Now, what, to you is the real benefit of looking for an online construction site safety plan? If you are looking for one for its proper use, you will be after one which puts the safety of your workforce to the fore. Sadly, many construction site safety plans are built with simple ease in mind. This is a terrifying thought, especially since we in the construction industry have so many fatalities.
Any good construction site safety plan should have, as its first and only priority, your workforces safety in mind. The goal of making the site managers life a little easier is one which too often gets involved in the search for a plan. Similarly, budgeting is something that factors in quite heavily, when really it shouldnt at all. The trouble is that both the ease of the site managers life, and the safety of the workforce can all be encompassed in one fell swoop, even at lower costing brackets.
What makes a good construction site safety plan, then? At its heart, it should be suitable for the management of all construction work. This word suitable is important here. Remember, this is the most important document in your safety planning, and unless it is utterly comprehensive, it is useless.
It should also aid the compliance with health and safety legislation. Sure, while this is an important element of the document, its by no means the be all. Even if it highlights the compliance with regulatory bodies, this in no way means that it it wholly suitable. A good test for this is whether you can buy one, and it still be applicable to a different site.
A construction site safety plan ensures that on site workers develop the awareness of risks in the workplace. It should also inform every member on the site of how to minimize the risks to themselves and their co-workers. If it fails to do this, it is near useless. Keep that in the fore of your brain if you are looking for a construction site safety plan.
Design and survey information should be in evidence, which means any number of appropriate schematics, sketches and architectural drawings. The locale should be detailed here as well, which may include local amenities, stores, materials, hazards and local infrastructure. A fire safety plan should also be present, as its probably the single most important aspect of fire safety.
Its very important for any construction site safety plan, or indeed documentation relating to construction safety, that it is written in plain English. The addition of legislation and regulatory laguage has little or no validity on a construction site. Indeed, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of construction legislation. When we, as construction workers, use language which is as pragmatic as possible, very often the Safety and Health legislation concerning us is filled with little of intelligible worth. Remember to look out for this plain english in any literature to do with this document.
A construction site safety plan is entirely for the safety of the site, not the ease of the site manager.