinery for several projects and that turns out to be the primary danger for the workers. About 35% of the accidents are caused by machinery every year. The importance of maintaining the safety measures of the heavy construction equipment are:

● To avoid accidents and hazards. 

● To save the lives of the workers.

● To reduce hazardous operations. 

● To prevent fatalities.

● To improve the conditions of the construction sites.

Heavy machinery is dangerous when they are not properly used. But if the workers are properly trained for using the machinery, accidents and other hazards can be avoided. You should give them education on how to work inside a construction site and detailed tips on how to be safe while working with heavy machinery.

 

Construction site workers face a lot of hazards than those working in general sites. Awareness can play a major role in preventing equipment-related hazards and injuries. Your workers should have complete knowledge of their job site environment. Here are three categories of hazards that they must be aware of. 

All the heavy equipment and machinery used for construction sites have moving parts. So the workers need to be very careful about those moving or ejected parts that may strike against them. The workers must be aware of:

● Colliding areas. 

● Motioning shear. 

● Scissors and sharp edges.

● Rotating shafts.

● Detachable connections.

Not all the construction site hazards come from the moving machine parts. Many hazards that your workers face can come from non-mechanical means like gasses and fluids, electrical shots or charges, and hot surfaces, emissions, and chemical products, explosives, dust, conducted and radiated heat, wielding or laser lights, steam releases, and radiation light. But with proper training, these can be avoided. 

Whether the workers are using SourcePro Equipment construction machinery or any other heavy tools, access hazards will occur, if they aren’t careful. Most injuries are caused by unsafe access around the machinery paths. But you can avoid these by situational awareness, planning, and placing safeguards around your site. 

Providing safety to your construction site workers must be at the top of your priority list especially those who operate heavy equipment and machinery. Here is a guide to the steps and measures for keeping your workers safe and avoiding hazards and injuries. 

● Inspect Your Construction Machinery and Equipment

Each of the machinery has various parts and all should be in peak condition before operation. Inspect your equipment properly to ensure that the parts are in the best condition and safe to use. Regular inspection helps your workers to avoid injuries and accidents.

● Provide Training and Situational Awareness

It is on your part to provide training and situational awareness to your workers and machine operators to keep them in a safe zone while working on the site. They should learn about using different machines and how to avoid getting injured and be careful about their surroundings. 

● Slow Down the Process

You will have deadlines, but don’t let your workers stress about it. This is the main cause of accidents and hazards. Slow down the process and ease the workers so that they take some time out of their work.

● Paying Attention 

Ensure that your workers are not getting distracted and paying attention to the operational parts of the machinery they are using. Staying focused will help them to save you from mistakes and hazards. 

Coordination between the worker and the machine operator is very important. The operator must have eye contact to ensure safety while operating the machine so the other workers do not get injured. 

● Use Signals for Effective Communication

Communication is the most important aspect of a construction site with heavy equipment. You need to create safety procedures and policies for your machinery and constantly communicate with the operators and workers to ensure their safety and to save your money.

● Be Vigilant 

While working in a construction site, you need to keep vigilance on the workers so that they are not near a line-of-fire or standing near an edge to avoid falling off from a height while working from elevated construction machinery. 

● Identification of a Danger Zone 

You should always mark a danger zone for the workers and operators to understand that it is a site of injuries and accidents that might happen. You can place barriers, fences, or put different colored tapes to identify different sites of danger.

You can adopt various ways to keep your site workers and operators safe so that they can avoid injuries, hazards, and accidents. Some of them are:

● Provide those protective gears and equipment.

● Maintain and construct scaffoldings.

● Make the display signs clearer.

● Proper safety training.

● Regular inspection of machinery and equipment.

● Proper use of technology.

Now you know how to operate heavy machines and maintain safety at your site.