Serious Health and Safety Risks in Construction
Health and safety risks in construction are something that has always been the main problem in the industry. Neglect, for instance, has been one of the biggest reasons, things tend to go wrong on a construction site. Apart from neglect, however, there are many more safety factors that have an effect on the employees that work on the site, including their health and well-being, as well as the safety of the materials and budget on-site.
Needless to say, a small mistake can cost a lot of money and set the budget of a construction site back quite a bit.
Other factors that come into play, is the hours that construction workers need to work, which often is the main reason neglect occurs on site.
Health and Safety Risks in Construction
- Exhaustion
While exhaustion isn’t necessarily considered to be one of the biggest risk factors when it comes to health and safety, it is the cause of some of the most severe construction site incidents. Considering how laborious the work is at hand, as well as the long hours of manual labor that needs to be considered, it is a job that might cause physical and mental exhaustion, which can result in costly mistakes.
- Working at a height
Due to working mostly at a height, around 50% of all construction injuries are caused by falling from a height. The most common hazards include inadequate edge protection, an unsecured ladder or scaffold, along with a lack of guardrails or unguarded openings.
- Moveable objects
There is a lot of activity that takes place on a construction site, and without a proper work area and management thereof, one can easily be hit by moving objects.
This usually occurs due to poorly lit construction sites, working too close to moving objects, untidy work areas, a lack of vehicle beepers or warning lights and a lack of warning signs.
- Noise
Construction work is one of the top causes of work-related deafness, as workers are exposed to a long duration of noise daily.
- Slips and Trips
As one of the most common workplace injuries, constituting up to 40% of all construction injuries, slips and trips are some of the biggest causes for construction workers to get injured or fractured bones.
