Scaffolding Safety Tips
Scaffolds and scaffolding are used when construction workers have to work from elevated platforms, and this presents numerous safety hazards, one of which is the risk of falling from the elevated platforms. If your construction company has been contracted to build a multi-storey concrete building for a client, the safety of workers must be given utmost priority. Follow these tips to ensure scaffolding safety at the construction site:
Identify safety hazards
Before you can embark on any actual work at the construction site, take time to identify both existing and potential safety hazards. Scaffolds come with a safety checklist that is designed to ensure that scaffolding is properly installed for use. You need competent scaffolding installers to ensure that existing and possible safety risks are identified. For example, the existence of power lines adjacent to the site where the multi-storey building is to be constructed presents an existing safety risk: electrocution.
Failure to install scaffolds appropriately is another example of a potential safety risk; scaffolds that are installed on loose bricks can weaken and destabilise, causing them to fall. At times, the safety hazards arising from the use of scaffolding may not be due to defects in the installation of the scaffolding at all; rather, they could be as a result of work-related incidents such as objects falling from above. Falling objects could cause serious head injuries to employees working on scaffolds.
All these are just a few examples of risks, both existing and potential, which scaffolding specialists must acknowledge and work to avoid.
Plan for safe use of scaffolding
Once you have established what the existing and possible safety risks associated with the use of scaffolding are, you should come up with measures that will ensure safety. First things first, make sure that any person who works on a scaffold is well-versed with potential safety hazards that may occur as they go about their work.
Next, you should provide protection tools and equipment that can be used in case an employee falls from the scaffolding. Make sure each employee is well-trained on how to utilise each type of equipment, such as fall arrest systems.
Remember that scaffolding safety does not stop with proper installation of the scaffolds and educating employees about safety hazards associated with the job. Employees should be provided with the right protective tools and equipment, and scaffolding should be inspected even as the construction project is on-going!