When working on a construction site, safety should be of the utmost concern. According to the United States Department of Labor, more than 20 percent of worker fatalities in private industries occurred in the construction industry. OSHA further indicates that employers in the United States pay nearly $1 billion per week in direct workers’ compensation costs.
As a small business owner, you likely operate on a strict budget with limited resources. Even with a quality insurance program, you probably would not be able to pay the cost of an expensive workplace accident without risking going out of business. Job site safety is critical to small construction businesses. Below, we’ve outlined some of the things you can do to ensure a culture of safety.
Communicate With Your Team
One of the best ways to create a culture of workplace safety is by establishing clear guidelines for everyone involved with a project. One of the reasons why accidents happen is because new team members or third-party contractors are added to a project without a clear understanding of your values and safety practices. By communicating with all parties, you can instill expectations within your team.
Perhaps one way to do this is through your eTimecard app by communicating with employees on this app. So, for instance, imagine you use your company’s app for clocking working hours to send an employee from one job site to another. When the employee receives the job notification, they can also receive a message reminding them about some of the safety procedures in place at that new job site.
Host Safety Discussions
Another way to ensure that you create a culture of job site safety is by hosting team seminars. As a small business owner with limited resources and employees working at various job sites, you may find this challenging.
You could instruct managers to host various safety seminars at the job site. For instance, creating a dialogue about workplace safety, or organizing something like a “toolbox talk,” could keep safety fresh in the minds of your employees. With the location tracking tools on your company’s eTimecard app, you can quickly see who was in attendance for the seminar. Your manager can focus on the workshop instead of concentrating on taking roll.
Encourage Good Behavior
You can also reward good behavior. If a manager notices a workplace safety violation, he or she needs to address it immediately. But, if they see an employee going above and beyond the minimum safety requirements, managers should praise the employee.
One of the easiest ways to do so is through public recognition. You can send out a communication blast to your team through your company’s eTimecard app congratulating an employee who practiced proper safety. You could also consider rewarding employees with monetary bonuses or extra vacation days. The price of the gift is minimal compared to the amount you’d pay were an accident to occur.
Set Up A Safety Committee
One last thing that you can try to do to is set up a committee designed explicitly to handle the topic. The committee could be comprised of managers and workers. They can highlight some of the safety lapses they’ve commonly seen on the sites and how they can fix these problems. Perhaps consider adding one rep from each job site to the safety committee.