The construction busy season is upon us and, unfortunately, so is the blistering heat and humidity. Heat related illnesses are a serious concern in the construction industry and OSHA has put forth a campaign to raise awareness for prevention. Heat related illnesses include heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rash, and perhaps more importantly, their symptoms present very dangerous circumstances on a construction job site. Many of the illnesses can cause fainting, confusion, dizziness, weakness, and other pain, so you can imagine how that would cause issues with someone working 20 feet in the air needing to climb up and down ladders and scaffolds.
One of the ways OSHA is raising awareness is through the recent release of their Heat Safety Tool, which is available on Android and for the iPhone. The app allows workers to calculate the heat index based upon the temperatue and humidity level at their job site and displays a rick level for heat illness. When a risk level is established, the app also includes precautions that should be taken to prevent any symptoms, which typically include drinking plenty of water, finding shade out of direct sunlight. More information about preventing heat illness can be found at OSHA’s heat illness prevention page. The app is also available on both Android and Apple devices in Spanish.
Heat Safety Tool (Android) | OSHA
Heat Safety Tool (iPhone) | OSHA
The construction industry has never been one to freely share information without charging a fee. That’s changed slightly recently, with some major players willing to provide useful tools and information to help us become better. For instance, we recently shared that Procore has released hundreds of free continuing education courses on their education platform. Another useful site we’ve found recently has shared dozens of toolbox talks to help your team on the jobsite learn about safety.
[guest post] The reality is that construction workers, who already face hundreds of hazards just by working in the industry, are also often at risk for becoming injured or ill due to contact with wildlife.
It should be obvious that formal safety training is extremely important to running a successful safety program on any construction site. The most common route for construction employers to train their staff is through OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 courses, but, in the past, it was pretty confusing to determine who was actually authorized to teach the courses and where to find them.
[guest post] Spring is here and before we know it, summer will follow. In both seasons, weather conditions can present dangers to construction workers. Without education and preparation, workers may find that they are seriously ill or injured during work.
Crane collapses on construction jobsites are usually pretty terrifying, especially when the jobsite is full of workers. A construction site in St. Petersburg, Florida got extremely lucky when a large construction crane collapsed and narrowly missed several running workers.
Construction workers rely on power tools to do their jobs every day. Working with power tools is also inherently dangerous, but compounding that risk with a manufacturers defect could be a recipe for disaster. Product recalls on tools, thankfully, don’t happen very often, but it’s extremely important to find out about them before you put yourself at risk for potential injury.
Every construction company wants to avoid workplace accidents on their jobsites. The problem is, far too many companies don’t have a structured safety program to help them achieve lower injury rates. The Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC) recently released their 2018 Safety Performance Report, which showed how companies were achieving a 670% lower injury rate versus the national average.
If your company did not electronically submitted its 2016 OSHA 300A injury and illness log to OSHA before December 31, 2017, they could be facing an other-than-serious violation with a maximum penalty of $12,934. We tried to warn you, and warn you, and warn you again.
[guest post] The “fatal four” are falls, electrocutions, struck by an object, and caught in/between. Falls alone cause over half of the deaths in construction. With today’s technology, the fatal four could be a thing of the past.
Since the FIU bridge collapse last Thursday, there has been a lot of speculation on how exactly this catastrophe happened, based on pieces of information learned over the past few days, as well as a couple grainy videos of the collapse. It’s going to be a long time before investigations into the true causes are determined and all the dust surrounding impending lawsuits clears, but for now, we have one very interesting Youtube video explaining a plausible cause of the failure.