Construction sites, shipyards and general industry workplaces are great places to work. However, there are also many risk associated with working at them. Without the proper equipment and training, employees are at risk for serious injury or even death. It’s incredibly important to understand the equipment that you will be working with and also to understand and help enforce the safety regulations at your workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) helped to improve the safety of workers in these environments by performing regular inspections and providing many different workplaces with safety regulations that they must follow. To learn more about OSHA and safety regulations you should follow, read on.

Inspections
Regular inspections of the workplace and its equipment are incredibly important to ensure the safety of its employees. Every year, random companies are subjected to OSHA inspections that examine how well the company is enforcing safety regulations and how well the equipment is working.

Fall Protection
Being an employee in these work environments can require one to have to climb to very steep heights, therefore risking very dangerous falls. There is a high risk of serious injury or death for those who work at heights of six feet or higher. OSHA developed a three-step process, which is used to decrease the risk of falls. The first step of the OSHA process is to plan. In order to prevent falls, one needs to plan jobs in detail and be aware of any areas where there is increased risk. The next step of the process is to provide. Managers in these workplaces need to be able to provide their workers with the proper safety and fall protection equipment to ensure safety. The final step of the process is to train employees. The last two steps will be elaborated on in the next two sections.

Quality Equipment
The second step of OSHA’s process, provide, requires that managers provide their employees with fall protection equipment and correct and quality equipment for the job. This equipment includes the correct scaffolds, ladders and safety gear. The equipment needs to be specific to each job. For example, a manager at a shipyard would want to provide his or her employees with marine rope, not wire rope. Whereas a manager at a construction site may need to provide their employees with wire rope versus marine rope. If the manager at the shipyard provides his or her employee with the correct and quality marine rope, the employees are much less likely to be hurt than if using the wrong or faulty equipment. Employers must also provide employees with fall protection at specific heights, varying by each industry.

Training and Safety Courses
The final step in OSHA’s process is to train employees. Employers should provide employees with construction safety training and fall protection courses to train them in hazard recognition, in the care and safety of equipment and in preventing falls. Companies that use equipment of higher quality and provide OSHA safety training tend to have less frequent accidents so the above steps are highly important for safety.

Do you have any other recommendations to keep your work environment safe? Let us know in the comments!