Construction sites are nothing if not a bevy of hazards and it can be difficult to account for every potential risk to keep your workers as safe as possible. To make sure your site satisfies OSHA standards and is prepared for all challenges, consider the safety equipment every construction site needs. These will not only provide protection from injury but save you from costly expenditures should something ever go wrong.
Fall Protection
Fall-related injuries are the most common injures to occur on-site and the best way to protect from them is through prevention. Guard rails with toe guards for any height six feet and above will be an effective buffer to prevent workers from accidentally stepping off a platform. Guard rails also give them something to hold onto in scenarios that cause vertigo. Lastly, safety harnesses are a great back up should a fall occur—catching the falling worker before they can fall too far.
Respiratory Protection
Construction sites commonly have contaminants within the air, from chemicals to debris particles, that are simply inevitable. This creates the necessity to provide your workers with respirators to avoid breathing in contaminants. These contaminants might be lead dust from grinding or welding, solvent vapor from paint and adhesives, or dust scattered from coal and sawing wood. To account for all these variable contaminants, your respirators will also need the correct respirator cartridges, as they function and filter differently depending on what they need to filter.
Hearing Protection
It’s not the first thing most people think of when they think of construction hazards, but some of the safety equipment every construction site needs is hearing protection. These typically come in the form of earplugs and should be standard, as construction sites make use of heavy machinery that produces extreme sounds. Construction sites are very loud places that, throughout prolonged exposure, can danger the hearing of your workers. This damaged hearing causes workers to have less situational awareness if they can’t hear potential hazards, leading to even more injuries.
Protective Gloves
As a construction worker’s hands are their primary tool, they are also the most vulnerable to injury, ranging from cuts and dismemberment to chemical and thermal burns. There are three general types of gloves to protect hands. These include:
- Leather, canvas, and metal mesh gloves protect from cuts, burns, and punctures.
- Fabric and coated fabric gloves protect from dirt, abrasion, and chafing.
- Insulated rubber gloves are vital and the only gloves to use when working with electrical appliances.
