Last week, the Canadian Construction Safety Council (CCSC) released its Critical Risks Guideline, a framework designed to prevent serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) in the sector.

The new guideline identifies 13 critical risks with the potential to pose significant threats to worker safety. In addition, it outlines safe start checks (SSC) to help eliminate or reduce these risks and enables frontline workers to confirm the controls or safeguards in place.

“Safety is a shared responsibility, not a tool for competitive advantage,” says Ryan Tones, president of Peter Kiewit Sons ULC, in a statement. “This guideline draws on the combined expertise of our member companies and reinforces our commitment to transparency and collaboration in making our industry safer for everyone.”

The 13 critical risks are as follows:

• • working at heights
  • working around mobile equipment
  • ground disturbance and excavation
  • energy isolation
  • confined spaces
  • hoisting and rigging
  • driving
  • public interface
  • working near traffic
  • working near water
  • working near live rail
  • hazardous materials
  • working near radiological sources

The council notes each critical risk includes a series of SSCs, which are simple statements to help confirm proper controls are implemented. They also include diagrams to help workers understand the steps to take to ensure a safe work environment.

In particular, SSCs prompt workers to identify:

• • The steps or responsibilities that may be confusing.
  • Any factors that could result in mistakes being made.
  • Any factors that make the task difficult to perform.
  • How to resolve issues before starting a task, when to stop work and where to seek help.

“The Critical Risks Guideline was created to protect and empower frontline workers, and to change focus from workers having the stop work if something is wrong to assuring safeguards are in place and functioning as designed, so it’s OK to start,” adds Peter Lineen, EVP HSE with Bird Construction.

The CCSC was established last year in an effort to reduce SIFs on construction sites and champion safety improvements within the industry.

The dozen founding members include Aecon, AtkinsRéalis, Bird Construction Inc., Dragados Canada Inc., EllisDon Corporation, EBC, Graham Construction Inc., Kiewit Corporation, Ledcor Industries Inc., PCL Construction, Pennecon and Pomerleau.