Every tradesman understands the dangers of the workplace. In fact, anyone who doesn’t understand tends to not get trusted for very long. From high vis, to equipment management, here’s a couple of tips to ensure you’re building somewhere safe.

High Vis

Taking responsibility for safety, either as the company, or as the worker, is incredibly important to making sure everyone has a smooth and safe workday. No one wants to work unsafely, so first and foremost, everyone on a worksite should make sure they’re wearing high viz.

High Vis is the most common piece of safety wear found in any workplace. They’re an absolute essential for outdoor construction or road works, as the risk of not being seen can lead to death or injury.

Also, at the time this blog is being written, we’re heading into winter. Over the next coming weeks, it’s going to be getting a lot darker a lot sooner. Staying safe is now more important, so make sure you’re seen.

Safety Culture / Planning

Any workplace, not just a place with as many risks as a worksite, has to work from the top down if they want to promote a certain behaviour among their staff. All changes and protocols start with management, and work their way down.

Management should be training their staff as to exactly how and why their safety measures should be implemented. And as crew, that culture needs to be respected.

Crew should also be empowered to speak up when they see issues, or when guidelines aren’t being followed, and the site should be inspected and evaluated each day to ensure all of the guidelines are being followed.

You’re at work, and that carries responsibility for all involved, as the health and wellbeing of your colleagues could be at risk otherwise.

Equipment / Debris Management

One of the most common ways people get hurt on work sites is because there’s something lying on the ground that shouldn’t be there. Just because you work in lumber doesn’t mean there gets to be random pieces of wood lying in high traffic areas. Things need to be picked up. This goes for tools as well.

We’ve all seen the type. Usually a trainee, but sometimes someone more experienced, who places their tools beside them on the ground, and then walks away leaving them there.

Similar to the above, a lot of the work on this tip is just to make sure you’ve thought about the kind of worksite you want to create, and then enforcing it. Half the battle is just making sure a plan is in place and making sure your team knows it. From there, just make sure its enforced, and keep your workplace clear for everyone to travel through safely.