As with any plant hire equipment, there are always a few risks that need to be managed while the equipment is onsite or in use. Accidents do happen on construction sites, but when you are clever, and when you follow the right processes, you can avoid accidents, keep employees protected and make sure that the project stays on track with its timeline.
Fast Pulse Plant Hire, is based in Rocky Drift, Mpumalanga, and we offer excavators for hire to the construction industry. Our machinery is kept well maintained and our equipment can be used on all kinds of construction sites. Having an excavator onsite comes with a number of fantastic benefits (have a look at our past blogs), and they are really the more affordable option if you are not looking to buy one. For more information about our equipment, you can browse our website or get in touch with our team.
In the meantime, let’s get on with a few ways for you to minimise the risks when working with excavation.
- Know the hazards
The first step for creating a safer working space is to know exactly what the hazards are. Naturally, there is a wide range of hazards associated with excavation work, which makes risk management a little difficult. If you need help getting started with evaluating risks, here are the few more common problems:
- Falling onsite
- Falling objects
- Bad ventilation and/or a build-up of chemicals which can be inhaled
- Dislodged rocks and soil creating unstable ground
- Water, telecommunications, electricity, fuel, sewerage or other types of underground pipes and lines.
2. Assess the risks
During this part of the process, you will need to assess every risk from every possible angle and then determine the danger posed by each hazard. You will also need to determine what control measures will suit each risk.
Your assessment can help to:
- Figure out exactly which employees are going to be at risk
- Find out the sources of each risk
- Discover how effective the current risk control measures are
Other factors that you will need to take into consideration is the current work site conditions, just how deep the excavations will be going, the weather conditions as well as the upcoming forecasts, and when the excavation will be open.
3. Implement your plan
When you have done your assessment and determined which control measures will work best for each risk, you will need to implement your plan. This means you will need to inform your employees of your new control measures, and make sure that the various protective gear is available to your staff.
4. Maintain and Review
Now that the control measures are put in place, they will need to be continuously assessed and reviewed to ensure that they are still effective. Evaluation will also be necessary to pinpoint the new risks that are bound to crop up. If the issues are still a problem, you might have to put more control measures in place.
