Different work spaces carry different types of safety risks, and yet there are common work safety risks that can be experienced in almost any work environment, from office to factory floors and construction sites.

1. Follow work safety protocols when working alone

Tradies and builders often go out and work alone at a residential site, depending on the size of the job and other job commitments the company has. This occurs less at commercial construction sites where it’s likely that you have a run of contractors coming in and out of the site and a site supervisor to coordinate the project.

When you or your workers do go out and work alone for any length of time on a regular basis, it’s best to have a simple safety protocol in place that you can enact in case of an emergency. Otherwise, if something unexpected occurs, such as you or the employee being taken ill or having an accident, both worker and the business are put at risk unnecessarily.

Things like communication check-ins via SMS or using a job flow system to flag when you’ve arrived on site and when you’ve left the site will give the boss reassurance that all is good. And if it doesn’t happen, they’ll know to double check on you and potentially avoid escalation of the situation.

It’s also important to make sure that someone knows exactly where you are, and whether there is someone else at the site while you’re there that you might be able to call on for help. This could be the client or another contractor and their presence will help minimise lone working safety risks.

October is National Safe Work Month. In our article Keep Your Business Safe With Hassle-Free WorkCover Payments we give you plenty of reasons why it’s also important to keep your WorkCover premiums up-to-date.

2. Stop infection risks immediately

On a building site the risk of injury is always there when you do the form work, erect the building frame, install the plumbing or electricity, gyprocking, roofing, the list goes on. It’s so easy to suffer a cut or graze of the skin when you work with building materials.

Knowing many tradies and their work attitude, I am aware that a lot of the times when this happens, the tough guys would not even bat an eyelid. However, you should make it a company policy to have a first aid kit on board and instruct anyone in your business to attend to small injuries as quick as you can.

A drop of Betadine with a band aid or bandage can save you a heap of trouble later on. If the wound becomes infected, this could mean loss of work time and productivity, and worse still, more serious health consequences for you or the worker.

3. Eliminate slip and trip hazards

Building sites can be littered with potential trip hazards, a fact well known by the experienced tradie. Staff and contractors must be reminded regularly of their responsibility to keep the working environment safe.

On a big construction site the Site Supervisor would have a lot to do with keeping the workspace as safe as possible. It’s a legal requirement and best practice that hazardous conditions should be highlighted with appropriate signs and, if necessary, areas isolated until made safe. If you work alone, you need to take on this role to be safe, rather than sorry.

When you’re at the office, there are other hazards such as computer desks and workstations. Trailing cables are one of the most common causes of injury and damage to equipment. Conduct regular checks under desks and make sure all cables are stowed in cable management ducts or tied off.

4. Make sure your workshop floor is safe

On the workshop floor it’s important to work in a tidy way and with consideration for your fellow worker. Tools that are lying around in walkways are an accident waiting to happen. Spilt oil or other lubricants can lead to slips with potentially tragic consequences.

Training on how to safely use equipment like hoists or gantries, power tools etc is a must, especially when you’ve got new staff coming on the floor.

You should also conduct tests of lighting levels and ventilation in different sections of the workplace to ensure they are acceptable.

5. Safe manual handling practices

Tradies and labourers know a thing or two about back pain. If it’s not acute it can become chronic and made worse by applying the wrong lifting movements with building material. Once it’s become chronic, back pain treatment and careful management of load lifting will ultimately determine how long you may be able to do this job.

It’s best to avoid this risk altogether by knowing your limits and asking for help when it’s needed. You should consider that human beings have a tendency to make bad decisions. It’s not unheard of for injuries to be sustained by lifting heavy objects with an awkward shape without proper equipment or having another person to help you.

Prohibit this type of activity and bring in professional expertise to learn about safe manual handling practices and how to avoid bodily harm doing it.

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