Winter is coming, and it’s full of potential cold weather hazards for your construction site.
Here are the seven best winter safety topics to cover on the jobsite, plus more tips to stay incident-free this season.
Best winter construction safety topics
Safety training is essential, especially when temperatures drop and the dangers aren’t always easy to see. Make sure your employees understand how to stay safe in snow, ice, and extreme cold.
Winter toolbox talk topics about seasonal risks will help your crews keep cold weather safety top of mind.
Download winter weather toolbox talks from our construction toolbox talk library:
Common winter safety incidents
The most common winter-related safety incidents in construction are slips, trips, falls, driving incidents, and cold stress.
Monitor on how your employees follow winter safety procedures with custom digital construction checklists.
Winter slips, trips and falls
Proper jobsite prep significantly reduces the winter weather risks of slips and falls due to snowy roads, icy walkways, and strong winds. Promptly shovel, plow, and/or salt any areas where employees may walk or drive before, during, and after poor conditions.
It’s important to keep all work areas free of hazards. If there is ice or snow in the workspace, immediately stop and clear it before tasks continue.
Driving incidents
If they will be using vehicles or heavy equipment during cold weather, workers should also be trained on winter operation and maintenance.
It’s not always easy to see ice on roads and driveways. To help prevent accidents, promote awareness and safe driving habits.
Cold stress
Cold stress—when the body gets too cold and can’t warm itself up—is another serious winter health hazard.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends employees who work outside during the winter should wear at least three layers of loose clothing to stay warm. Footwear should be properly insulated, with good traction.
Make sure to keep a cold emergency kit onsite as well.
Improve documentation during the winter season
When your business follows safety guidelines, be sure to document every step. Without good documentation, it’s difficult to prove you’ve taken all the necessary steps to stay safe at work.
Raken’s construction safety app makes it easy to keep tabs on all your jobsites. Workers document daily progress, including daily work logs, checklists, and safety protocols. They can upload attachments (like photos or videos they take while working) and submit observations, tagging team members for review if they see any safety concerns like ice or snow.
All data collected from the field is sent back to the office instantly and can be automatically published into a clean, clear PDF format. The Raken app automatically captures the day’s weather conditions, too.
Stay safer with Raken
Nobody wants to spend extra time on the jobsite at the end of a cold winter day. Get a field-first app for your teams so they can give you better jobsite visibility without having to spend hours on reporting.