Five Safety Tips Every Construction Worker Should Know

Construction workers work on construction sites – and they are notorious for the accident, and even death, rates which occur on them. Here are some tips to keep you safe and sound!

• Be aware of how those around you are performing. Even the best and most safety conscious of us can have our off days. If someone is working an unsafe manner have a few words with the. If that doesn’t do any good, report them to the site management. Remember the old saying: “He’s an accident looking for somewhere to happen.” The last thing you want is for his “accident” to happen to you!
• Wear the proper safety gear! Hi-Viz is a must! Means that wagon or plant drivers can easily catch sight of you in their peripheral vision. Hard hats! I remember there being a gale and a hunk of timber getting blown off. Hit my hard hat and bust my specs! I was livid, but what would I have suffered without my hard hat? In days gone by on three occasions I stood on screws that went through my construction boots and into my foot. Had to unscrew them to get the shoe off and see the damage! Then they invented protective footwear with steel mid-soles. Wonderful; no foot injury ever since! Eye and ear protection is another thing to be conscious of. If we get something in our eye we know about it instantly, so wear goggles when there is a chance of that. Ear protection isn’t so obvious; might be years before we suffer deafness from excess noise we worked in. The last one, for now, is lung protection! Wear a suitable mask! Inhalation of construction dust can be a killer in 20 or 30 years’ time! Make sure you don’t inhale it!
• Make sure your tools are working properly. The disc flying off an angle grinder because it wasn’t properly secured can do plenty of mischief! A blunt chisel can just slip on the job and hands end up hitting something that damages them. Blunt saws can bounce out when starting a cut and slash hands. This list goes on ….. Just make sure your tools are in good order and operating correctly!
• Be vigilant and aware of anyone else working in your area. What you are up to might be perfectly safe for you, but may possibly harm them. You’d feel bad if you did cause someone else an injury!
• Now we are never likely to stop all injuries on construction sites, so what to do to make sure that treatment is available? Know where the First Aid Kits are and who the First-Aiders are! Nag and pester the management to make sure they are kept properly topped up. Might only be a cut finger you suffer but not good if there are no sticking plasters left in the Kit!

Now get out there and have a safe day at work!