What is Construction Safety?
Construction can be defined as the action of building something; typically, a large structure.
Safety is defined as the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.
Merging both definitions, we can define Construction safety as the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury when performing the action of building something.
Construction safety involves any safety procedures relating to the construction industry or construction sites. Construction safety aims to ensure that a construction site or the industry as a whole is not the cause of immediate danger to the public around a construction site, or the workers at a construction site, as well as making sure that the finished product of construction meets required safety standards.
The benefits of health and safety implementation in construction include; fewer accidents, better productivity, better work morale, better work planning, increased efficiency, better integration with external parties, better communication on site, enhanced working relationships and reduced overall costs.
Construction safety consists majorly of Planning, Managing and Monitoring. While planning and managing are mainly responsibilities of the client and contractor, the monitoring is a collective responsibility as accidents arising from unreported incidences could be fatal and lead to severe injuries or even loss of lives, in which case, both the victim, the contactor, the client and the construction work itself would be affected one way or the other.
The Government, is charged with the responsibility of enacting and enforcing construction safety legislations and laws; making these laws readily available to major stakeholders in the construction industry and liaising with the stakeholders to birth Government-Industry collaborations towards safety trainings and certifications with the focus of creating a safe working environment within the construction industry.
The roles and responsibilities of contractors with respect to safety management in construction are enormous as they are directly in charge of the health, safety and welfare of all workers in their employ.
Firstly, the contractor must be proficiently and certifiably knowledgeable in construction safety management and should formulate a safety policy and a safety management plan for the construction site. A safety policy is simply the contractor's commitment to safety practices on the construction site. A safety plan, on the other hand is a document that outlines the procedures, rules and regulations that are or would be put in place to protect workers over the course of the construction project. There abound a lot of online templates from which contractors can customize a site-specific safety policy statement and safety management plan. Find out more here.
Other responsibilities of the contractor/contracting firm include:
- Ensure client is aware of their safety obligations.
- Ensure relevant training of workers, machine operators, handlers, etc.
- Identify and eliminate hazards and reduce risks.
- Appoint a safety officer or safety representative
- Provide appropriate supervision information and instruction to workers.
- Provide workers with site-specific induction (personal protective equipment PPE)
- Provide suitable welfare facilities.
- Prevent unauthorized access to work site.
- Report accidents to relevant authorities
- Comply with the health and safety plan of the project.
Construction is a high risk endeavor and as such, adequate measures to eradicate and mitigate risks to a very reasonable extent must be taken, always.