Site housekeeping

This talk is about keeping the site so people can move. The slips talk is the same family of harm, from the point of view of the floor and the footwear. This one is about what we leave behind us: materials, waste, leads and deliveries. HSE says contractors and others in control of construction sites must manage the work so people can move safely around the site. The site should be kept clean and orderly, to reduce injury from slips and trips. Everyone can contribute. If you see a risk, sort it, or report it to someone who can.

HSE's construction slips page gives the scale, and I am using those words rather than a newer count of my own. Several thousand construction workers are injured each year following a trip or slip while at work on a building site. Around 1,000 of those injuries involve someone fracturing a bone or dislocating a joint. Most could be avoided by managing working areas and access routes, such as stairwells, corridors, footpaths and site cabins. Involving people helps find the bad spots and gets near misses reported. See it, sort it.

Uneven surfaces are one cause. Many slips and trips happen when people walk on them. HSE says reduce that by walkways that are clearly designated, with good conditions underfoot, signposted, and with adequate lighting. Use a mechanical lifting aid rather than carrying a load that blocks the view ahead. Footwear needs a good grip. A walkway that exists on a drawing and not on the ground is not a walkway. If the route we actually use goes through the materials, that route is the one we tidy.

Obstacles are the other everyday cause. HSE says slips and trips happen because something is in the way, such as building materials or waste. The controls on that page are housekeeping, deliveries and waste. Housekeeping means everyone keeping their work and storage areas tidy, not a clean-up at the end of the week by whoever is last. Deliveries should be planned to minimise the amount of material on site. Waste needs designated areas, skips and bins where they are needed, and a clear responsibility for who removes it. A skip that is full, with the next load landing on the floor, is a failure of that plan.

Trailing cables are a trip and a snag. HSE says if you can use cordless tools you may not need cables. Where you need a cable for temporary lighting or a mains tool, run it at high level, especially along corridors. A lead across a doorway is a choice. It is a bad one. The electrical talk covers whether that lead should be on site at all. This talk covers where it lies.

Wet and slippery surfaces get treated, not admired. HSE says treat them with stone for mud, or grit for ice, or provide a temporary covering. Signpost slippery areas, and make sure footwear with a good grip is worn. A sign that stays up over a dry floor teaches people to ignore the next one. If we made it wet, we deal with it and we keep people off it until we have. Changes in level, such as a doorway, should be a ramp where you cannot avoid the change. If you cannot ramp it, sign it so people look for the step.

Housekeeping is also what the next trade inherits. Offcuts in a corridor are a trip for us and a trip for the customer, the delivery driver, and the person who comes to quote. Stacks that can topple are a housekeeping problem as well as a manual-handling one. HSE's public-protection page, which the shutdown talk uses in full, says store materials so they cannot topple or roll, and store them inside the boundary rather than against the fence. During the working day the same habit applies. Do not leave pipes, rings or bags where the next person knocks them over.

The practical close of this talk is a walk, not a speech. Before the next task, look at the route we will actually use, including the stairs and the way to the van. Move what is in it. Put waste where the skip is, not where the skip will be later. Get leads off the floor or off the tools. If the floor is muddy from us, treat it or cover it, and say so. If you see it and you cannot sort it, tell the person who can, today, not at the end of the job.