Plan the task before the task
Before a crew begins a job, someone asks a few simple questions. What are we doing? What could hurt someone? What will we do about it? That conversation is the core of pre-task planning, and it takes a few minutes when done well.
Our foremen lead these discussions with the people doing the work, because the crew often sees hazards that a plan on paper missed.
The aim is not paperwork for its own sake. A good assessment is short, specific to the task and used by the people doing the work.
Field-level hazard assessments
A field-level hazard assessment is a written or recorded review done at the work location. It looks at the actual conditions that day, not just the conditions anyone expected.
The list changes from job to job. A tenant improvement in a working office carries different hazards than a new build in winter, and the assessment should show that.
- Overhead or nearby work by other trades
- Energized equipment and services
- Floor openings, ladders and elevated work
- Dust, noise and ventilation
- Material handling and lifting
- Traffic, deliveries and public access
Choosing controls
Once hazards are identified, the crew decides how to control them. The best control removes the hazard. If that is not possible, the team can substitute a safer method, isolate the hazard with barriers or lockout, change how the work is done, and finally use personal protective equipment. Protective equipment matters, but it is the last line, not the first.
Because our trades work together, we can often change the sequence or the layout of work so a hazard is avoided instead of managed.
When conditions change
Sites change constantly. Weather shifts, a delivery arrives, another crew moves into the area. When conditions change, the assessment is revisited. If the plan no longer fits, the work pauses until it does.
Our project managers review assessments as part of their site visits, and they look for tasks that were planned well and tasks that were not, so the process keeps improving.
Questions we hear
Who completes a hazard assessment?
The crew doing the work, led by the foreman, completes it at the work location before the task begins.
What if a hazard cannot be fully controlled?
The work does not proceed until the plan is changed or additional controls are in place. Any worker can stop the job.