The registered number of injuries and accidents reflects that a construction site is one of the most vulnerable places for workers. Construction places are overwhelmed with so many things that cause injuries, including heavy equipment, electric wires, scaffolding, construction material, and much more. 

Unfortunately, some of these encounters prove to be fatal. The worst part is that when the workers are concerned about their protection, they will have a hard time to focus on labor. That is regardless of how much you pay them. After all, the value of life easily triumphs everything else.   

However, despite the mishaps, one can avoid accidents. Of course, it is easier said than done. But the following safety measures will be immensely helpful to safeguard your workers at a construction site:  

1. Safety meetings are key 

Safety meetings need to be held frequently to keep everyone safe. The communication gap between workers and project managers is more likely to cause injuries. Since the majority of the workers are not academically sound, so it is quite probable that they might not be well-versed with rules and regulations regarding safety. Such meetings will be very critical to educate and the changes that occur in policies over time. 

Here is more on how safety meetings help to avoid accidents: 

• Being a worker at a construction site is easily one of the toughest jobs around. Even the best and experienced workers get lulled due to extreme exhaustiveness. That’s where the danger comes in. A fatigued worker can easily overlook or forget a certain safety measure. Safety meetings can help them to review and recall everything.  
• Recent accidents are discussed and evaluated at safety meetings. Workers are told at a great length about what caused a certain injury and how it can be avoided in the future. 
• Safety meetings are very crucial to brainstorm ideas which will eventually strengthen the overall safety of the workplace.  
• Some locations could be more dangerous than others, and workers may be asked to operate in teams rather than individually to mitigate the danger. Safety meetings will ensure that all the workers stay on the same page at risk-prone locations. 

2. Ensure proper maintenance of equipment 

Giving all the equipment regular maintenance is very important from the safety’s point of view. Workers might be engaged in multiple things so they could use the machinery in whatever condition it may be. 

Bear in mind, the frequency of inspection can vary from machine to machine. For example, an old piece of equipment may need more frequent inspection than a new one. 

As an in-charge, you might be wearing too many hats and can forget the maintenance. The best way to tackle this problem is to prepare a proper schedule of maintenance in black and white. It will not only minimize the safety hazard but contribute towards the efficiency of machines as well.   

3. Provide the latest gear to the workers

As the head of the project, the worst thing you can do is to compromise on personal safety equipment. If you calculate the expenses, safety equipment costs very less as compared to what you might have to pay if a fatality of your team member occurs. 

Therefore, you should provide the latest protective gear to fully guard the following body parts: 

•     Head protection: At a construction site, anything can fall from anywhere. So it is safe to wear hard hats. The hats should be neither small nor large; they have to be well-fitted. Remember, worn-out hats are good for nothing. It is mandatory to inspect them regularly. 
•    Eye and face protection: Safety glasses of various sizes and brands are available to provide a solid cover to your eyes. Full face shields, on the other hand, can protect both faces as well as eyes. Although these tools are strictly recommended while doing activities like welding, nailing, and grinding, general workers may also wear them given the amount of debris during construction.  
•  Ear protection: if you have ever passed by a construction site, you would know how unbearably loud these places can be. When workers have to engage in pounding or cutting, it produces high-frequency sound. Therefore they must wear earmuffs. For the low-frequency sound, earplugs work the best. 
•  Hand protection: At construction sites, the annual number of hand-related injuries is more than 150,000. The stats are quite self-explanatory why you should almost always wear work gloves while working. 
•    Foot protection:  Foot protection is specifically mentioned in OSHA’S construction gear list. Slipping and crushing are the most common foot injuries. So ensure that workers wear boots having anti-slip and puncture defiant sole.  

4. Minimize night work 

Night construction may have a decent list of pros, but the safety of the workers should be your primary concern. There are several reasons why night construction could be risky: 

• It is a mounting task for drivers to get on with their job effectively after midnight. The reason being, it is natural to be influenced by sleep in these hours. 
• Bad vision also makes life difficult. Sometimes, marked lines can be easily overlooked.
• Since the mind is less alert in the night, communication might become a problematic affair.
• Even if the workers have properly rested, the quality of sleep is nowhere near compared to what it is in the night. This could lead to fatigue during work. 

5. Invest in a healthy diet 

All the workers at a construction site are involved in robust physical work. According to International Labor Organization workers’ diet has to be high on energy. So you can’t afford to offer your workers low-quality food just to save money. 

Keeping the contemporary weather in mind, a proper diet plan should be formed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Laborers might get hungry before mealtime. You may also consider serving them snacks at regular intervals. 

The final verdict 

As a contractor, accidents can ruin your reputation in no time. So no matter how long you have been in the construction business, the incorporation of all the above-said measures to your construction worksite will lead to maximum safety. When workers are sure about their protection, they will give their one hundred percent.