Saturday, May 11, 2024
We face hazards every day in construction. Simple task such as walking across a construction site can be a risky thing to do. It is up to every one of us to constantly be aware of the risk we face and to take steps to manage those risks. Often it is the simple little things that can cause us harm. Things that we don't think about until we are suddenly injured. We need to be aware that we cannot control everything and take steps to protect ourselves from those situations and be aware that we can control our actions and our preparation and our focus. We should consider this when planning work and we should keep them in mind throughout the day.
Talk about them in the JHA briefing, ask questions, and make suggestions.
All of us are responsible for safety and each of us needs to work as a team to help keep all of us safe. It does not matter if you are a first-year apprentice, a journeyman electrician or a project manager. We all need to set the example of doing things safely, eliminating hazards, making substitutions, following the policies and procedures and wearing our PPE. We cannot just talk about safety, and then do things that demonstrate the opposite. We cannot say that we care about safety and then do unsafe things. We cannot just ignore safety policies and procedures just because we don’t personally agree with them.
We all have to understand that every policy and procedure is developed, thought through and implemented to help eliminate or reduce risks to employees on the job. If we tell our coworkers to be safe and then we come to work with our ear gauge plugs missing and we work that way, we are demonstrating to our coworkers that safety policies and procedures are only important if they are convenient, or we agree with them. If we walk around the site without our safety glasses on and no one says anything to us, then our coworkers are saying they don't think our safety is important, which means they don’t really believe their safety is important.
None of us want to get hurt or see someone get hurt. We all want to do a good job, earn a living and be safe. We all need to participate in setting the example of working safely, being aware, talking to each other about safety, following the processes and policies and being a true part of an active culture of safety. Not a follower who just talks about it once a week at a safety meeting and then waits for someone to tell him to do something. Project Managers and Superintendents need to set the example and hold their crews accountable and crews we need to hold their supervisors and project managers accountable for safety. None of us is less or more important when it comes to keeping each safe. We ALL get busy and focused on other things and we ALL need a reminder to be safe, and to think about safety. That is one of the main reasons for the challenging policy, to refocus for a moment on safety. It is also the reason for Project Manager Safety and Quality Audits and Superintendent Weekly Safety Inspections and Daily JHA briefings. They all have a reason and purpose: Keep us focused on safety.
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