How to develop a strong construction safety culture

Mainly, to protect your construction workers and to meet compliance regulations. But, there are also many benefits you can gain just by building a strong safety culture. Think about construction site hazards – if your site doesn’t have stringent measures in place to manage every hazard carefully, what happens if somebody incurs a serious injury? You’ll be liable to pay a huge fine and your company’s reputation will be tarnished, weakening your standing within the industry.

Costs can soon mount, particularly when considering legal fees if you need to represent yourself. You may also have to invest in recruiting replacements, and if potential workers are aware of your indiscretions as an unsafe business, you’ll likely find it harder to attract the top talent you need. Low worker morale can be a factor too, if a colleague has suffered injury, then worries from your other workers about workplace safety are only natural.

The domino effect can cause many problems, therefore a strong construction safety culture is of paramount importance, and should always be a priority. Developing and maintaining trust between workers, construction safety managers, company executives and stakeholders is key. If workers feel protected and have the right tools and awareness to carry out their roles safely, then increased productivity and improved team morale will follow.

Whilst hazards, safety and compliance are all cornerstones of construction site safety, many factors contribute to developing a strong construction safety culture.

Use the following as a checklist and compare the current measures you have in place. Are there any areas that could be improved? Could you streamline processes and procedures across your site to maximise productivity and improve safety?

• Construction safety leadership – Your approach to safety should filter from the top down. That means aligned management from senior staff that trickles down throughout the workforce to site workers. You should establish safety policies and provide adequate resources for safety training and equipment. Our blog post on site manager responsibilities explores this topic in greater detail.
• Employee awareness – Communicating safety procedures properly is a must, so employees are accountable for implementing and following safety procedures. Developing safety policies and procedures should involve employees, as they have the knowledge and experience of the site to provide the relevant guidance.
• Safety training – Training helps to close any knowledge gaps and align the knowhow of employees with any changes to legislation. This can include how to wear and use appropriate PPE provisions, operate machinery safely and navigate an emergency on site.
• Identifying and controlling hazards – As a site manager, you must ensure that appropriate steps are taken to identify and control hazards. Hazard assessments and policies on how to manage hazards should be at the forefront of this. Check out our blog post on construction health and safety signs for further information.
• Reporting incidents – Any incident that occurs on a construction site should be reported. You should have a policy in place that records incidents and investigates how and why they occurred thoroughly. Action should then be taken based on the findings of any investigation to prevent this from reoccurring.
• Improvement of standards – Construction safety culture revolves around continuous improvement. Employers should regularly review and evaluate safety policies and procedures to identify areas for improvement and make the appropriate changes.