December 11, 2014

Say Bah, Humbug to Safety Shortcuts

Author: Stockpile Reports

A sobering statistic states that the construction industry is the most dangerous industry.

Nearly 6.5 million people work at approximately 252,000 construction sites across the nation on any given day. The leading safety hazards on site are falls from height, motor vehicle crashes, excavation accidents, electrocution, machines, and being struck by falling objects.

Taking a shortcut on safety to save time or steps during work is not ‘safe’. If you take the occasional shortcut while working, break that habit now. Make the right choice every time. If work is done properly, it will be safe, productive, efficient, cost-effective, and of high quality— without risking injury due to a well-intentioned shortcut.

We can’t stress safety awareness enough, especially during the holiday season and as rainy, cold, wintry weather arrives! If you are in Australia or in warmer climes, there is still no good reason to ignore safety guidelines. Your coworkers, managers, customers and especially your family will appreciate this.

The Stockpile Reports system can help you reduce risk and be more productive.

Safety benefits for employees include:

• Promotion of Employee Safety and MSHA Regulatory Compliance: Collect stockpile data quickly by walking around stockpiles while using an iPhone. Use the resulting Site Reports to plan, position and manage stockpiles more safely. This reduces employee exposure to hazardous conditions, and there is no reason to climb on a pile for measurement.
• Increase Productivity: Measuring stockpiles using an iPhone only takes minutes. Read our average stockpile measurement speed by tonnage.
• Greater Consistency: Collect stockpile data using best-practice processes at every mining, quarrying, rock crushing and aggregates distribution location, every time.

Safety benefits extend throughout the entire company:

• Quarry managers and plant supervisors who want to safely optimize the profit performance of their mining, quarrying and rock crushing operations.
• CFOs who want to increase inventory turns while decreasing operating expenses and risk.
• Construction aggregates sales managers who want to sell every ton of inventory while decreasing stock-outs.

Construction and Safety Tips

Here are a few reminders of how to reduce risk on-site. They include:

• Always wear appropriate protective equipment: use hard hats, eye protection, and protective footwear
• Only use the appropriate tool for a specific task.
• Reduce your risk of strain and of falling by practicing good posture and balance at all times.
• When operating tools, vehicles, or other heavy machinery, be vigilant for your own safety and that of the people surrounding you.
• Stay alert, and look where you are walking
• Observe speed limits

More great tips and information can be found here from the Compliance and Safety website. State mining organizations, associations and societies resources can be located online here. Another great resource with domestic and international safety links is on the Construction Site Safety Wikipedia site. In the United States, The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have safety requirements to help prevent injury and accidents.

Stockpile Reports’ benefits add up to better decision-making with lower risk, faster inventory turns and lower operating expenses.  Contact us to find out how your business can benefit from utilizing our service today.