Why You Need Regular Construction Safety Meetings

In the construction industry, you know that a certain amount of risk comes with the territory. After all, you’re working in a high-risk industry.

That said, there are steps you can take to minimize the potential risk and make the most of your safety procedures. Construction safety meetings are a vital part of that process.

Here are four key reasons why construction safety meetings are essential to keeping your employees safe and why you need to get your whole team on board.

Keeping Your Team Up to Speed

The truth is, health and safety standards are changing all the time. And while your team might know how to keep out of trouble, generally speaking, you can’t expect your team to know every detail of every standard.

This is where construction safety meeting topics can make all the difference.

Safety meetings give you an opportunity to bring your employees together and discuss any new changes in construction safety standards that might pertain to you. It also gives you an opportunity to answer any questions and address any concerns.

Avoiding Complacency

This ties into another key component of safety meetings: avoiding complacency.

There’s back and forth over whether complacency itself is the problem or whether the issue runs deeper than that. But when it comes to safety, you don’t want to risk your employees falling back on old habits.

On the one hand, they may rely on good habits, the same way you get in the habit of wearing a seat belt. On the other hand, they may fall back on bad habits for the sake of expediency.

You want to do everything you can to ensure that your employees don’t fall into negative complacency when it comes to your work environment.

Evaluating Risks and Preventing Accidents

There are no two ways around it: safety awareness prevents accidents.

And if you want to promote awareness, you need to know about the risks in your workplace before they have the chance to fester.

It’s one thing for your EHS team to know how to conduct risk assessments. It’s another thing for your employees to conduct risk assessments in the moment. After all, your employees are on the front lines of your business, which means they’re best equipped to spot potential risks when they first arise.

Safety meetings give you the chance to present the results of your latest risk assessments and refresh your employees on how to spot risks. It also gives you the chance to emphasize the important role your employees play in keeping everyone safe.

Taking Corrective Action

Finally, safety meetings give you the chance to plan and implement corrective action (see CAPA for the construction industry).

When safety meetings do occur, it’s vital that you as an employer have a pre-established hazard identification process. That way, you can quickly and easily bring together a group of people that have learned to communicate hazards effectively.

This also gives that group a chance to teach your other employees how to communicate risk effectively and what’s expected of employees as part of the corrective action process.

Get More Out of Construction Safety Meetings

We know that getting employees on board with construction safety meetings is difficult, especially if they feel like they already know the material and they would be better served by getting back to work.

But at the end of the day, no one can do their jobs if the job isn’t safe.

We’re here to help make sure that everyone can come to work and go home to their families every day with peace of mind. Ready to invest in the safety of your workers? Get in touch today to find out how we can help your team learn and thrive.