At Safety Advantage, we use the acronym S.T.A.R.T. a lot. It stands for Safe Today And Return Tomorrow, and is more than just a tagline: it’s the underlying notion that informs all of our courses and training materials.Nobody ever plans for an accident to happen. That’s why they’re called accidents. That’s also why it’s so important to have structures in place to prevent them. In a field like construction, even the smallest slip up could mean injury, massive financial setback or even loss of life. These consequences are no joking matter, and should be kept in mind throughout every phase of the project.We advocate Behavior Based Safety. Not everybody is going to have a natural knack for spotting when something bad is about to happen, but they can follow the simple steps we outline in our training materials.This process breaks down the difficult task of keeping everything (and every person) safe into discrete, easy to understand chunks. As long as you follow the easy guidelines, you can avoid the sorts of catastrophes that can happen without warning. These steps are:
- Job Safety Analysis – Ensures the safety of the site where you’re going to be working.
- Tailgate Safety Meeting – Makes sure that everybody is on the same page about what could go wrong at the site and how to prevent it.
- Last Minute Risk Assessment – Takes a moment to point out any lingering environmental hazards.
- Job Safety Observation – Ensures ongoing security throughout each phase of construction.
- Near Miss Reports – Guarantees that accidents that could have happened are taken as seriously as those that do.
- Stop Work Authority – Gives EVERYONE on a job site the authority and responsibility to ensure their own safety and the safety of others while at work.
If you follow this guideline, you can be sure that your entire crew will be safe today, and return to work hard tomorrow.
