Accident readiness:
Are you ready for the worst?

by Rebecca Douglas

Statistics back it up. Working in construction can be a risky business. Even the most safety-conscious jobsite can have a devastating accident.

“The worst thing you can do is to assume you’ll never have to deal with an accident or crisis,” says crisis management specialist Janine Reid of the Janine Reid Group in Denver, Colorado.

She says a “two-minute drill” is a very effective way to cut jobsite accidents. Here, the senior safety officer on site, usually a foreman or project superintendent, surveys the area daily for risks.

“Jobsites are fluid. It’s amazing how many accidents could be avoided by taking two minutes every day to assess the risks,” she says.

Get it in writing
Antonio DeAssuncao, a safety specialist based in Springfield, Illinois, stresses the importance of having a formal plan on paper.

“Too many contractors are so caught up in winning jobs they don’t put together a good safety plan,” says DeAssuncao. “This puts everyone at risk.” He says identifying a competent person is the first step. “Everyone must know who should step forward in a crisis and decide how to proceed.”

DeAssuncao performs jobsite safety inspections through an OSHA program. He sees the same problems cropping up:
• Missing/poorly maintained machine guards.
• Improperly erected scaffold.
• Electrical hazards/lack of ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI ) and poor or no electric cord inspection program.
• Unsafe vehicle practices/poor coordination between drivers and workers; inoperable back-up alarms; equipment operating too closely.
• Lack of fall protection or established perimeter lines for roof work.
• No coordination between crews about jobsite hazards.
• Hazardous equipment that is not locked out/tagged out or removed.
• Substandard tools/equipment.

When distaster strikes
“No company, big or small, is immune,” says Reid. She says the first hours are the most critical. “The actions taken or not taken early-on affect the whole situation.”

Staying calm is most important, but is hard to do. That’s why written plans are key. “If contractors have a written plan, they are much more likely to successfully navigate the first panic-striken moments. It breaks the situation into achievable tasks and helps you take effective action.”

Reid encourages contractors to rank all possible crises (including accidents, natural disasters and even episodes of workplace violence), then brainstorm ways to prevent or manage the most likely crises.

She suggests running a “what-if analysis” on the most likely crises. Here, employees envision the crisis, then ask, “What would happen next?” Identifying and thinking through the crises can improve the chances they will be managed effectively.

Because contractors don’t do this, Reid gets calls to consult with contractors when they are in the middle of a crisis. “In most cases, just calming them down and creating a punchlist of actions is all it takes,” she says.

After the dust settles
“It’s vital to take a good, hard look at what went wrong and plan ways to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she explains.

DeAssuncao stresses the importance of having someone start a post-accident investigation as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, that step is often skipped. “The way a company reacts to a crisis can be even more important than the original crisis,” Reid says.

Published in the March/April 2001 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.

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