Tips to reduce construction injury claims in California

Sadly, each year thousands of employees die while on the job, millions are injured and tens of thousands die or are incapacitated due to workplace related illnesses. It is probably no surprise that many of these incidents occur in the construction industry. Construction companies based in Sacramento or California that promote work safety and have a culture of adhering to safety standards and practices have much fewer workplace injuries, which lead to lower worker’s compensation insurance costs and fewer construction injury claims. Have you considered the following tips to help reduce your worker’s compensation costs?

Enforce Ladder and Scaffolding Safety

Improper ladder and scaffold use is responsible for over 25,000 injuries yearly and is the number one cause of construction injury on job sites.

• Inspect the ladder before every use to ensure that nothing is loose and that it does not sway.
• Ladders should never be placed near electrical boxes, power lines or used during high winds or storms.
• Only use ladders that have a weight limit that is more than 4 times the amount of the weight of the person. This will provide enough stabilization to accommodate the weight of the individual plus the weight of tools, the supplies and the extra force that is placed on the ladder as the individual carries the extra weight.
• Make sure that if the ladder is placed in front of a door that the door is locked.
• ALWAYS place ladders on firm and level ground.

Protect workers from Hearing Loss

Noise induced hearing loss is the second leading cause of injuries. Unfortunately, hearing loss from exposure to high levels of noise is irreversible and cannot be corrected with hearing aids or surgery.

• Make sure workers get their ears checked regularly. Hearing loss is often hard to diagnose until too much damage has occurred.
• Have a sound meter and earplugs or earmuffs available at every job site. If a sound meter is not available, there are many apps for smart phones that do a reasonably good job and are a good predictor of whether or not the sound levels will be harmful to the workers ears.
• Make sure that every worker has earplugs available to them, not just the ones that are using power tools.

Help prevent fatigue

Nothing will slow you down physically and mentally more than being tired. So many accidents happen because of fatigue. Overlooking a simple step can cause major damage. Help keep your workers performing their best.

• Let employees stop when they need to take water breaks. If it is very warm or dry, then you may need to remind them.
• Encourage workers to begin and end each day with 5-10 minutes of stretching. In addition, encourage workers to stop periodically throughout the day to stretch and flex their muscles to prevent muscle fatigue.
• In addition to preventing hearing loss, wearing earplugs or earmuffs when there are high noise levels also helps to prevent fatigue.
• Wearing supportive personal protection equipment (PPE), such as back braces, also helps prevent fatigue.

Regularly perform safety checks on equipment

Setting aside time each week to check equipment is one of the easiest ways to keep up on regular maintenance that will help keep your workers safe. A lot of companies find a good time to do this on Friday afternoon when the workers are picking up their checks.

• Check ladders for loose or improperly working features.
• Make sure power tools are regularly maintained by changing worn out seals, lubricating parts, using sharp blades and bits and replacing worn out parts. This will also help in reducing noise levels.
• Set up a regular maintenance schedule of equipment so that nothing is ever overlooked.

Make sure workers know what to do when an injury occurs

Quickly acting when an injury occurs will not only help the injured worker, but it also helps the employer because it has a direct impact on the cost of the claim. Make sure that you go over the steps to take in case an injury does occur on the job with each new employee and repeat the procedure during regular safety meetings.

Are you looking for worker’s compensation insurance and your company is in Sacramento or in California? Well then, you’ve come to the right place. We can help you with all of your construction business insurance needs. Fill out our online business insurance request form or give us a call at 800-400-6394.

Further Reading:

Ladder safety

Prevent Hearing Loss

Prevent back injuries