At Bryburn, health and safety on-site is at the top of our list of priorities – we want to make sure that not only our site managers, builders and labourers work in a safe environment, but that homeowners, or any visitors to site can feel comfortable and secure.
Health and safety in the construction sector is so important due to the high-risk nature of building sites. A combination of heavy machinery and the nature of the work involved mean that taking unnecessary risks can be devastating.
Below are our top five tips for on-site health and safety.
1 Proper site organisation:
Improper site organisation is where most health and safety issues can stem from. Organising a construction site is a many headed beast, including but not limited to, traffic management, public safety, materials storage, waste management, welfare and administration.
The key to good site organisation is proper planning and preparation. Before we start any build, we ensure that our site managers create a project logistics plan to outline the organisation of the site. This includes a rundown of where materials should be stored, safety rally points, emergency contacts, locations of entry and exit gateways for both pedestrians and vehicles, site boundaries and much more. This plan is then clearly posted on-site and rigorously followed.
2 Communication:
Communication can be key to having a tightly run, safe site. Before work begins it is important to alert everyone on your project site of potential hazards and safety procedures. It is a good idea to create safety outline guidelines that explain the rules of the site (i.e. PPE required, which walkways to use, where vehicles can be left etc) and who is in charge. Any guests to the build should be required to sign-in and meet with someone on-site so that they can be briefed on any current safety concerns.
Signage is vital to a safe site. Be sure that signs are posted to alert everyone of job site hazards. Your site should have the proper signs and barricades needed to keep it a safe working environment and to keep people informed.
3 Training:
Good training can go a long way to reducing risk taking on site. It is unfair to expect your workforce to go out to a site and work safely if you haven’t educated them on what safe work looks like. There are thousands of resources available to provide workers with the proper training, and nothing is more important for site safety that providing proper training.
ALL of our on-site staff are provided with full inductions, safety briefings and toolbox talks to ensure that they know how to work safely and securely.
4 Morning meetings
Having short catch-ups every morning before work starts can help put health and safety concerns in the forefront of the minds of your workforce. You can point out critical safety concerns on the site, what is planned for the day, and what everyone needs to be thinking about. Not only will these meetings ensure that more attention is paid to health and safety, but it can help increase productivity by outlining a plan for the day.
5 Participation and teamwork
Health and safety can sometimes be viewed as an annoying hoop to jump through on the way to completing a build. It is important to eliminate this kind of attitude. A way of doing this is making it clear that EVERYONE on-site must follow the presented health and safety guidelines. Ensure that every member of the workforce from the site manager to the hod carriers follow the same rules when working on site. This will make it clear that everyone is in this together and that no one, no matter their position, can cut corners.
Our commitment to health and safety
Our commitment to health and safety means that all our workforce is provided with the appropriate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and inductions and toolbox talks are given to all sub-contractors working on our sites. It is also vital to us that ALL site managers are fully first aid trained and that the welfare facilities we provide on our sites exceed the legal minimum requirements.
In addition to ensuring everyone is competent to carry out their work safely, and that there is adequate supervision to make sure arrangements are followed, we implement rigorous risk control systems and procedures for the protection of all our workforce and clients.
We have impeccable health and safety reports from all our sites carried out by an independent consultant.
We are proud to announce we are now members of the CHAS (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) and Constructionline Gold with Acclaim SSIP. These prestigious accreditations are part of our commitment to go above and beyond regulated standards. At Bryburn we care about our customers, clients and workforce, and ensuring their comfort and safety is our main priority.