The Occupational Safety and Health Administration describes the backover incidents that happen when the driver moves the vehicle in the back or reverse direction. As you know, drivers of heavy vehicles can’t see behind the area entirely. That’s why the other person is required to direct them where and in which direction they should move or not. The other person who keeps his eye on them is called a spotter. The biggest construction companies in California have a spotter that keeps an eye on every machine operator which results in the successful completion of work without life hazards. So make your project successful by handing it over to them.
Reasons behind the backover incidents
The most common reason is that driving the truck or other vehicle in the reverse direction causes the incidents because the driver can’t see the place behind and while driving without any instructor’s help hits the other person that is working there. In recent years, many accidents have happened due to trucks and bulldozers moving in the opposite direction. These took the lives of several people that’s why spotter is the major requirement of the construction site. Not any site is hazard-free. That’s why the role of spotter is essential in this field.
Various issues create big damage to life such as sometimes alarm voices can’t be heard due to so much noise from other machines. This creates issues by damaging the people. The other reason is that the spotter was guiding a truck driver when the other truck came from behind and due to noise the spotter didn’t see and that truck crushed him. Various other reasons can take the life of the individual at the construction site. That’s why in large construction projects, more spotters are required to get rid of these incidents.
How to take preventive actions?
Various solutions can easily tackle this issue. If you are new in the construction industry then this information is important for you. It doesn’t matter whether you are a supervisor or manager there. This information can save life those people who are working under you. You will acknowledge and instruct them on how to prevent this thing from occurring. The craft construction takes necessary measures to save the lives of their workers. Their life is more precious than money that’s why they keep focusing on it and make every project successful.
Following are the necessary measures that every construction company should take to get rid of the life incidents. So read the below guidelines carefully and fit them on your construction site.
- Place the camera at the back of the vehicle. Place the monitoring screen at the front where the driver sits, so he can easily watch the backward scenario through the screen while driving in the reverse direction.
- Nowadays, various detection devices have been introduced in this technological world that prevent incidents such as radar and sonar. These tools alarm the driver if any object is present behind the vehicle.
- Tag-based systems don’t merely alert the vehicle driver but also alert other employees or workers who are present behind the vehicle. Through this warning, the employees and laborers move from that place and stand in the safe zone for a specific period while the vehicle is moving in a backward direction.
- In several construction sites, employees and operation managers control the internal traffic when the vehicle is moving in that place. For instance, the supervisor or manager orders to move all the workers from the place where the vehicle starts working. This delays the other work for some time but it is good to save the life of the workers.While this may cause a temporary delay in other tasks, prioritizing worker safety is paramount and ultimately beneficial
- The other last preventive measure is to train the employee to see where is the blind spot for the vehicle driver, then through this way, the individual will move from that place before reaching the vehicle.
The awareness of preventive actions is crucial for contractors, managers, and supervisors. Without knowledge of these measures, how can these individuals ensure a hazard-free work environment? Therefore, it is essential to keep the above instructions in mind and implement them on your construction site to prevent incidents in the future.