Construction safety meetings, such as toolbox talks, are a great way to encourage safe practices in the construction industry. We’ve put together the top five construction safety meeting topics that you should consider to help you improve job site safety. These include common construction hazards, fall protection, safety training, safety responsibility, and safety improvement plans. We’ll also discuss how safety software can help follow up on the discussions in these meetings.
What are Construction Safety Meetings (aka Toolbox Talks)?
Construction safety meetings (also called toolbox talks) are short sessions where safety managers review important topics to increase awareness of construction hazards and how to remain safe. The primary goal of these meetings is to reduce safety incidents.
While OSHA doesn’t specifically mandate construction toolbox talks, they do require employers to provide training on work site hazards. Construction safety meetings are therefore a great tool for companies to reinforce training and ensure compliance.
5 Construction Safety Meeting Topics
Construction safety meetings are a key strategy to increase risk awareness and prevent injury by creating a culture of safety.
These meetings should cover a range of topics and be tailored to your construction site’s challenges. Analyzing current trends in incidents and near misses can help you figure out what your workers need to focus on.
That said, here are five safety meeting ideas to consider!
1. The Biggest Hazards to Job Site Safety
Construction sites are full of hazards. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), roughly one in five worker deaths are in the construction industry. Lack of training on construction hazards can result in injuries and even fatalities. As such, it’s important your workers know how to report hazards and avoid them as much as possible.
This starts with knowing the most common hazards in construction. Risks such as electricity, moving objects, and excessive noise are known to frequently endanger workers. You’ll want to go over these hazards, and more, with anyone who could be exposed to them.
During the safety meeting, explain how these hazards arise and the signs to identify them. Afterwards, you’ll explain how to avoid these issues, and the steps workers should take to implement corrective actions.
Be aware there are a few topics that your safety meetings should spend a little extra time on. Certain hazards have been identified by OSHA as the Construction “Fatal Four”. The Fatal Four are consistently responsible for nearly 60% of construction worker deaths every year. They include falls, being struck by an object, electrocutions, and caught-in/between objects.
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Of the Construction Fatal Four, falls are the single leading cause of worker deaths. Each year, falls account for nearly 40% of all construction industry deaths.
This puts extra emphasis on the importance of fall protection measures. You should spend multiple safety meetings discussing the various safety measures available to protect workers from falls.
OSHA Standard 1926.501 outlines the requirements of fall protection employees and employers are expected to follow. It also can act as a list of items your team should be familiar with to maximize fall prevention.
Knowing when fall protection is required is key to keeping your team safe. Workers often tend to ignore fall protection in situations where they feel it is excessive or cumbersome—like when a job is from a relatively low height. But the truth is, falls can happen at any time, and even a minor fall can easily lead to severe injuries.
Spending multiple safety meetings discussing these requirements is the best way to establish a safety culture that takes fall protection seriously.
3. Importance of Construction Safety Training
Another construction safety topic that is often taken too lightly is safety training. Too often, safety training is seen as a time-consuming chore that gets in the way of “real responsibilities.”
This attitude towards safety training is a great threat to worker safety. In fact, a university study concluded that training can actually have a negative impact on worker safety when the worker does not have a positive attitude towards safety training.
As such, it is critical you spend a few safety meetings discussing the benefits of safety training, and why it is necessary. The more time you spend discussing its importance, the more they’ll understand the risks.
Keep in mind that part of the importance of construction safety training isn’t because workers don’t know how to do their jobs safely. Safety training and retraining is to remind workers that they face real dangers every day and can avoid them with the proper skills and knowledge.
Without recurring safety training, it’s easy to start taking safety for granted. It’s no surprise that complacency is one of the most common causes of workplace incidents. So be sure to remind workers that proper training is important for keeping them alert.
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Construction sites face a unique situation: often, multiple companies will be working on different parts of the same project. This can create challenges where it’s unclear who is responsible for safety. Issues arise when some companies don’t take safety as seriously as others and put other workers in danger as a result.
From high-level injury reporting requirements to basic use of personal protective equipment, it’s important to discuss the roles everyone plays in keeping the site a safe work environment.
During your safety meeting, stress that more than one employer at a worksite can be cited for a single OSHA violation. When one person is careless, it affects all workers regardless of job title or company.
So, use this meeting to remind your crew: everyone on multi-employer job sites is responsible for safety.
As part of this discussion, we recommend you also spend some time on how to manage the safety of contractors. This construction safety meeting topic aims to get everyone involved in safety, but it’s also a good way to encourage cooperation among the team.
5. Brainstorming Safety Improvement Plans
This final construction safety meeting topic idea aims to engage employees and get them more involved with safety. While all your meetings should allow for open discussion, we recommend hosting a meeting every once and a while that gives your team the floor.
Ask them to provide ideas on how to improve safety at your construction site. Find out what aspects of safety they think are important and where they think improvements are needed. Meetings such as these can boost employee morale in addition to workplace safety.
These worker-led meetings also offer an opportunity to get feedback on how to use technology and innovations to improve safety and productivity. For instance, would they approve if the company used drones for periodic safety inspections? Or would they prefer something more subtle like safety management software before seeing big changes?
This is a great way to get buy-in and ensure you invest in technology and changes that your crews will actually use.
Next Steps for Improving Safety in Construction
Now that you’re equipped with ideas for your next safety meeting, it’s important to look at the foundation of your crews’ knowledge: your training program.
Is your current training program providing sufficient education to keep your people safe from common risks and hazards? Are you able to offer training outside of compliance to provide comprehensive learning plans that help you retain your workforce?
If you’d like to learn more about our award-winning safety training and how we help organizations like yours remain compliant with OSHA, get in touch today.
