Among the most common workplace injuries and fatalities is a fall. In the last 10 years, over 3,500 people were killed on construction sites. In fact, falls accounted for 34% of construction industry fatalities.
Whether it’s fatigue, being too close to another worker, working in an unorganized space, or simply not having a full 360-degree view of the workplace, lack of awareness is often a contributing factor when a fall occurs. Management needs to be vigilant when it comes to training employees to be constantly aware of their surroundings and what everyone else on the job is doing. While this sounds like an obvious task, it’s often forgotten in the quest to get the job completed and move on to the next.
Situational awareness is essential to roofing safety. It improves your ability to assess and organize the job site while reducing safety risks that can impact you and your employees. Further, demonstrating your commitment to employee safety shows empathy and kindness toward those who are working for you and with you on your project. Without situational awareness, it is difficult to maintain consistency in the quality of your work and the safety of your workers. The resulting job errors or delays cannot only cripple a company’s revenue and customer satisfaction, but may result in a serious injury. It is vital that workers and job site managers be diligent in maintaining situational awareness at all stages of a job and not allow complacency to set in.
More than information gathering
Roofing safety and situational awareness is not simply information gathering, it is also an ability to make quick decisions based on this information. It includes analyzing the information in the context of what is happening on the job site, and knowing when to take action.
It improves your chances of success
While familiarity with your team has its advantages, a stable crew can present other challenges such as complacency. New workers may be tempted to impress and try to take on tasks for which they are not qualified. Oftentimes, they may have information overload and lose their grip on their surroundings. To increase your success in reducing safety risks on the job site, make sure your team is well-trained and have a process in place to ensure safety is a key consideration at the beginning of each job.
Remember, lack of situational awareness is often the cause for construction industry accidents and mistakes. It is important to act whenever a safety risk is present. While many factors can interfere with safety measures, such as weather or time pressures, your team must be reminded that safety is first, and rewarded for reducing exposure.
By rewarding the behaviors you want, you’ll see happier customers, deadlines met, and most of all, fewer injuries. Coupled with the right roofing tools like Shingle Eater, you are destined for a great season!