Road Construction Safety Tips for Industry Professionals
The road construction and maintenance profession is one of the most dangerous industries a worker can forge a career in. These professionals often find themselves working in the highest-risk conditions, with limited visibility and traffic moving nearby. As such, if you’re going to be successful as a road builder, it’s crucial that you know the best strategies for keeping yourself safe in a work zone. Use these road construction safety tips to reduce your risk of sustaining an injury and go into your next project with confidence.
Wear Propper PPE
The proper PPE, or personal protection equipment, is at the core of any successful day on the job. With any number of objects waiting to fall, make noise, or ricochet across the work zone, this gear is responsible for protecting the essential parts of the body. Whether it be your head, eyes, mouth, or hands, there’s a protective item you should use to minimize the effects of an accident. For this reason, it’s crucial that you’re always wearing your hardhat, safety goggles, and gloves while on, or in the vicinity of, the job site.
Know When To Use Certain Equipment
Road workers must use certain traffic control equipment like cones, signs, and barricades to safely direct vehicles away from the work zone and the vulnerable workers. However, with how many different types of traffic safety equipment there are, and the range of uses they have, it can be hard to know whether you’re using them properly. Using the incorrect equipment to block off your work zone can result in serious damage to the site in the event of an accident and puts workers at a greater risk. As such, you must know the ins-and-outs of each item to gauge when setting them out would be the most appropriate.
Avoid Operator or Driver Blind Spots
Make sure that you’re careful to avoid driver and machine operator blind spots as well. As alert as many try to be in these situations, there will always be a few cases of oversight. From drivers not paying attention to flagger instructions to operators not watching where their machine is going, error on their part can mean deadly consequences for you. Because of this, you should be extra cautious when working near large, moving equipment and always make your presence known to those driving them.
Stay Current With Safety Training
Another important road construction safety tip to remember is to keep up with your industry training. While employers will require their workers to recertify themselves in workplace safety every so often, it’s up to you to take an interest in the subject. These standards were carefully developed by OSHA to ensure that every individual goes home without harm after every shift. This way, you’re more comfortable, better focused, and much happier about the job you’re doing.
