ECI – Engineers Construction

Safety truly is a team effort.  You are not safe on a job site unless your co-workers are behaving safely, even if you as an individual are always following safe work  practices.

Here’s a few things that come to mind:

• Communicate the Work Plan – We can not all be safe (nor efficient) unless we’re all on the same  page.  Even the most subtle things should be planned out and communicated to the Team:
  • Equipment movement patterns on a site
  • Hand Signals and Verbal Commands
  • Assignments and responsibilities for different tasks
• Watch Your Coworkers’ Backs – Sometimes a worker(s) needs to be 100% focused on an effort which doesn’t allow for that person to track potential surrounding hazards:
  • Watch traffic, equipment, and other surroundings for hazards that could affect the focused worker.
  • Let him know you are watching and notify the person if you need to step away from that duty.
  • Be prepared to intercept the hazard and/or sound an alert to the focused worker.
• Personal Protective Equipment – While the lack of PPE on your co-worker might have little effect on your safety, it will say volumes about the culture of your Team – and culture has a lot to do with safety.
  • Do you want to be on the A Team?  or the Slacker Team?  If you’re on the A Team, you will want your entire team to be suited up consistently to the required level of PPE.
• Good Housekeeping – A clean and organized site is a safe site.  And its up to all of us to keep things organized and clean:
  • Organize stored materials neatly, safely, and accessible for when they are needed.
  • Backdrag rough access roads and keep them clear of snow and ice in winter.
  • Keep walkways clear and safe from trip hazards
  • Pick up trash
  • Make sure loads leaving the site are properly secured and covered.