Avoiding The Emergency Room – Health And Safety Advice For Contractors.
January 13, 2017 by Staff
Filed under Health, Money/Business, Weekly Columns
(Akiit.com) If you work as a contractor, it’s imperative that you keep yourself safe. At the end of the day, you probably don’t receive sick pay if you take time off. While you could make a compensation claim if sometimes goes wrong, it takes a long time to settle those cases. So, you might struggle to pay your bills and find yourself in a terrible financial situation. With that in mind, there are some excellent health and safety tips on this page you need to consider. Safety is especially a concern for electricians, where the high voltages can be fatal. Learn more on an electrician blog. They could help you to earn a decent living for years without a single trip to the emergency room.
Always perform risk assessments
While the companies that purchase your services will perform risk assessments, you still need to do them yourself. There is every chance that someone could have overlooked something important. That means you might face more hazards that you realize. The process of risk assessing any job is simple, and it should be 
something for which you are familiar. However, there is lots of free information online that could help. So, read as much as possible, and try to apply the knowledge. With a bit of luck, that should stop you from having to take any trips to the hospital during working hours.
Do not use machinery without the correct safety devices
Even if you have lots of experience with the machinery, you should never use it without safety equipment. That could mean wearing goggles to protect your eyes or specialist clothing to cover your body. It could also result in you needing to use something like a timber mat if you operate cranes or diggers. No matter what the boss might say, you are within your rights to refuse to work if they don’t provide those items. Of course, you can offer to purchase them yourself and send an invoice if that’s easier. Just don’t take any risks, and always ensure you always protect yourself. Otherwise, you might find that your insurance becomes void.
If in doubt, don’t do it!
Lastly, and most importantly, if you are in any doubt about something; don’t do it! It’s much better to lose the contact than end up in the emergency room. There are always other firms who need your services, and so you shouldn’t let money result in injuries. Raise any concerns with the site manager, and let them know you won’t work until they rectify the problem. At the end of the day, you could cause someone else to become injured, and that might result in court cases. Unless you want to spend most of your life talking to lawyers, you should take our advice. Everyone knows how expensive those legal fees can become.
Health and safety is one of the most important issues for contract workers today. If you don’t take it seriously, you are heading for disaster. So, use the information from this page to ensure you never make mistakes again. Not only will you lose your ability to earn money, but you could also hurt other people. Nobody wants that to happen, and that’s why you need to think long and hard about every action you take.
Staff Writer; Greg Poole