Workplace safety is important in any work environment. In construction, it can be lifesaving. Below are The 7 Core Elements of Safety and Health in Construction. Check them out to either get acquainted or refresh your memory of these best-practices for construction plant protection.
1. Management Leadership
- Top management demonstrates its commitment to eliminating hazards and continuously improving workplace safety and health. Management communicates that commitment to workers, and sets program expectations and responsibilities.
- Managers at all levels make safety and health a core organizational value, establish safety/ health goals and objectives, provide adequate resources and support for the program, and set a good example.
2. Worker Participation
- Workers and their representatives are involved in all aspects of the program—including but not limited to
- setting goals
- identifying and reporting hazards
- investigating incidents
- tracking progress
- All workers, including contractors and temporary workers, understand their roles and responsibilities under the program and what they need to do to effectively carry them out.
- Workers are encouraged and have means to communicate openly with management and to report safety and health concerns or suggest improvements, without fear of retaliation.
- Any potential barriers or obstacles to worker participation in the program (for example: language, lack of information, or disincentives) are removed or addressed.
3. Hazard Identification and Assessment
- Procedures are put in place to continually identify workplace hazards and evaluate risks.
- Safety and health hazards from routine, nonroutine, and emergency situations are identified and assessed.
- An initial assessment of existing hazards, exposures, and control measures is followed by periodic inspections and reassessments, to identify new hazards.
- Any incidents are investigated with the goal of identifying the root causes.
- Identified hazards are prioritized for control.
4. Hazard Prevention and Control
- Employers and workers cooperate to identify and select methods for eliminating, preventing, or controlling workplace hazards.
- Controls are selected according to a hierarchy that uses engineering solutions first, followed by:
- safe work practices
- administrative controls
- personal protective equipment (PPE).
- A plan is developed that ensures controls are implemented, interim protection is provided, progress is tracked, and the effectiveness of controls is verified.
5. Education and Training
- All workers are trained to understand how the program works and how to carry out the responsibilities assigned to them under the program.
- Employers, managers, and supervisors receive training on safety concepts and their responsibility for protecting workers’ rights as well as responding to workers’ reports and concerns.
- All workers are trained to recognize workplace hazards and to understand the control measures that have been implemented.
6. Program Evaluation and Improvement
- Control measures are periodically evaluated for effectiveness.
- Processes are established to monitor program performance, verify program implementation, and identify program shortcomings and opportunities for improvement.
- Necessary actions are taken to improve the program and overall safety and health performance.
7. Communication and Coordination for Employers on Multi-Employer Worksites
- General contractors, contractors, and staffing agencies commit to providing the same level of safety and health protection to all employees.
- General contractors, contractors, subcontractors, and staffing agencies communicate the hazards present at the worksite and the hazards that contract workers’ duties may create on site.
- General contractors establish specifications and qualifications for contractors and staffing agencies.
- Prior to beginning work, general contractors, contractors, and staffing agencies coordinate on work planning and scheduling to identify and resolve any conflicts that could impact safety or health.
To learn more about Vanguard Resources’ construction plant support systems, visit the Business & Industrial tab or Contact Us to create your own custom plan today. Information for this article was gathered from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) official guidelines.
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