Construction Finance Safety Minute: When Accidents Happen

The first goal of jobsite safety, of course, is to prevent accidents.

After all, the only good accident is the one that never happens.

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That said, the reality is, construction can be dangerous work, and employees are only human.  As a result, despite everybody’s best efforts, sometimes accidents will happen.  This is where good training and preparation comes in:  When things go wrong, a well-trained crew will know what to do to minimize harm and keep everybody else safe.

Courtesy of ConstructConnect, below are three steps that should be taken after every accident:

1.Take a quick inventory of the situation.

Although one’s first instinct may be to jump in and “be the hero”, doing this without adequate attention to your own safety will only make the problem worse.

Before you do anything, make sure that you’re uninjured.  Make sure that the scene is safe.  Then get to work figuring out who needs help and what immediate steps needs to be done (i.e. turning off machinery or cutting the power).

2.   Contact the right people (and in the right order).

Is this a life-threatening situation?  Are people seriously injured?  Then before you worry about anything else, call 911!

On the other hand, if the situation is less serious, make sure that you contact a supervisor or safety manager:  Even though everybody appears to be fine this time, bringing the issue to a supervisor’s attention can help prevent a far more serious accident down the road.

3.  Secure and manage the worksite.

Do what needs to be done to make sure emergency personnel can enter the premises safely.

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Thinking about accidents is never fun, but a bit of forethought ahead of time can save lives!