Construction Site Safety Plans
The owners and contractors at commercial construction sites have two majors duties to manage. First, they must manage the risk of property damage. Secondly, they must manage injury to persons within and around the building site. Construction accidents cost money and put lives at risk. Additionally, they damage the reputation of all concerned, especially the commercial builder and the project owner. The dangers at construction sites are so serious that every year, about 20% of all private-sector employee fatalities occur. Site-Specific Safety Plans are a valuable tool to ensure that risks are mitigated against during a construction project.
Site-Specific Safety Plans are documents that indicate the particulars of the safety risks existing at a given commercial construction site. Additionally, they detail what the commercial builder plans to do to manage those identified risks. The document also indicates the health and safety obligations applicable to that site. Today on the blog, our tilt-up contractors share more information on construction site safety plans.
Site-Specific Safety Plan Requirements
Site-Specific Safety Plans have a number of attributes which include the following:
- Creating a system that links various activities to different risks, together with the measures that can be undertaken to manage those risks.
- They are designed to safeguard commercial construction workers and site visitors. Additionally, this includes members of the general public from the risk of being exposed to the hazards found at the construction site.
- The Site Specific Safety Plan covers all contractors, the subcontractors they hire, and anyone working at that ground-up project site.
- It isn’t static. The document needs to be updated as and when conditions at the construction site evolve so that the safety plan is relevant at all times.
The Site Specific Safety Plan is usually prepared by the Sacramento construction company hired as a general contractor on the commercial construction project.
Desirable Elements of a Site Specific Safety Plan
Site-Specific Safety Plans are living documents whose contents have to be implemented on a daily basis in the lifetime of an ongoing construction project. The following are some of the actionable contents of this plan;
- Risk analysis
- A disciplinary program for all near-miss safety incidents
- CPR/first aid training
- Documentation of all accidents and inspections done
- Hard hat numbering system for easy worker identification
- The stipulation of a competent person responsible for overseeing the implementation of safety standards
- Signed site safety orientation forms
- Records of subcontractor “toolbox talks” aimed at keeping them in the loop on all matters concerning the delivery of needed materials, timelines, coordination of shifts, and so on.
- Written proof that all subcontractors comply with all the OSHA requirements by filling out the necessary logs.
- Identification of a safety supervisor who speaks English
As the name suggests, a site-specific safety plan is customized to the conditions prevailing at a given site, so the contents of the safety document will vary in accordance with the prevailing conditions at the site. Nevertheless, there is a wrong way to go about preparing this document for a concrete tilt-up construction project or any other construction project as highlighted in the section below.
Undesirable Elements of Site Specific Safety Plans
- Canned/generic site-specific safety plans. It isn’t helpful to copy and paste the contents of a site safety plan because such a document will not address the particular risks unique to the site. It is therefore worthwhile to craft a customized document that will help to avert the risks that can engulf both the commercial builder and the project owner together with other stakeholders.
- Restating different standards. Different regulatory bodies, such as ANSI and OSHA, have standards that construction companies must adhere to. Some commercial builders simply extract relevant sections of those standards and restate them in the site-specific safety plans that they draft. This is unnecessary and potentially detrimental. Especially when that quoted standard is revised and the revision contradicts the earlier version. It is far better to customize the contents of the said standard to the site requirements so that anyone reading that document knows what is expected of them at that moment.
How to Improve the Specificity of a Site Specific Safety Plan
- Include a diagram of the project site
- Describe the project site
- State the ground-up project site’s geographical location (city, street or campus, for example)
- Indicate the location of all equipment, scaffolding, and all activities
- State the neighboring businesses or structures
- Indicate the designated travel routes for vehicles entering or leaving the concrete tilt-up construction site.
- Include emergency and safety contact numbers
- Describe any unusual site conditions, such as the existence of an abandoned outdoor swimming pool
- Areas where site workers can take meal breaks
When a Site Specific Safety Plan is properly drafted and implemented, things work well. Our friends over at Tureks Plumbing, Appleton bathroom remodel company, agree that the chance that a safety incident will occur is greatly minimized when this is in place. Even when an accident occurs, its effects will not be as severe as the effects of an accident that occurs when there is no plan in place to guide how everyone will respond during such an event.
Construction Site Safety Plans at Headwaters Construction Inc.
At Headwaters Construction Inc., we take matters of site safety seriously. We know that an accident can delay or even result in the cancellation of a planned project. If you have been burned in the past or would like to work with a commercial builder who regards site safety as a top priority, look no further! Contact Headwaters Construction Inc. today and we will discuss your unique project needs. Our teams are made up of highly trained and experienced professionals. Choose us and leave the rest to us!