Building a Fortress of Safety: Protecting Workers and Ensuring Project Success in Construction

Construction work can be very dangerous. Why? It involves a lot of interaction with heavy tools and equipment and hands-on work by many teams of people, meaning there are a lot of chances for accidents and injuries. Construction site safety protocols are meant to counteract those risks, ensuring that every member of the team goes home safe at the end of the day.

Because there are so many areas of construction sites that can be dangerous, there are a lot of rules to follow in order to keep everyone safe. Those procedures can help predict and avoid a lot of the common dangers relating to construction work, but every project is different, so unique risks and challenges can come up. By keeping a record of hazards and near misses reported by workers, you can gather more data to help train the team and reduce risks as much as possible.

All of this means that keeping up with recordkeeping and compliance to ensure worker safety can get pretty overwhelming. Incident reporting and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordkeeping software can help lighten the load and make job sites safer for everyone.

Here, we’ll talk about the common challenges in maintaining construction safety, how often incidents and accidents happen on construction sites, and how effective incident reporting and OSHA recordkeeping can help avoid safety incidents on site.

Common Challenges in Maintaining Construction Safety

In 2023, 173,000 cases of nonfatal work injuries were reported for construction, representing 2.3 nonfatal occupational injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent workers. The rate of injuries – that 2.3 per 100 workers number – has decreased steadily since 2011, meaning that the efforts the construction community has made have made a difference for its workers.

That said, there are some typical events that lead to injuries on job sites, and by focusing on these, teams can work toward making improvements.

Falls from heights

Workers may fall from ladders, scaffolding, or roofs if they don’t take adequate fall protection measures or aren’t trained properly on using equipment.

Struck-by incidents

Heavy machinery, forklifts, and trucks pose many risks on a job site. Tools and materials may fall from above causing risks for those below.

Electrocution

Workers on construction sites spend a lot of time working with electrical systems and equipment. Wet conditions or equipment that’s not working properly can increase risks.

Caught-in or Between incidents

Hazards posed by machinery or tools become worse if workers remove the guards, don’t follow construction safety rules, or aren’t fully trained on the risks.

Slips, trips, and falls

Job sites are busy places with lots of equipment, materials, and people around. It gets even harder to navigate around sites if the ground is uneven or slippery. Protocols that dictate proper drainage and cleanup can help avoid some slips and falls.

Accidents can happen on the most vigilant job sites, but effective incident reporting and OSHA recordkeeping can help teams learn and improve over time to recognize risks earlier in the future, create better safety protocols, and keep making job sites safer.

OSHA Recordkeeping and Why It Matters

OSHA is a part of the US Department of Labor that works to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing workplace standards.

OSHA requires many workplaces with more than 10 employees to keep a record of serious injuries and illnesses to judge and track their safety so that they can work to prevent hazards over time. Construction firms with over 100 employees, along with employers in other high-risk professions, are required to submit injury and illness information electronically.

Records have to be kept for five years, and each year teams have to create a report about the incidents that occurred the previous year. Records need to be made available to employees when requested.

The benefits of tracking construction safety progress

OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements offer a few key benefits. First, posted records help authorities keep tabs on businesses and their safety records to make sure they’re doing what they can to provide a safe workplace. Just as importantly, those records help businesses monitor their own progress, see where they can get better, and develop policies to provide safer workplaces for employees.

Of course, there’s also the fact that the forms are non-negotiable. They have to be filled out and handed in on time, or the company can face fines.

Manually tracking, reporting, and storing safety incident data is a big job, and since builders are eager to get to the actual building part, the whole process can start to feel like more of a hassle than a helpful safety measure.

What is incident reporting?

Incident reporting means keeping track of events on the job site that cause injuries, illnesses, or time off work. Companies are given specific forms to use to track incidents, called the OSHA 300 and 301 logs, which each have spaces to fill out every single time there’s an incident. The 300A log is an annual summary that includes all the information from the 300 and 301 logs.

Incidents, as defined by OSHA, are any events that involve:

• Fatality
• Loss of consciousness
• Intensive medical treatment (beyond first aid)
• Time off from work
• Restricted job functions or transfers
• Loss of hearing, breathing problems, and puncture wounds

Any other incidents they deem as “serious,” including if the employer thinks some factor at the job site made an existing condition worse.

The forms give employees a chance to explain what happened and what led up to the incident. Companies can then use all this information to spot areas where work processes can be improved to keep everyone safe. The more details workers include in the safety reports, the better the team can understand what needs to change to make things safer.

How Incident Reporting Software Enhances Safety Management

Technology has been developed to help construction firms meet their OSHA compliance rules while saving time on filling out forms, compiling information, and analyzing safety records.

Incident reporting software gives teams the ability to fill out forms on a computer or phone, without dragging out pen and paper. They can upload photos or documentation to help tell the story of what happened, and send notifications to safety officers or others that should know something has happened.

Software stores the information in a central location so no reports get lost or have to be collected from multiple individuals ahead of reporting deadlines.

In short, incident reporting software can help teams maintain detailed and accurate records to maintain compliance for any audits and provide invaluable information and insights to improve safety standards across the company.

How incident reporting software helps make construction sites safer

Take a hypothetical company, Tony Construction. One day, an incident occurs on-site that needs to be reported: a worker falls from scaffolding and injures their shoulder, meaning they'll need a few days off to recover. Using the incident reporting software, the team logs everything right away, providing all the details about what happened.

The safety manager gets an instant notification about the incident and can immediately check out the details. They can also pull up info on past incidents that involved scaffolding. Looking through the data, the safety manager spots a pattern — there have been a few issues with scaffolding that could be prevented with better fall protection and more training. Now, the safety manager can take action to address these problems and help prevent future falls.

By using the software to fill out the required OSHA forms, Tony has improved time efficiency in fulfilling the recordkeeping requirements, while also taking proactive measures to create a safer job site going forward.

Key features to look for in incident reporting software

Just like in the example above, construction teams need to be able to use the recordkeeping software right on-site, or else they’ll end up stuck with the same slow, paper-based process as those who aren’t using software at all.

Software that helps with OSHA recordkeeping should also be able to analyze the results, suggest next steps, and generate performance reports automatically.

Ideal recordkeeping software should integrate with project management systems, connecting incident reports to the rest of the project data. This ensures a smooth workflow and alerts the right people when an incident is entered.

Project management software with integrated safety reporting – tying it all together

Reporting on safety is essential for project success, but the amount of tracking required can slow teams down and make the process feel frustrating. The best results come when safety tools are integrated into a comprehensive project management system, putting focus on training certifications, protocols, and compliance rules, while syncing them with communications and scheduling for smooth, efficient operations. Here are a few tips for finding and implementing incident reporting software:

1. Teams should look for OSHA recordkeeping software that makes incident reporting easy from the field, with real-time reporting, auto-filled forms, and fields that translate directly to OSHA forms.
2. Recordkeeping software should automatically create annual summaries for OSHA compliance and provide proactive insights for identifying potential hazards.
3. Safety software should send real-time alerts to keep key team leaders in the loop about incidents as they happen and send notifications about upcoming reporting and compliance deadlines.
4. Once the software is selected, make sure to train your field teams and operations managers on how to use it properly. This helps ensure smooth operations and full adoption across the board.

Building a Safer Future in Construction

For construction companies, OSHA recordkeeping is a must, but it’s also a crucial part of good project management. By regularly tracking and assessing safety incidents, teams can identify patterns and make proactive improvements to keep job sites safer and more efficient.

The technology behind OSHA recordkeeping software ensures that reports are accurate and timely, helping teams quickly assess and respond to hazards on site. The best software also integrates with project management systems, offering advanced tools to keep teams on top of compliance tasks, training needs, and audit requirements.

Exploring project management solutions that include these features can transform how teams approach construction projects, helping to reduce risks, improve communication, and ultimately increase productivity. By prioritizing safety through technology, teams can achieve optimized operations and a safer environment for everyone on-site.