Construction Safety Week: Risk identification
Risk identification is not as easy as it might seem. Some hazards, such as unguarded fall exposures, are obvious, while others, like live electrical hazards or unstable soil conditions, might be less apparent.
Take the following three steps to ensure you and your team stay safe despite the possible presence of these hazards.
1. Plan for Safety.
Acknowledge Error-Likely Situations to anticipate where you and other team members are more likely to make mistakes, especially under stressful conditions. Examples of Error-Likely Situations include:
- Activities with new or inexperienced team members
- New tasks or tools
- Change in work sequence
- Highly repetitive tasks
- Other external factors, such as schedule pressure, weather, or personal distractions
At AMECO, we use our voices to help us make safe choices. Our safety culture encourages AMECO employees to openly discuss which of these might apply to the work you are doing each day, and implement protective measures to minimize the chances of an error and ensure no one is injured as the result.
2. Utilize tools, such as the Safety Task Assignment (STA) process or Job Safety Analysis (JSA).
Again, while some hazards (such as fall exposures) are more obvious, others take deeper thought for us to recognize them.
3. Identify the critical steps of the task.
Spend time discussing what must go right for the activity to be successful. Take extra time to discuss activities where the safety of an individual is solely dependent on them making the “right” choice.
It doesn’t matter what level of experience you have; everyone is encouraged and expected to speak up. That’s what having a strong voice is all about.
Together, strong voices help all of us make safe choices. No one comes to work wanting to get injured. By identifying risks and investing time to ensure our protective measures are adequate, we help ensure we are all able to return home to our loved ones at the end of the day, and we are using our voices to make safe choices.
AMECO is a proud participant of Construction Safety Week.
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