Safety Tips At Your Fingertips | Construction Safety Apps You Need

Keep Safety Tips At Your Fingertips | Safety Apps You Should Know About

In winter we tend to focus on driving-related safety issues. But that doesn’t mean all construction work stops when the weather deteriorates. And spring isn’t that far away. Whether you’re on the job now or planning your 2015 schedule, these safety tips will reinforce your construction safety plan.

There’s an app for that: the NIOSH Ladder Safety app.

This app was created by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to help prevent falls on construction work sites. Falls are the number one cause of construction injuries, so everything you can do to help your people be “ladder smart” with safety tips is a step in the right direction, pun intended.

This app has practical advantages:

• Workers can use the inclination indicator to set an extension ladder to optimum 75.5^o angle by using a combination of visual, vibration and sound signals.
• Workers can use the interactive checklist to help with mechanical inspections.
• There’s also a tool that explains safe ladder usage.

The NIOSH Ladder Safety app is free. It works with Apple iPhone/iPad and Google Android devices, and it’s available in English or Spanish.

There’s another app for construction safety: the Red Cross First Aid app.

• This app is both a learning tool and a functional on-the-scene assistance guide. It incorporates: Videos and interactive quizzes as well as step-by-step first aid instructions.
• Severe weather tips safety tips workers and job site managers can use to prepare for harsh winter weather as well as natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.

Because this safety app is designed with emergencies in mind, so you can access all the information even if you have no internet connection or cell reception. The Red Cross First Aid app is free and works on both Apple and Android devices.

OSHA Heat Safety Tool

OK, so hot weather is the last thing on your mind right now, but we’re looking ahead here. Heat can cause significant problems for construction and other crews in the summer months, so much that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration created a Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers. And of course it comes with its own app, which is free, works on both iPhone/iPad and Android devices and is available in Spanish or English.

This important safety app has multiple features:

• Both workers and supervisors can calculate the heat index for their specific job site, to assess the current risk level.
• You can set reminders for specific protective measures you need to take – scheduling rest breaks, drinking more fluids and so on.
• There are practical tips on how to modify work operations to gradually increase work load for new workers.
• There are safety tips that train workers to monitor each other for signs or symptoms of heat related illness.

Proactively planning for construction safety and equipment safety ensure your people and machines can perform comfortably and productively, whether they’re working in winter cold or summer hot. Putting these free apps to work will help you and your crews stay safe and respond to emergencies should they occur, because they not only provide practical safety tips, they can alert you to problematic situations so you can take action right away.