If you are in the construction industry, protect your workers and your projects by minimising health and safety risks.

Stringent on-site health and safety measures can protect your workers first and foremost, but also care for your business by reducing absence, protecting your reputation, retaining staff and maintaining productivity.

Best practices around training, the right equipment and signage are all a given when working on a construction site, but what of the overlooked risks which could be contributing to an accident waiting to happen?

Here are three things to consider on top of the obvious health and safety measures:

1. Don’t get complacent. When we become familiar with processes and used to surroundings, we can let our guard down. As a result, activities which should be safe with the right level of attentiveness, like operating an excavator, can become dangerous for the driver and those around them.

Arrange morning or weekly meetings to remind workers of the importance of vigilance, and look into more attention-grabbing signs which focus on complacency in particular.

2. Offer support. Working away from home for weeks at a time away from their close network, depression has been found to be high amongst construction workers. The Centre of Mental Health estimates that suicides are 10 times higher than other work-related fatalities.

If one of your workers is repeatedly operating in a lax manner which is conducive to an accident, it’s important to understand why. Take them aside for a private chat to make sure they’re ok.

Tiredness or stress could be affecting their work performance, so see if there’s a lower risk role they could be doing until they’re feeling capable of taking on more demanding work.

3. Be transparent. Hold yourself accountable for any accidents which do take place on your site by publishing statistics. Attempting to hide the number of incidents on your site won’t do your reputation any good and knowing that you’re sharing this information is an incentive to avoid furnishing it with new figures.

On top of all the other benefits that come with an excellent track record, you could see a more attractive premium rate on your construction insurance.

If you want to find out more, get in touch with the team at Lockyers on 01924 278222.