How to Create a Safe and Efficient Construction Site Plan

Construction site planning and operations take a lot of work to manage. Of course, you want your site to run smoothly, but that’s not possible without prioritizing safety and providing basic necessities like luxury restroom trailers for their workers. The truth is, that striking the right balance between safety and efficiency is vital to successful site management. 

Safety and efficiency go hand-in-hand. Unsafe construction sites are never efficient, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a site running efficiently without a commitment to safety. One simply can’t exist without the other. 

That’s exactly as it should be. Employees deserve to work in a safe environment, and companies want to finish jobs quickly and profitably. Creating a safe and efficient construction site is possible but not easy. Here’s what you can do to create a site that prioritizes both.

Create a plan… and stick to it

Professional baseball player Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

He was absolutely right. Without proper planning, you won’t reach your goals. And in terms of construction site planning, you’ll sacrifice safety and efficiency if you neglect to plan. Planning will help you keep safety at the forefront while efficiently reaching your goals.

Consider every part of your job. What materials, tools, and labor will you need to complete each step? And in what order does each step need to be completed? You’ll also need to think about waste management. For example, should you get a bottom dump hopper or a different type of waste receptacle to keep the site tidy? The answers to these questions should provide the basis of your plan.

Many contractors now use construction management software to create their site strategy. These programs help to manage the site logistics, management needs, division of labor, communications standards, waste management, and more. Management software can also help you create a timeline with agility to deal efficiently with setbacks and delays.

But the most crucial part of any plan is the discipline to stick to it. Include your management team when creating your site strategy and get employee buy-in before executing your plan. The more invested they are in the strategy, the more likely they’ll get on board with your vision.

Use the right tools for the job

Tools and equipment are among the most significant expenses on the job site, and getting the right ones is well worth the effort. Every job is unique, and having the correct tools for every process step will help employees complete their work safely and efficiently.

Purchasing fewer tools or renting less heavy machinery and equipment is an easy way to cut costs. However, lowering your budget also reduces safety standards and limits the team’s ability to complete their work efficiently. Employees with the right tools can do their jobs safer and faster.

The quality of your equipment should also be top-of-mind. Getting every type of tool available only works if the tools you’re buying are high-quality. With low-quality tools, it doesn’t matter if employees are using the right ones because they’re just as likely to cause injury or delay.

If costs are a concern, consider investing in versatile equipment that can do multiple jobs. Many types of attachments and other accessories, particularly for large pieces of equipment, may help you save money without cutting any corners.

If an injury or accident occurs due to a lack of appropriate tools, your job site will be less safe and inefficient. Injuries, no matter the cause, always result in stoppage and delays. But the chances of that happening are far less with the proper tools.

Embrace technology and innovation

Technology and innovation aren’t the first things that come to mind when they think about the construction industry, but these forces have impacted the way people build things just as much as any other industry.

Technology has enabled site managers to see their progress on reaching safety goals and the site’s efficiency in real-time and even analyze ways to improve those metrics across the job site. In addition, communications and workflows are automated, and staff better understand the inner workings of construction planning and execution.

But innovation in construction goes well beyond software. The hardware is better, too. Tools and equipment manufacturers are creating new products that enable employees to do their jobs faster and safer. Newly designed protective gear shields staff while giving them an appropriate range of motion and dexterity to do their jobs well.

These are only a handful of the exciting ways technology is changing the construction industry. Expect continued innovations that change how sites run, and structures are built in the future.

Cultivate a safety culture

So many site managers think they must create and execute a safety plan to promote safety. That’s a great start, but making sure employees don't get injured goes much deeper than that.

In 2021, there were more than 1,000 on-the-job fatalities in the U.S. construction industry. Any fatalities are unacceptable, and there needs to be a deep-rooted commitment from the top to ensure one doesn’t happen on your watch.

The truth is most of your employees think you care about efficiency more than safety. Studies show that two out of three construction workers believe standards are higher for productivity than safety. Is that the case on your site?

It shouldn't be. Safety should always come first, efficiency second, and if you establish a culture of safety, your staff will have no doubts about your priorities. So, yes, create a safety plan, but commit to it by offering safety training, holding daily safety meetings, and setting goals for injury reduction.

As you do this, encourage feedback and input from your employees to demonstrate your commitment to creating an impactful yet realistic plan to keep them safe. Ask them to hold you accountable for following through and always keep the lines of communication open.

Provide training

Training is an investment every construction company committed to safety and efficiency must make. Studies show that by investing just 2.5% of your total project cost into safety, you’ll increase profits by 4 to 7% due to decreased injuries and increased efficiency. Interestingly, project costs increase by 6 to 9% without safety training.

Investing in training is an investment in your project and your people. Training helps your employees do their jobs safely and with greater efficiency. These vital learning opportunities also increase employees’ confidence and self-worth, making them better workers.

Whether you already provide training or not, you may be surprised to learn that 55% of employees think they need additional safety training. Even more surprising is that one in four construction workers comes to work worried about getting injured daily.

Offer incentives and rewards

What better way to increase safety and efficiency than by motivating your staff with gifts? This may sound unorthodox, but achieving your goals is a great way.

For instance, you could offer a Friday pizza lunch every week that goes by injury-free. Or you could give employees an extra half day off for every training module they complete. If you want to increase efficiency, then set a site-wide goal to meet specific benchmarks by certain dates. As the goals are met, you could give out gift cards or even invite food trucks to the job site to celebrate.

You know your crew better than anyone else, so carefully consider what they’d respond to before deciding what to do. You could also approach incentives democratically by allowing the team to vote on the reward they earn.

Ultimately, this is a fun exercise that demonstrates how much you care about safety and efficiency while encouraging your staff to follow through on your safety plan and project timeline. A win-win!

There are always opportunities to become safer and more efficient. So set your goals high and work as a team to create a safe, productive job site!