Although in theory construction safety has improved massively in the

Although in theory construction safety has improved massively in the last couple of decades, in practice this is not always the case. No matter how many construction accidents there are, some of the smaller construction companies just don't seem to learn. I have worked for many different contractors, and it is always the same story. They do not want to pay for safety training. They believe that, because they have not seen an accident, it couldn't happen on their site. They buy the most basic construction safety equipment, but they never take proactive steps to prevent a disaster from happening.

This makes sense if you think about it. All the big companies have financial experts calculating safety liabilities, but the small companies are run on gumption and a shoestring budget. Who wants to pay extra money for workplace safety training? Without a lawyer reminding them of the possible financial costs of an unforeseen accident, is easy to see why your typical boss would be willing to trust his employees to make the right decisions rather than to train them.

Nonetheless, even if his employees are being reasonable, construction safety is still a complicated issue. Often, people succumb to the temptation to operate machinery in a way that is not safe in order to save a little bit of time. Construction safety training is the only way to really find out what is a safe shortcut and what is potentially dangerous.

One of the reasons that safety training is important is that it is almost impossible to account for all potential construction hazards. When you take a construction safety training course, you are taught many OSHA guidelines and procedures, but you are also taught how to keep your eyes and ears open. Keeping a safe construction site means checking out all of your tools to make sure that they are in good operating order. It means going that extra mile to catch equipment failure before it happens.

Safe construction does not come easy. Not only does construction safety require extra equipment, but it also takes extra time. Sometimes it is hard to keep construction safe when you just want to go home and be with your family. No one wants to take one last look at the equipment and make sure that nothing has worked its way loose during the day, but you have to. Otherwise, the life that you lose could be your own.