Now that autumn is well underway, the days are getting darker. This weekend marks the end of Daylight saving time as we set our clocks back by one hour, which means night will fall even sooner.
Our statistics show that a high percentage of the accidents on our sites are caused by tripping, slipping or falling, and they often lead to an injury or (long) absence. In the autumn and winter months, bad weather conditions lead to even more of these accidents, because of slippery wet leaves, ice, snow or frost, or reduced visibility as a consequence of rain, less daylight, early nightfall and rough winds.
We cannot change the weather, but we can make our sites safer by factoring in these conditions. That is why we invite you to focus specifically on adapting your site as much as possible to these conditions and improving the accessibility of your site.
Actions you can take
We suggest holding a “Day of safe access” on your site to raise awareness among your site staff, subcontractors and suppliers. Holding a day like this aims to turn attention to such risk factors, especially during this time of year, into a reflex. Follow these steps to make it a success:
- Call everyone (your own staff, partners, suppliers and subcontractors) on your project together and brief them on the impact of bad weather conditions on the safety of construction site workers. Tell them that safety is a priority at BESIX and that this is why we organize an exercise with the whole team to identify and tackle problems together.
- Ask everyone to inspect their zone and ask their teams to identify possible dangerous or problematic situations. An interesting question that can be asked is "where do you think the next slip or trip accident will occur?".
- Debrief together with the group and compile an action list of issues that could not be addressed or resolved on the spot. Ask participants for ideas to solve problems. This way, you create participation, and it does not become an "imposed exercise."
- Repeat the exercise with the participants regularly (weekly or fortnightly, for example). Also keep questioning everyone about what BESIX can do to continue to ensure safe access. Establish a contact person on site to whom they can talk to about this.
- Make safe access an agenda item at your regular site meetings.
Of course, you can count on the HSE advisors to assist and advise you.
Please find attached a checklist and a flyer you can use for inspiration.
Do you have any smart solutions? Be sure to share them so that other projects can also benefit from them.
Thank you for your active collaboration and stay safe!