Construction site safety and mobile phones

Safety: Mobile phones on jobsites

Everyone today has a mobile phone in their pocket, phones are used by everyone everywhere, they are used so much that they had to start creating laws to protect the mobile phone users and the people around them.

There are laws about using phones while you’re driving, flying in a plane and even walking, most people don’t realize that there are rules that govern construction jobsites as it applies to the overall safety of the jobsite.

The problem with mobile phones is that they are so new that a lot of companies haven’t bothered to create rules to govern jobsites or thought about implementing the rules that already exist.  The fact is that there are rules to govern mobile phones on jobsites; it’s time that construction companies started enforcing them.

One of the biggest safety concerns with mobile phones is the distraction they can create for people when they are working. Construction sites can be dangerous places if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings, you can hurt yourself or someone else around you. People who are looking or texting or talking on their phones can walk right into something that could get them hurt or hurt someone else.

Construction takes two hands to work; if you are using one hand for your phone all day then you’re not working with both and you’re not working productively. Workers that text to each other on the same site are even more dangerous because now you have two people that are endangering themselves and everyone around them.

Mobile phones should be limited to the supervisors and managers as it corresponds with their jobs, all other workers should leave their phones in their pockets. With younger workers who are used to being on their phones all the time they should be forced to leave their phones in their vehicles. They can check on their phones at breaks and lunch or if they have a need to they will have to ask their supervisor for permission to check on them more often.

There is no reason for people to need to communicate all day with other people while they are working.

Using your mobile phone is not a right it’s a privilege, that privilege does not triumph the safety of the workers around them or the overall site safety of the jobsite.

So keep the phone in your pocket or keep it in the car. Your life could depend on it.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Don't ever let your clients compromise your site safety-safety tip

Safety Tip

In today’s residential construction environment safety for the workers on site is at the forefront of everything that is being proposed and completed. Nothing is done without an eye and ear to the safety of the tasks.

That must be extended to external forces that will try and compromise your site safety, your clients.

It might sound like a strange thing to have to tell people to make sure that their clients they are working for do not compromise their site safety but it’s true enough and it must be talked about.

Today’s rules and regulations when it comes to site safety are a far cry from what they were ten to twenty years ago and it is a good thing because no one should get hurt at work. But with increased safety comes a couple of negatives that will create stress and friction between you and your clients.

Here are a couple of side effects to today’s increased site safety;

• The recording, talking and implementing of safety on a residential construction site requires workers to be paid for the time that it takes to achieve them. Time taken for safety means the client (homeowner) has to pay for this and when the client pays for something that he can’t see (compared to seeing windows installed) then the general contractor starts to get pressured to curb costs. The more costs incurred by the homeowner for safety the more pressure they will put on the contractor to reduce costs.

• Time. Safety takes time, since safety takes time then the time it takes to construct someone’s house takes longer than people think. As safety is something that can’t be seen or measured by the homeowner then they can start to put pressure on the contractor to speed up the job which can compromise safety.

• Clients will bring you workers and companies that they have used before or had friends recommend to them. The problem with this practise is that they might not have the proper safety training required and when someone thinks that they are hired by the homeowner then you can have trouble getting them to conform to safety standards.

• Homeowners can and will constantly violate your safety standards. Clients on residential construction sites routinely showup uninvited without safety footwear and hardhats and do a walk around. They also show up on the weekends and walk around when there is no one present. Residential construction sites do not have high security, it is virtually impossible to keep a client off of your site, especially when they own the property. The worst is when your clients come up and work on the project when no one is around. It’s hard to enforce safety when the person that is breaking your safety rules is the one that is paying your bills.

• The renting of equipment like knuckle booms and man cages to make the work safer can be a constant source of stress as the client sees the monthly rental bill come in and has to pay for it.

• Installation of security fencing around worksites, open holes, open stairwells adds time and money to a build, since these things are something that will be removed and never seen by anyone after the home is built homeowners will complain about the costs and time delays.

The number one thing that you need to remember is that safety has to come before everything else in today’s construction world; there is no way to be perfect all the time especially when dealing with clients that won’t follow the rules. All you can do is try your best and be hyper vigilant with what you can control. No matter what the pressure from your client do not ever compromise the safety of your employee’s or sub-contractors on site. It is better to be removed from the project because you refused to cut corners then to bend to a clients will and have someone hurt or even killed.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.