Safety on the Job Practices and Procedures

By Jennifer Rachel Baumer | nevadabusiness.com

Every Nevada employer is responsible for making certain their employees are trained in safety procedures and covered by workers’ compensation insurance. Every business with even one employee is required to carry workers’ comp insurance and has a legal and moral responsibility to keep employees safe – even those employees they don’t realize they have. 

Every industry has risks inherent in the jobs required by that industry. When it comes to construction, both commercial and residential, the risks inherent in the jobs are generally different from hazards faced on jobs in other industries. 

Hazards on commercial construction jobs can include those caused by the use of heavy equipment like cranes and the metal studs used in framing commercial buildings. Developers aren’t generally responsible for the safety of construction personnel, unless they’re the prime or general contractor on the job, but the general contractor is responsible for all the people on the jobsite and for the workers brought in by subcontractors.

The subs may have their own requirements that are more strict or jobsite specific, and have their own in-house rules, according to Benjamin Bojda, certified industrial hygienist, Dominion Environmental Consultants, Inc. 

The oversight agency for jobsite safety is OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which operates both at federal and state levels.

“OSHA is the agency responsible for enforcing federal code that applies to conditions that are found at the worksite, whether it’s general industry or construction,” said Jess Lankford, chief administrative officer, Nevada OSHA. “The idea of standards is to ultimately prevent fatalities associated with their work, and to obligate the employers in recognizing hazards that may exist where they’re applying their staff to do their work, and addressing those hazards as they come to the forefront.”

Read the rest of the story at nevadabusiness.com.