Construction sites can be dangerous, often featuring massive infrastructure and towering buildings, and require a general contractor who understands the high-stakes demands of Houston construction. When it comes to managing these large-scale construction endeavors, while speed and scale are always vital – the true priority must be an unrelenting dedication to human safety. This is why at Keeton Construction Services, we strive for a zero-incidence approach to our general contractor role in Houston, regardless of the size or nature of your upcoming project. Use this blog to learn how we prioritize safety on site and how that can impact your construction project’s timeline, budget, and overall success.
The Zero-Incident Approach For Houston General Contractors
For Houston general contractors, safety stretches far beyond just a compliance checklist. It can be a competitive advantage for both our team at Keetom Construction Services and your company’s construction project. The bottom line of implementing a zero-incident approach to on-site safety is the core belief that all accidents are preventable if you take the correct measures. By moving past merely meeting the required Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and instead actively problem-solving to remove the inherent risk for the site as much as possible, the hazard for workers can be lowered. This mindset shift must happen for every member of the team, from our general contractor manager to the newest hire, in order to ensure maximum on-site safety.
A huge portion of this is the shift from reactive safety management to proactive safety management strategies. Reactive safety focuses on creating responses to dangerous events after they occur, with the main goal of assigning blame and fixing the immediate cause of the accident. On the other side of the spectrum, proactive safety on-site means eliminating hazards as they arise, instead of managing failures.
The Non-Negotiable Planning Phase For Commercial Construction Safety
Before anybody even arrives at the job site, the first step is always creating an integrative safety analysis for the commercial construction project. At Keeton Construction Services, we help start each project on the right foot by systematically investigating every potential issue that could arise. This allows nearly every risk to be addressed to a basic extent before construction even begins, and your general contractor arrives on the Houston site.
How a General Contractor Can Encourage Accountability on Site
Regardless of the safety risks your Houston general contractor investigates, the safety of your site is extremely vulnerable without the entire team being on board with the safety standards set in place. At Keeton Construction Services, we do this by going beyond standard safety practice for our commercial construction team by ensuring that every member of our team is up-to-date on all certifications and specialized training, including:
- Rigging and hoisting safety
- Confined space entry protocols
- Advanced fall protection systems and harness usage
- Lockout/tagout procedures
Your general contractor requires these specialized certifications and proof of expertise in order to create a safe work environment for the entire team. This also extends the subcontractors on-site. By ensuring that all participants on the site agree with the zero-incident policy goal, communication will be more streamlined, and the common goal will minimize risk due to confusion.
Creating an Open-Door Policy With Teamwide Contractor Communication
On our Houston job sites, the general contractor’s role must include establishing an open-door policy for communication about safety. This means that every employee on site is able to stop what they are doing if it is unsafe, giving them the power to enforce the zero-incident policy during their everyday tasks. Not only does this help mitigate small, routine injuries or setbacks – it also helps develop the team’s safety standards across the board. Following safety standards is like a muscle; it works better when it’s being used repetitively. Because of this, our team of general contractors at Keeton Construction Services is relentless in adhering to safety codes.
Why General Contractors’ Audits and Technology Quality Matter
Some general contractors in Houston might think that preventing danger on construction sites is all about sheer willpower – the truth is that it relies more on strategic, predictable control and planning. We implement the zero incident policy by using powerful, reliable data, as opposed to old-school, paper-and-pencil reporting methods.
These data systems help us perform more rigorous site inspections and audits for each and every construction project in Houston. This is performed by scheduling planned, routing safety checks based on the site’s unique requirements, ensuring that schedules are maintained perfectly and no project goes awry.
While the benefits of partnering with modern technology overall help projects run more smoothly, the three primary benefits include:
- Faster communication
- Better data analysis
- Centralised documentation for audits and Houston permitting requirements
Methods For Continuous Contractor On-Site Safety Improvement
Regardless of how well a team has prepped, how open the line of communication is, or how modern their data system is, at the end of the day, Houston commercial construction sites can be dangerous. What truly separates an expert general contractor in Houston from an average one is how they respond to the inevitable injuries, failures, and incidents that can occur at any time.
It is essential for general contractors in Houston to implement not just reports for full-fledged, complete accidents, but also near-misses that could have become large-scale issues just a moment sooner or later. Near-miss reports are crucial for showing data points of areas within a commercial construction project that may be susceptible to future accidents. This creates an opportunity to optimize our team’s proactive approach to safety, by addressing the problem at first notice – instead of after a serious accident.
This also leads to the next step, which is a serious, thorough investigation of all near-miss reports. Not just to find the blame, or the team member at fault, but instead to find what the root cause may be, whether it be faulty training, poor procedures, or improper, dangerous tools. General contractors at Keeton Construction Services are trained to properly follow up on all incidents and find a unique solution that prevents them from being repeated.
These incidents are usually one of these four primary types of accidents, but all have a unique solution based on your site’s layout and timeline:
- Falls
- Struck-by-object
- Electrocutions
- Caught in between objects
Regardless of the issue, every general contractor’s goal at Keeton Construction Services is to identify root causes before they escalate into serious risks, such as the main types of construction site accidents in Houston.
Ensure Safety and Predictability With a General Contractor
Understanding the value of a Houston general contractor and how they play a significant role in ensuring worksite safety is essential before embarking on any commercial construction project. When you choose to work with Keeton Construction Services, you can rest easy knowing that your Houston general contractor is optimizing your commercial project’s site safety by prioritizing planning, communication, and incident assessments. Not only is this vital for keeping all employees, contractors, and staff safe while at work, as well as the state-of-the-art equipment, but it is also for ensuring your operation stays within OSHA regulations and avoids fines due to poor safety procedures. If you want a Houston general contractor who cares about safety and demands unrelenting attention to detail, choose our team for your next commercial construction project. Contact us today for a free estimate and to connect with a Houston general contractor.