Construction Safety Awareness Activities

Between 2005 and 2008, nearly 4,800 construction-related fatalities were reported in the United States, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. The number of construction-related injuries are much higher. Because of the hazards involved in construction, companies try to educate employees about the potential dangers as a preventive measure. Construction companies employ many different activities to promote safety awareness within the industry.

Videos

• Companies produce or contract with other companies to produce tailored safety awareness videos for their employees to watch. These videos are often required viewing during job orientation or before starting a new type of work.

  The videos detail the dangers of the jobs and often take the approach of showing the right and wrong ways to complete particularly hazardous tasks on the job. Actors in the videos may play out a scene in which an accident happens, and then in another version of the scene, actors show what the construction workers could have done to prevent it. Production styles for safety awareness videos are limited only by the producers' imaginations.

Incentive Programs

• Some construction companies offer safety incentive plans as a way to educate employees on safe work habits. These plans typically offer money or other prizes as an incentive to perform certain safety tasks or to go through a certain period of time without a safety violation or incident. Perhaps each employee receives a $1,000 bonus at the end of the year if there are no reported incidents throughout the year.

  The program typically begins with an awareness speech to inform employees of the types of incidents or violations that may cost everyone their incentives. It may be a group effort or an individual one.

Safety Courses

• Safety training is one of the most common forms of safety awareness activities in construction. Many workers in the construction business are not required to participate in these courses, but some are offered at places of employment if courses that apply to the work being done are available.

  Courses on confined space hazards and entry, CPR and first aid, fall prevention and protection, power line hazards, crane hazards, respirator protection, suspended scaffolding hazards and much more may be found through the National Safety Education Center and the Construction Safety Council. Construction crews may benefit greatly from requiring their workers to take part in some of these types of awareness programs.