A construction safety officer is responsible for making sure all the workers at a construction site are working safely and following all the correct safety procedures. They may have other duties as well, but the primary duty of construction officers is to keep things safe around the job site. Construction safety officers have to know all the Occupational Health and Safety (OSHA) regulations, and they often work closely with officials from OSHA as well.
Growing Concern for Safety in Construction
In recent years, builders have begun to put increased emphasis on keeping things safe at the jobsite. This is largely because it has been proven that construction companies where safety is emphasized have an easier task retaining their workers.
The construction industry is embracing technology and rapidly moving towards the future. With things like augmented reality, BIM, 3D models and other advanced technologies, the way construction safety officers work is changing. Thanks to all of this incredible technology that they now have at their disposal, safety officers can detect safety hazards earlier in the planning process today. This allows them more time to develop safety protocols to ensure that the jobsite is as safe as possible from the moment ground is broken on the project.
One of the neatest ways that construction safety officers jobs are changing is with the use of drone technology. With drones equipped with cameras on the construction site, officers can perform safety checks remotely from anywhere in the world by using camera feeds from the drones to monitor the safety of the site and the workers.
1. Regulating Maintenance and Safety Policies
The construction safety officer is responsible for monitoring all the maintenance and safety policies at the site. The safety officer needs to update these policies as necessary to keep the site as safe as possible. Research shows that having a safety officer keep policies up-to-date and enforcing them effectively will greatly reduce accidents on the jobsite, which will drive down the need to pay out worker compensation claims by reducing the number of injuries that occur. It will also help companies to retain their workforce as they are less likely to quit when accidents don’t occur frequently.
2. Inspecting the Site
Of course, one of the biggest responsibilities a construction safety officer is to inspect the construction site to ensure that everything is safe. The safety officer slowly inspects every spot on the site, checking for hazards along the way. The officer looks for broken equipment, defective tools and other safety hazards that put workers at risk. The officer also looks to make sure workers are using all the proper safety gear and that they know how to properly use the equipment they are operating.
3. Accident Investigation
No matter how good a construction safety officer is, accidents will occur. It is just part of the nature of construction work. When an accident happens, the construction safety officer investigates thoroughly to determine what caused it. Using the results of the investigation, the safety officer will develop procedures to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future.
Construction safety officers need the proper training to be good at their jobs. If you want the safety officer on your site to be the best, send him for training at https://certifiedsitesafety.com/management/. Certified Safety Management provides expert training that creates topnotch construction safety officers. This training will improve the performance of construction safety officers, ensuring that accidents are decreased and worker compensation claims drop.
