Construction site health and safety is a priority for all businesses and those who work as self-employed in the industry. There are regulations and laws in place to protect the workers and the public from risks that arise from construction. The Health and Safety Executive are the ones responsible for ensuring the regulations are complied with and failure to achieve this often results in court appearances, fines and even custodial sentences.
Besides the legal responsibilities those who are responsible for employees, long or short term, have a moral duty to consider. The lives of the workers and their families depend on strong health and safety policies and procedures. Without them, minor or major injuries and deaths can occur, which is why you simply cannot afford to ignore your legal and moral responsibilities.
Where Should You Start?
As a business owner or a freelancer you need to be aware of the laws and regulations. You have to know what your responsibilities are and how to introduce and maintain health and safety on your construction sites. Training is a must and is the quickest way to learning what you need to know as well as how to deliver on your knowledge.
Training courses come in different shapes and sizes. Some can be completed online whilst others are taught in a classroom setting and sometimes tutors are able to come to workplaces to deliver the course content. The health and safety courses are taught in learning centres all over the country, all year round. Therefore there are no possible excuses you may have for failing to be trained in this area.
Putting Your Training Into Action
Once you have been trained you then need to put what you have learnt into action. You will need to introduce health and safety policies and procedures, have adequate first aid and use signage and equipment. You will also need to create risk assessments, safe systems of work and ensure that everyone in the company is suitably trained depending on their own roles and responsibilities and the work they carry out. Communication is a big factor and often skills in how to communicate are also included in health and safety courses.
You may be able to delegate the management of health and safety to suitable employees if you have them. Managers and supervisors will be able to support you in this area and they too will have to have appropriate health and safety training and put their own education into action.
Construction site health and safety is a priority for businesses large and small. Don’t put lives at risk; seek training and keep your skills up to date.