Construction businesses have a vested interest in maintaining safe workplace environments. With greater safety comes fewer incidents, reduced expenses, and a better reputation. However, some safety upgrades can be expensive.
So how can you make your construction job-sites safer while also keeping costs to a minimum?
Sorting Out Your Priorities
First, take a step back and determine the balance of your priorities. As a construction business owner, you want your business to be safe, but also highly efficient and cost effective. In a perfect world, you would be able to incorporate every conceivable safety upgrade or safety standard, reducing the risk of injury to almost zero on your job-site.
But in most applications, this simply isn’t practicable. You’re working with a somewhat limited budget, you have time constraints, and there are certain safety measures that prevent you from constructing in a reasonable way.
Balance is key
Part of your job is to figure out exactly where this balance exists for your organization. Which areas of cost savings can help you stay efficient while avoiding increasing risks in a significant way?
Keep in mind that safety itself is extraordinarily valuable. In addition to keeping your workers healthy and productive, better safety standards can lead to lower insurance costs, a better company reputation, higher employee retention, and even new and better clients. There’s nothing wrong with trying to improve safety on a budget, but safety ultimately needs to be your top focus.
How to Create Safer Job-Sites on a Budget
These are some of the best strategies to create safer job-sites when you’re on a budget.
Start with the culture.
Everything starts with the culture of your organization. If your construction business greatly prioritizes safety and health, the people in your organization are likely to take it more seriously. They’ll be more willing to follow the rules you set in place. They’ll be more likely to seek out safety solutions on their own.
They’ll be less likely to deviate from whatever plans and structures you put in place to keep people safe. You can create and support a safety culture by incorporating it into your core values, instilling those values into your leaders, and reinforcing your culture through environmental cues, rewards, and disciplinary action (if and when appropriate).
Invest in your leadership.
Leadership has a disproportionate role in shaping your organizational culture. It also has a disproportionate influence on your employees.
If you have organizational leaders who highly prioritize safety and are willing to work hard to keep workers safer, not only will your job-sites immediately become safer, but your workers will be more likely to prioritize safety on their own. Hire and promote the best leaders you can, with a special focus on safety considerations.
Hire and recruit carefully.
Similarly, you should hire and recruit carefully across the board. Don’t hire anyone who seems nebulous or indifferent about the importance of safety, and make sure everyone you hire is capable of thoroughly following instructions. Even a single person on your job-site who doesn’t take safety seriously can jeopardize the operation.
Manage your contractors and subcontractors.
Along with this idea, you should proactively manage your contractors and subcontractors. You’ll need to conduct your due diligence before hiring them, just as you would an employee, and make sure they subscribe to the same safety philosophy that you do. If you notice a contractor or subcontractor flouting your safety requirements, alert them and try to work through the issue. If it happens repeatedly, consider severing ties in favor of someone who will take your safety priorities seriously.
Avoid or eliminate hazards when possible.
Some hazards are practically unavoidable – but others are squarely within your control. Whenever possible, you should focus on avoiding or eliminating hazards. As a simple example, you won’t need any extra harnesses or safety contraptions if you can avoid working at a great height in the first place.
Know the value of your investments.
When it comes to balancing priorities of safety and budget, always try to estimate the value of your investments. How much more money does a better piece of equipment cost, and how much will that impact the safety of your job-site?
Educate and train your workers.
Even if you recruit and hire thoughtfully, you’ll still need to provide your workers with education and training. Make sure everyone knows how to conduct themselves safely on the job-site.
Track everything.
Keep track of all safety-related processes (and any injuries that arise). This way, you can evaluate your progress and improve things further in the future.
Making your job-site safer doesn’t have to be burdensome or expensive. With some changes to your culture, your core strategies, and your overall approach to safety, you can keep your investments to a minimum while simultaneously maximizing the benefits for your employees.
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