People who work in the construction industry must be prepared for anything. Anything from a fall to a small slips can potentially lead to life threatening consequences. This is why the Occupational Safety Act and Health Act is so important to individuals working in the industrial field.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act was first passed in 1970 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — commonly referred to as OSHA — in order to enforce on the job safety regulations. These regulations range from everything including regular safety inspections on machinery and workplace standards to offering safety training courses for employees.

OSHA statistics report that every year, approximately 1,000 workers are injured in the construction field. There are many ways that employers can help to prevent workplace industries, best exemplified in OSHA’s three step “plan, provide and train” process.

Keeping Construction Workers Safe on the Job:

• The first step, plan, needs to be handled carefully by employers. You want to think about what kind of accidents can easily befall your employees and what can be done to help. Do you offer fall protection courses or other construction safety training events? Is all your lifting equipment and rigging equipment properly inspected and up to code? These are the kinds of questions to consider when deciding what you want to focus on.
• The next step, provide, means ensuring that your workers will have access to the necessary equipment and services they need in order to remain safe on the job. You not only want to protect their lives, but you don’t want a lawsuit on your hands. Simple things, for example, like making sure industrial chain sling isn’t worn out and if it is, making sure it is replaced with new industrial chain sling can make a huge difference in workplace safety.
• The final step, train, refers to making sure all employees are well versed in safety procedures. Without a doubt, workers must be trained to properly be able to recognize hazardous conditions and know how to properly and safety handle them. In addition, workers must be comfortable with the proper use of equipment such as ladders, scaffolds, fall protection systems, industrial chain sling etc.
• OSHA fall protection training is widely used by construction crews across the nation. This is instrumental in making sure that employees know what to do to remain safe in case of a slip or fall from a high height. Making sure that your employees receive this training can make a huge difference for whether or not they sustain a severe injury.

Have you had any experience working to improve safety standards or training employees in safety procedures on construction sites? Tell us about it in the comments below!