Slips, trips, and falls are among the most threatening hazards that construction workers can face. According to the statistics, about 15 percent of all work-related deaths are from these kinds of incidents. Slips, trips, and falls are expensive to employers as well, costing about $11 billion annually. You need to make sure you know how to prevent a workplace slip, trip, or fall as a construction worker. Here is a closer look.

The 2013 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index reported that falls resulting from slips or trips were the second leading reason for workplace fatalities and injuries. These incidents are just right behind motor vehicle accidents. Slips, trips, and falls are a leading cause of emergency room visits.

Here are some things to keep watch for:

• Loose rugs or mats
• Walking surfaces that are not level
• Poor lighting
• Obstructed views
• Wires and cables that are not covered
• Clutter
• Preventing falls and slips

There are several things that you can do to prevent workplace slips, trips, and falls.

• Clean up as you go, and don’t leave things lying around
• Wear slip-resistant shoes
• Use extra care on uneven surfaces
• Use caution on wet surfaces
• Clean up spills
• Mop or sweep up debris
• Clear walkways
• Cover cables and wires
• Make sure the area is well lit
• Check for fall hazards
• Salt highly traveled areas during winter months
• Clean your work area at the end of the shift
• Be attentive to where you are walking

Riggers are important people on the heavy equipment job site. If you are working heavy construction, a good rigger can save your life.

Recently, I spoke to a gentleman who told me a story about an accident he had on scaffolding. It wasn’t high off the ground, but he did step onto a plank that wasn’t secured properly and immediately was thrown into the scaffolding uprights. He hurt himself a little bit. No broken bones or serious injury, but it did bruise him fairly well.

His mistake: He didn’t inspect the scaffolding a fellow worker put together for him. If he had, he’d have seen his fellow worker’s error.

Rigger’s Save Lives

I don’t know if these workers were certified. They weren’t involved in the heavy equipment industry. They were painting a house. But on a heavy equipment job site, the rigger is the person who puts all the equipment together and inspects it for safety. They are usually an expert in tying knots, rigging hitches, and performing other tasks in lifting and securing heavy objects. That’s why they are so important.

Associated Training Services (ATS) offers a rigging certification course to train your riggers in all aspects of keeping your work team safe.

OSHA regulations require riggers to be certified. By enrolling in this course, you’ll learn how to be a good rigger and get your certification, which means you’ll be legal and qualified. There aren’t many schools that offer a rigging course. ATS is one of them.

What is NCCCO? is an acronym that stands for National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. The organization was formed in 1995 to administer the nationwide program for certifying crane operators.

The key here is nationwide. Once you’ve been certified by NCCCO, then you can go to any state and work as a crane operator.

All program guidelines and training initiatives meet OSHA guidelines for safety. That’s very important because the last thing any employer wants is a crane operator who is operating unsafely. The liability is too great. That’s why training and certification are so important.

NCCCO has spent a lot of resources to serve crane operators and employers nationwide by ensuring safety standards in training and on the workforce. These include:

• Reducing the risk of losses to employers on the work site
• Ensuring there are fewer accidents
• Maintaining a consistent training environment for crane operators
• Increasing job opportunities for crane operators

The organization enjoys support from a wide variety of industries and employers within the various industries, including training schools like ATS. Construction companies, crane rental companies, utility companies, energy companies, steel erection organizations, petrochemicals manufacturers, pulp and paper manufacturers, and government agencies at all levels support NCCCO.

NCCCO is a non-profit organization that operates within the private sector to ensure crane operators are trained safely and certified to operate cranes on any type of worksite in any state. They administer both written and practical tests to ensure proficiency in crane operations.

If you are ready to be trained and certified as a crane operator in the U.S., then look no further. ATS has the perfect training class for you.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is one of the most powerful U.S federal agencies, charged with inspecting businesses and ensuring that the workforce is a safe place to work. Richard Nixon signed the OSH Act into law in 1970. Since then, work-related deaths and injuries have been reduced by nearly 65 percent. Learn more on Obtaining OSHA training and qualifications.

One of the important functions of OSHA is to approve training programs like ATS’s Rigging and Signalperson qualification and certification courses.

The most important certification you can have in the heavy equipment industry is certification in safety.

We at ATS feel that safety is a top priority on the job site because if workers can’t be protected from accidents and unsafe working conditions, then it will be difficult to fill important and essential jobs. Employers will find it harder to keep well-qualified personnel on the machinery they need to complete important work.

The nation’s roads and bridges are built and maintained by heavy equipment operators. If working conditions are not safe, how long will it be before the national infrastructure crumbles?

OSHA fulfills a very important function. That’s why we’re proud to offer OSHA-compliant training that teaches the best and safest practices on the job site. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

The life of a heavy equipment operator can be one of financial security and respect within a community. These men and women are recognized as the force behind the building of the roads citizens travel on and the buildings where many work. With the financial rewards and recognition comes a lot of responsibility, these heavy equipment jobs can be extremely dangerous if the proper precautions are not taken. A heavy equipment operator must have the skills required to complete his job in a quality manner, but heavy equipment safety must always be his or her number one priority.

A construction site is a fairly dangerous place in general. When several pieces of heavy equipment are working the same site, this just multiplies the danger. The chances of a serious incident occurring increase if people are not properly trained on heavy equipment safety. Some of the more horrific accidents can happen simply by not paying attention to one’s surroundings. Many a worker has been crushed by equipment overturning or even run over by a piece of heavy equipment. Others have been hurt or even killed when getting caught between a wall and a piece of equipment. All of these accidents can be avoided if a proper heavy equipment safety training program is in place.

Heavy equipment safety training is taught at all Heavy Equipment training schools, but it also needs to be performed at the company level on a regular basis. The importance of heavy equipment safety cannot be taken lightly. This essential training also needs to be kept interesting to ensure it effectively gets through to operators. No matter the skill level of an operator, heavy equipment safety must be the number one priority on a work site. The alternative can be life taking.

Anyone who is working in the construction industry as a rigger (or signal person) is now required to meet minimum training standards. There are two standards that can be met, a qualified rigger and a certified rigger. At some stage in the future you can expect industry to lean heavily towards those that are certified rather than those that are just qualified.

If you are currently working in the industry, you can attend a short course that will provide you with the skills, knowledge, and documentation required to prove your abilities as a rigger. Training is both practical and theoretical and includes testing for the issue of either a Qualification Compliance Card or an NCCCO Rigging Level One Certification.

For employers, ATS will qualify or certify your riggers (or signal persons) to meet the new OSHA crane mandate. This will improve the skills, knowledge, and safety consciousness of those personnel and ensure your employees meet the requirements. Ultimately, as an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that all riggers meet the new standards. Failing to do so can have severe consequences, more so if they are involved in an incident that involves injury or death.

By meeting these new standards you know that your workforce is competent in the skills required to work effectively in their roles. You can also feel more secure in the knowledge your employees are working to set safety standards.

If you have not brought your workforce up to date with the new qualification requirements, contact ATS – we can help to organize the training and the issuing of training verification documents. While safety is always of concern, a well-trained workforce is also highly productive, especially when taking into account the reduced amount of time lost through accidents – always a big cost to industry.

Everyone wants to work in a safe environment. When it comes to construction, there are a lot of safety issues to consider. What we do know is that too many people have been injured, some seriously, or even killed through accidents that could have been prevented. Heavy equipment safety is particularly important because when they cause accidents they are often spectacular and often lead to a lot of people being injured.

Governments at both state and federal level have, over the years, introduced safety legislation with varying degrees of success. The most successful has been the certification of crane operators and the requirement for all employers to provide some form of safety training for their employees.

This has led to employers in general relying on training providers to include comprehensive safety training in their overall training programs. Heavy equipment training is one area that now has a significant safety aspect. While specific safety issues are handled as a heavy equipment safety module in training programs, good training providers include safety aspects at every opportunity, especially when it comes to the in-the-cab training component.

If you are considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, you should ensure that the training provider you select includes a well documented and nationally recognized safety component. Employers are now expecting new operators to have this training and, without it, new entrants will find it difficult to find employment. Employers are not interested in hiring new operators, and then having to deliver that heavy equipment safety. Do yourself a big favor, undertake that training as part of your heavy equipment training program – you’ll be immediately employable.

One of the major pushes in heavy equipment operations is that of safety and there is good reason for this – when heavy equipment is involved in an incident, it is normally something major; rarely is it a minor event. To achieve a safer workplace, heavy equipment safety training is becoming a mandatory factor when employing workers. If a prospective employee hasn’t had any workplace safety training, it is now up to the employer to ensure they receive it prior to commencing work – often at the employers expense.

For employers, the easy way around paying for workplace safety training is to only employ those individuals who have already completed some form of heavy equipment safety training. As a prospective heavy equipment student, the obvious course is to select a training organization that offers heavy equipment safety. Choose the right training organization, and your training should be to national standards. This means you don’t have to redo any training should you move interstate, or if you are coming from interstate to undertake training.

ATS has a number of training schools in a wide range of locations, each offering training in either truck driving, crane operations or heavy equipment operations – some of our schools will offer all three. Workplace safety is included in all training programs as part of the nationally accredited training program. It is not an expensive added extra – or expensive compulsory extra.

For heavy equipment, our training programs run for three weeks and includes both in-class and in-the-cab training. Heavy equipment training is not restricted to the classroom, it includes in-cab tuition and observations making the operator aware of everything that is happening around them. Heavy equipment training is designed to make the workplace safer for everyone, the operator included.

Heavy equipment safety is important these days and as the title suggests, it does keep you employed. However, that can seen from a couple of different angles – the employers, the governments and from the employee’s perspective.

Employers and Heavy Equipment Safety

Employers are now recognizing many of the benefits of workplace safety, particularly when it comes to heavy equipment safety. Accidents cause stoppages and stoppages cost money. That’s the bottom line for big business – money. Of course, accidents cause damage, which is another cost and could result in fines from government agencies – more money. However, stoppages also affect a businesses reputation. If they cannot complete projects on time, they will soon find that contracts are hard to come by. Are employers interested in heavy equipment safety? If they care about their bottom line they most definitely do, so these days they only employ those that have had the training.

Governments and Heavy Equipment Safety

Governments have a particular interest in heavy equipment safety for a number of reasons. Pressure, particularly from lobby groups, always raises its head whenever there is a workplace incident that costs lives. Governments also see it as their duty to interfere wherever possible (in this case with positive results) so having employers work to certain regulations, and then fining them when they fail, is the result. I may sound a little cynical, but governments never seem to act until there is an incident. However, all that aside, there are strict regulations in place that do include safety training. Fail to meet those regulations and the fines can be huge. In some states, allowing a worker on site who hasn’t completed an accredited workplace safety training program is illegal.

Heavy Equipment Safety and the Operator

I could put this very simply – heavy equipment safety training helps to keep you safe and alive. If you’re injured or dead, you won’t be employed. It does go beyond this, however. If you enter a worksite with no workplace safety training and your negligence results in serious injury or death of another, there is no guarantee you won’t face criminal charges. Workplace health and safety is serious business these days so don’t ignore it if you want to keep your job.

The bottom line is very simple. When undertaking a heavy equipment training program, be sure it is accredited and includes workplace safety components. ATS has long been an advocate of safe workplaces. Our heavy equipment training programs all include workplace safety components designed to ensure you can not only secure a job, but also ensure you can keep your job.

Safety has been recognized as one of the most important issues in workplaces. To help reduce workplace accidents, training organizations now include heavy equipment safety training in all their heavy equipment training programs. Safety is really a matter of common sense. Unfortunately, saving time and taking shortcuts and plain carelessness are the two leading causes of accidents.

There are three core concepts to heavy equipment safety training. As I mentioned, they are based really on common sense. These three concepts are:

• Protection of Self – You would think this was one area where operators wouldn’t need training. However, they do. Simple observations like being aware of overhead powerlines, other equipment and the terrain you are operating on are extremely important. Correctly anchoring or balancing your work is also important. The ramifications of not protecting yourself can often impact elsewhere with people and property around you also at risk.
• Protection of those around us – Protecting your work colleagues is the second concept. Again, it comes back to awareness. Do you know who is working around you and where they are? Being aware of what is going on around you is important. This helps you to avoid placing them at any risk. Those issues mentioned above also help to protect those working around you.
• Protection of property – If you are protecting yourself and protecting your work colleagues then the chances are you will also be protecting the property around you. At the risk of sounding like a cracked record – awareness is again the main issue. Knowing where buildings and vehicles are at all times helps you to ensure you don’t come into contact with them at any time.

I said there were three basic concepts and there are. But as you can see, when it comes to heavy equipment safety, being observant and aware of what is going on around you is at the center of those concepts. There are other issues, of course: maintenance, preparation, a clear head; they are all a part of heavy equipment safety. Are you a safe worker – or do you cut corners and work carelessly? If that’s you then you should perhaps consider another career rather than heavy equipment.