Work in the construction industry often involves taking considerable, albeit often necessary, risks. For example, live wires present obvious electrocution hazards, and who can forget the images of rows of men in hard hats casually eating lunch while perched on a skyscraper beam?
However, protecting worker safety is a priority. As time goes on, crews have learned improved procedures for mitigating risk. Many of these have become enshrined in existing regulations, although these, too, continually change to reflect advancing knowledge and changing working conditions. One such shift is using technology, which may further safeguard contractors when used mindfully.
What has changed, and what areas remain for continued improvement? Exploring the impact of new safety regulations on high-risk construction activities protects human life and safeguards against career-ending injuries.
High-risk construction activities defined
Construction sites pose inherent hazards. Crews prohibit unauthorized entry, but workers must enter the site to complete the necessary labor. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified the following Fatal Four as leading causes of death on construction sites:
- Falls
- Struck-bys
- Caught in-between
- Electrocution
These risks have existed throughout the history of the construction industry. Creating the correct safety regulations to prevent them requires ongoing communication between labor and management to identify the specific types of dangers and how frequently they occur. Solutions often include improved technology, but even that must be employed strategically and with adequate buy-in and training so staff uses it routinely and effectively.
Current safety regulations concerning high-risk construction activities
OSHA is the division of the Department of Labor responsible for creating industrywide regulations intended to keep workplaces free from recognized hazards. Unsurprisingly, the most frequent OSHA violations in construction overlap the Fatal Four. These incidents involve human error, not mechanical malfunction, including roughly 6,072 failures to meet fall protection requirements and 4,176 regarding hazard communication.
OSHA regulations cover several high-risk construction activities. Examples of current guidelines include the following:
- Limiting worker exposure to hazardous vapors, gases, fumes, dust and mists.
- Requiring personal protective equipment, including hard hats, eye and hearing protection, respiratory protection and safety lines, such as belts, lifelines and lanyards.
- Mandating procedures for handling hazardous chemicals.
- Specifying tagout/lockout procedures for electrical work.
- Implementing fall protection, including proper use of scaffolding, ladders and fall arrest systems.
OSHA continually updates its regulations. However, it’s important to remember that this takes time, and governmental agencies are subject to political influences. Individual teams should also regularly review, evaluate and update their safety regulations entailing high-risk construction activities to protect workers’ lives and health.
Why regulations must continually evolve to protect worker safety
Safety regulations have evolved with human learning. For example, crews have long employed lockout/tagout strategies to prevent electrocution, but even these require ongoing review, collaboration and improvement.
Technology evolves with human knowledge. Machines today may have new and improved isolation points for shutting down part of a system for repair while keeping others operational to avoid unnecessary disruptions. However, unless all workers know how to identify and operate these isolation points correctly on each machine, confusion could create more, not fewer, accidents.
Therefore, contracting companies should appoint a regular team that oversees worker safety guidelines, updating their internal regulations as they learn from past mistakes and add new equipment. What does this procedure look like in action? Here’s an example of how one such team recently updated and improved over 100 tagout/lockout procedures spanning two facilities:
- They evaluated which machines required new lockout/tagout procedures and which team members to involve.
- They created a template.
- They identified areas of potential safety concerns and obstacles to making procedures safer.
- They interviewed real workers on-site about current operating procedures.
- They reviewed the operational manuals for each equipment type.
This procedure enabled the team to identify individual energy hazards and locate isolation points using photographs. They also created safe procedures for shutting equipment down, restarting it and managing stored energy release upon recommencing operations. The next step is to review these procedures live with all applicable crew members to ensure everyone has the training to do their jobs.
How technology and regulations work together to create safer workplaces
It isn’t only improved machinery that spurs the need for ongoing regulation review in high-risk construction activities. Technology has also created unique devices to improve worker safety, and implementing their use requires a mindful approach.
For example, wearables promise to improve safety, with specialized helmets that monitor workers’ vital signs and detect fatigue. Such devices can alert employees to physical health issues that may impair their judgments, leading to accidents. The Internet of Things can inform crews about site conditions like excess heat, air quality and noise levels that may hinder performance while monitoring the structural integrity of supports like scaffolding.
Drones and robotics also play crucial roles. Drones can monitor sites from the air, identifying and alerting crews to potential hazards. They work with robotics to prevent workers from entering hazardous areas and reduce human involvement in dangerous activities.
The importance of coordinating workforce input with innovation and regulation for smooth, safe, high-risk construction workflow
Relying on technological intervention alone is insufficient to protect worker safety. Crews still require sufficient training on properly using new and improved devices — and what to do if they malfunction or fail.
One danger of relying too heavily on technology is the loss of human knowledge and skill. What happens if a bricklayer always uses a robot to complete a certain task and that machine goes down? Ceasing bricklaying operations entirely can shut down multiple parts of the overall job and cause unnecessary delays. Construction workers must know how things work so they can perform them manually, which may slow operations but not grind them to a halt.
Furthermore, overreliance on tech tools can impart a false sense of safety. A worker who relies on a wearable that detects fatigue could continue working well past the safe point if their device malfunctions, telling them they are fine. They must learn to remain mindful of their innate internal exhaustion cues — having a machine dictate break time could lead to costly accidents and preventable deaths.
New safety regulations and high-risk construction activities
Technology and human knowledge are evolving in tandem, and remaining mindful of changes and improvements is crucial when designing new safety regulations for high-risk construction activities. Although these innovations promise to make life better, using them unwisely or failing to train crews in their use can lead to costly accidents and preventable death.
Construction crews should regularly review their safety regulations while keeping up with OSHA. Doing so safeguards the life and health of their valuable employees while preventing lawsuits. Given the rapid pace of technological advancement, appointing a dedicated team and holding such meetings annually and when acquiring new equipment are crucial parts of maintaining a safe, productive site.
