Construction work is one of many professions known to have natural hazards that come with the job. Just like firefighting or police work, there is some amount of risk every day of injury. It’s for this reason that strict safety precautions, such as using quality rigging hardware, is of the utmost importance. The responsibility of making sure construction workers are safe falls to the employers and providers at hand, even if the job is just a temporary one. Providing for the safety of construction workers needn’t be difficult, however. Understanding the basics to keeping such an invaluable precaution in place goes a long way for safety success.


1. Understand the Primary Causes of Construction Injuries


While there are, admittedly, many things that can go wrong with faulty rigging hardware and fall protection equipment, the four main causes include getting struck by an object, getting caught between two objects, electrocution and falling. Most of these accidents are, as mentioned, caused by unreliable, poorly-made or assembled construction materials, like lifting equipment. Rigging hardware is especially important to assemble correctly as using things like wire rope of too small rigging capacity can cause disaster.


2. Know How to Keep Workers Safe


OSHA has a great plan in place of training to keep workers safe on site; the steps of this plan are simply plan, provide and train. The planning comes in when an employer estimates the cost of a construction job and includes in this price that of necessary tools and quality safety materials like lifting gear. To provide, the employer must make sure invaluable safety precautions such as fall protection equipment are in place, especially for anyone who is being held six or more feet above the ground (with presumably well-made lifting chains). Training workers is another must for safety success, such as how to safely use ladders, fall protections systems, scaffolds as well as anything else they’ll be using in the future. These are all worthy endeavors, as it has been shown that construction companies with quality equipment and thorough safety training avoid accidents more frequently than those who don’t follow through.


3. Understand the Limit of Prediction


The unfortunate truth is that not every accident can be accounted for ahead of time. It’s difficult to always be able to assess the risks to a certainty because they can differ so much given the varying situations. That doesn’t mean anyone has to be doomed to injury or accident, however. Taking the necessary steps with quality equipment and safety education like fall arrest training greatly decreases and lessens the severity of workplace accidents.