Heavy Equipment Safety – Who Is The Most Important Person On A Construction Site?

Heavy equipment safety has been at front of all construction related and heavy equipment related training programs for several years now. There is a good reason for this emphasis – in simple terms, too many people had their lives ruined by accidents. It is not just the worker who suffers in an accident. There are the worker’s colleagues, the employer and, of course, the injured worker’s family. They all become victims of the one simple accident.

Safety is all the more important on a construction site as there are many people working in and around the site. As a heavy equipment operator you need to work in a manner that gets the job done yet causes no harm to yourself or to any other person (or property). Ultimately, someone has to be responsible for this safety – who do you think it is?

Current legislation on both a state and national basis requires businesses to conform to certain safety standards. This includes nominating someone as a safety officer, providing clear safety guidelines, and, where required, providing safety training.

However, when you’re on the job, no amount of legislation, nor number of safety officers, or hours training, can take over your next move. Sure, your next move will be based on all of the above, but you are the only person responsible for that move. This makes you the most important person on the construction site at that given moment.

This in fact is the reason that safety training is mandatory. The hope is that some of that safety training will influence each and every action you take. Heavy equipment safety – don’t treat it with disdain; your life, and perhaps mine, could depend on it.