Whenever you’re a business or company that’s operating staff on a work site environment, there are certain things that need to be in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all your staff. Whether they be permanent staff members or contracted, looking after them can benefit your business and the project they are working on. Here are some tips for looking after your staff on a work site.
Have A Good Site Manager
With seniority, you always need someone who has the people person skill. You can’t have someone who dislikes communicating or is renowned to stand-off at people. This is the opposite of what a manager or supervisor should be, and therefore, it’s good to ensure you’ve picked the right person for the job. When it comes to any length of project, there always needs to be someone on site who is communicating with you and your team in-house and those on the ground doing the labour. With so many people on-site, there’s usually a number of people to manage, and therefore you might have one manager and then a number of supervisors. It’s important to set levels of management when you’re on site because this helps keep the workforce organized. It also means that they can help monitor on-going issues or situations that might need addressing in person. There’s also someone there for staff members to go to if they have any concerns.
Remember to pick someone who is warm and inviting, and who will be a pillar of support for those staff members working on the site itself.
Provide All The Relevant Safety Equipment
Safety equipment is not something you should be lax on when it comes to your staff. Providing them with the right equipment and training is essential. This should be put in place before anyone so much as picks up a tool or starts operating a piece of machinery. Depending on the hiring process, you might have a mixture of staff, some who know how things work and some who might need additional training. The right uniform is required for work sites, otherwise it could cause a danger to those who are trying to complete certain tasks. It’s worth having spare safety equipment and clothing around, just in case the allocated uniform or equipment goes missing or gets left at home. There should always be a constant stream of risk-assessments happening whenever there’s a new task or job that’s required on-site, and all injuries should be logged religiously. No matter how big or small they may be.
Consider On Site Toilets & Storage Containers
Depending on the location of the work site and the length at which your staff are working, you might want to consider having a number of on-site toilet cubicles and storage containers. There are hot water portable toilets which are good to have for those who are working on locations where a toilet might be hard to come by. The hot water element of this is useful for when your builders and labourers are working with materials that need to be washed off after working with it.
Pick Those You Contract, Wisely
Think about your contractors wisely because it can be very easy to just hand-select a bunch of labourers based on their experience. Yes, experience is key, but there are some out there that don’t do well with certain heights or perhaps have a habit of turning up late. You may have those who find it difficult to follow direction from others or don’t work well when placed on their own. It’s worth making sure you’ve screened all of these workers properly, especially when they’ve been contracted for this project solely. The more detailed you can be in the recruitment process, the more effective and efficient you’ll find the project is when it comes to the workers.
Show Appreciation Where You Can
And finally, just like you’d treat any staff members within an office environment, you can reward your on-site staff the same too. It’s good to show your appreciation where you can and when you can. It’s good to give your workers that extra push when things get tough. Perhaps the weather conditions have been awful and so sending around some treats to the on-site canteen would be highly appreciated.
Looking after your workers on-site is important and with these tips, you’ll find that there is more productivity and efficiency happening on these projects. Keep them happy, keep it organized and you’ll see an improvement in general.
