Health and safety is crucial on a construction site. It ensures workers can operate safely without their health being at risk. One thing that those working on a construction site must be aware of is the levels of dust in the air. Monitoring these levels is crucial to the health and safety of workers. Dust can become a significant danger to people’s well-being in large concentrations, potentially causing illness for on-site teams.
Many respiratory conditions can be triggered on a building site, so it’s important to be mindful of all the risks present. While what’s at stake can be overwhelming, it’s important to remember that if you’re a manager of these sites, you can exercise some degree of control in mitigating the issue.
How can you make concrete steps toward making your building site safe from dust? Read on after the jump to find out.
Educate Staff on Illness
Your construction crews may only take hazards more seriously once they understand the full consequences of inaction and ineptitude. Learning more about dust-related illnesses could sober them up and compel them into action.
The NHS explain that silicosis occurs from inhaling dust, typically over many years. It causes swelling and inflammation of the lungs and can be a common illness for those on a building site to experience, as they are exposed to paving materials and concrete.
The lung damage can’t be reversed either, so there’s no cure. Without a treatment plan, the condition can get worse too. It can lead to lung cancer, heart failure, and other serious health concerns. Pressing home these points isn’t fear-mongering if it’s true and should inspire any incompetent workers to take matters more seriously.
Share Valuable Resources
Communication is essential to control dust on a construction site. However, independent learning is important too, and workers should engage with a range of online literature that teaches them more.
For dust-related problems, this article explains why it’s important and how to reduce dust on a construction site with the most up to date information possible. The source details different types of dust and how considerations must vary with each of them. They also detail related ailments and control measures, such as sealing off larger rooms, using water to dampen dust clouds and more.
Ultimately, reading these materials allows construction personnel to be more versatile in tackling the issue. They can understand the issue and better appreciate how controlling dust helps their business prospects. Faster turnaround times, adhering to guidelines, and more are all important reasons to manage the issue, motivating further action to be taken by all.
Carefully Consider Prevention Tactics
In many cases, coming into contact with dust is an entirely preventable scenario, even for construction crews. There’s no excuse for negligence here.
Respiratory masks should be worn when necessary. Saw blades should be wetted before use. These actions should be routine to your workers, becoming something akin to second nature.
Of course, you could reduce exposure to dust even further. You could do this by purchasing materials that have been cut and treated already. Such stock might be a little pricier on account of the preparedness, but if the effort reduces your crew’s chances of coming into contact with dust, it’s a precaution that’s undoubtedly worthwhile.