Construction Safety: A Simple Guide to Establishing an Injury Prevention Process

One of the most frequent questions I get about construction safety, is, how do I start a construction safety program?

Companies with a current process ask, how do I improve my current process?

Because each organization and project are different, the strategies listed below are focused on the “big picture” items that will help weave health and safety into each aspect of the organization:

1.DEVELOP A SIMPLE INJURY PREVENTION STRATEGY  

Most organizations and sites have a safety program or plan (comprising of OSHA requirements), which is often hundreds of pages long. Many of us operate under the false belief of “the longer the better”.  While these plans are necessary, my question to you is, do you know what is on page 45, 55 or page 105?  This is a rhetorical question designed to make you think about simplifying your process. 

I am not suggesting you get rid of the plan, but there should be an outline of how the plan will work on your job site.  If there isn’t one, not many people are going to go into the “book” to find out what to do.

Below is my formula for developing a simplified strategy:

• What are the major risks (pick three or four of them) that are dominant on your site that you want the team to focus on? 

• How will you indoctrinate your subcontractors or their subcontractors (2^nd and 3^rd tier contractors) on your major risks?

• What activities should your superintendents or team leaders (foremen) be partaking in daily? 

• How frequently do you perform observations for safety hazards on the job site?  A good rule of thumb is that every-day, visual observations should be made of the workplace by the foremen or superintendent. If this is not feasible consider weekly.  At a minimum, a monthly formal audit or assessment should be performed (more frequent if the risks and project size warrant it).  This should be based on the major risks on the site.

Suggestion:  Start by writing down your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly action items (including OSHA requirements) and develop a 1–2-page outline of the key activities that need to take place.  Once your list is developed it is a good idea to involve some field staff, for thoughts and insight.

2. WHAT IS YOUR EDUCATIONAL STRATEGY? 

Most organizations perform training, but the question is do you educate?  Education also speaks to the “why” we are doing items versus the “how” to.  Most people want to know why we are doing what we are doing.  Also, be careful not to fall into the trap of just doing OSHA 10- 30 -hour training every so often (typically every 3 or 5 years).  While OSHA training is excellent, it is infrequent, and often not always focused on the major risks associated with your projects—risks and hazards change often in this industry!

Suggestions:

• Perform pro-active foremen or superintendent meetings to update them on key risks and topics.  Consider bringing in a guest speaker or have someone from the group speak for a couple of minutes on a topic.  This builds comradery and the body of knowledge internally.  I like to see these occur at least quarterly.

• Tighten up the weekly tool box talks and make them risk specific versus, the “next one in the book”.  Keep them short and to the point and please try to stay away from having the foremen or leaders read them word for word (workers will tune them out).  On-going and regular education is a winner and, in my estimation, is one of the key ways to prevent incidents, and injuries.
   
• Educate your foreman or lead persons.  My experience has shown that most foremen or lead persons are “thrown into the job”, because they are a good producer or someone left that needs to be replaced (no disrespect to the foremen or leaders—just stating what I have seen).
  Some valuable basic education that they need are:
  • Communication Basics
  • How to Educate so People Listen
  • Problem Solving
  • How to Get the Most Out of Your Crew

3.WHAT IS THE INJURY PREVENTION MINDSET?

I put this strategy last as it is one of the toughest things to do. Often if this is undertaken first, you may run into road blocks that halt progress before anything begins. 

If you are thinking that this should be first, you are correct. But what is logical is not always practical, so you have to come at this from another angle…taking what feels like it should be the first item and handling it last.  The last thing you want to do first, is tick off management before you get started!

Suggestions include: 

• Observe and/or survey management and foremen/ leaders to see how they handle safety and injury prevention items.  Some key questions are as follows:

• Do they push safety items to the bottom of the “agenda” during talks or meetings; is there little or inadequate safety budgets for projects; and is injury prevention an after- thought?

• Are foremen allowed to cut corners when it comes to safety?  Are there consequences for these actions?

• What are the belief systems of the foremen and superintendents (i.e., Are injuries simply the cost of doing business or are they preventable)? 

• Your answers to these questions will guide you toward the next step, which is undoubtably educating the team around why injury prevention is not only the right thing to do, but is often now a requirement to participate in bidding for and participating in projects.

Quick Note: Be strategic about your implementation.  One large mistake that I see quite often is that after assessments like these, we try to change or implement too many things at once.    If I had to choose a starting point, it would be to educate first!

Milton Jacobs is the President of Safety Solution Consultants, Inc. an injury prevention organization in Connecticut that services the United States and Caribbean.  He is a practicing Board Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and holds a Masters of Public Health in Occupational/Industrial Hygiene.