4 WINTER WEATHER DANGERS FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

Apart from making a working day miserable, certain weather conditions can hamper progress on a construction site, or worse still, bring a much higher risk of accident or injury to operations. Here are five situations where the impact of the elements shouldn’t be taken lightly.

4. Heavy rain
   Torrential rain can impede visibility when operating machinery or driving vehicles on site, and lead to boggy ground which could present a slip or trip hazard.
5. Thick fog
   Objects on roads, steep drops – these will be very difficult to see in foggy conditions until the last moment. This makes fog especially dangerous for drivers and those in their path, as reaction timeframes will be greatly impeded.
6. Extreme temperatures
   Cold weather can decrease dexterity, causing workers to drop items or lose grip on support. Machinery can be affected by both extreme highs and lows. If this includes a safety function failure, the consequences could be catastrophic.
7. Strong winds
   The risks are many in the event of strong winds. There’s a more significant chance of falling from a height as people are blown to the side, and loose material could be dislodged entirely only to strike someone passing by. There’s also likely to be a lot of dust or sand on a construction site, which in strong winds this can be whipped up into the air and into workers’ eyes or parts of machinery.

There will be times when the weather means it’s simply not safe to work on site, but even exercising caution at times when operations are going ahead in spite of the weather is not enough to guarantee the safety of workers.

Construction insurance can cover delays caused by weather as well as injury to employees. For more information, get in touch with the team at Howard Insurance Services.