Biggest Innovations in Safety in Construction in Recent Times

Safety has always been a major concern for the construction industry. It not only results in huge losses and extra costs for the company, but also results in many injuries and deaths of on-site workers.

The statistics clearly suggest how the industry struggles when it comes to addressing this issue effectively. In 2013, OSHA revealed that one in every five employee deaths in private sector companies in the US were in the construction industry.

It’s more scary to think that the situation used to be even worse before the industrial revolution, where workers’ safety was a surprisingly overlooked aspect of a project.

However, things do seem to be changing, albeit at a slower pace. The thing is, the construction industry has always been reluctant to adapt to new technology.

But there have been some important safety innovations in the field of construction after the industrial revolution, that are now being given the attention they deserve. Some of the most important ones are brought about by the advancement of technology, which are exactly what we will be discussing in this article.

Backup Cameras for Heavy Equipment

It’s a well-known fact that the heavy equipment in construction is responsible for a major part of all the injuries and deaths on worksites. And while safety measures are being taken to make the process of operating them safer, a few risks associated with them are still unaddressed.

One of them is the lack of backup cameras, which can turn out to be fatal when backing up heavy equipment used in mining, highway trucks and tank trucks, as well as relatively small machines like skid steer and fork-lift.

Track-Vision is a supplier that specializes in backup cameras for such equipment. While there are obvious benefits of these backup cameras, there’s also more to it.

They provide the driver with a 115-degree view of the field, which makes things considerably safer. Similarly, it can also record videos, which eliminates the need of only relying on eye-witnesses in case you end up having an accident.

Safer Hat-Light

Did you know that the hard hat construction workers wear can actually be turned into an important safety tool? With the Illumagear Halo Light, that can be spotted from as long as a quarter-mile away, you definitely can.

Construction workers working during the night with this light connected to their hat could be spotted easily, thus minimizing the risks of accidents that occur due to lack of light and not being able to see someone who’s in the way of a heavy equipment before it’s too late.

Construction Drones

Although there do seem to be a few issues associated with the use of drones on construction sites, it comes with benefits that easily outweigh the concerns.

First, it makes the workers work with greater discipline and follow all the safety norms, as the project manager may be able to keep a watch on them anytime they want.

It would also make it considerably comfortable and convenient to remotely monitor all the activities on the worksite. Doing certain “checking” activities (like checking the brace on scaffolding) could also be done without risking the safety of any worker.

Verifying the integrity of a structure, too, would get way less time-consuming and convenient as the drone would be able to get the same information that you would usually have to send in a team for.

By GenieBelt – construction management software, which is also simple to use.