Premise of the
Habitat For Humanity St. Louis
Work Site Safety Process

The Habitat for Humanity vision expresses the fundamental responsibility that a diverse people share for each other's well being. This caring attitude is expressed not only by the way the volunteers demonstrate commitment to the future homeowners, but also in the way that they care for each other.

A serious injury associated with a Habitat for Humanity project would have a dampening effect on the satisfaction which the participants experience while working on the project and will likely have a long term impact on the attitude of the homeowners about their new home.

Safety Fundamentals

Construction activities result in more fatalities and serious accidents than any other occupation except farming. A construction site is inherently hazardous due to the nature of the process; working on surfaces that are unfinished, using methods which require vigorous activity and mobility, and variability in the skills and experience of the participants.

Fundamentally, any accident can be prevented. Each accident in the construction process results from several independent events or conditions which exist simultaneously. By altering any of these events or conditions, the accident is prevented. This process of removing one of these events or conditions happens millions of times each day as skilled Craftworkers, Laborers, Engineers, Architects and Construction Managers and Supervisors each perform their part of the construction process. Occasionally, something slips past one of these participants and accidents result.

The operative issue in preventing accidents is not years of experience, but rather awareness of the potential for injury and conscious consideration of steps to prevent the potential injury. The Habitat For Humanity construction process includes volunteers with a wide range of experience. While some have recent experience in construction environments, many volunteers are inexperienced and may not be aware of the inherent hazards or know the steps that should be taken to prevent injury.

Morning Safety Huddle

During the course of the discussions of the construction objectives at the beginning of each work period, the safety considerations associated with the planned tasks should be thoroughly reviewed.

House Leaders, Crew Leaders and Site Safety Observers should be prepared to explain the potential for injury involved with the various tasks. These discussions should include the use of appropriate personal protective equipment and the safest methods for accomplishing each task.

While unsafe conditions abound on construction sites, statistical reviews of injuries indicate that about 90% of the accidents result from unsafe acts rather than from unsafe conditions. These unsafe acts almost always result from either a lack of awareness on the part of the participant or the employment of a short-cut method or practice.

Safety Coaching

House Leaders, Crew Leaders, Site Safety Observers and Volunteers must be willing to point out unsafe acts observed on the construction site. This should be done in an atmosphere of caring and consideration.

Any time one person approaches another and says, "I am concerned about the way you are performing that task. It looks to me as though you could be injured", the comment could either be perceived as caring or critical, based on the way it is offered and received. It is generally best to focus on a discussion of the risk to which the Volunteer is exposed rather than to specifically critique the judgement or behavior of the Volunteer.

The role of the Site Safety Observer is to monitor the worksite, inspect equipment and to provide safety coaching to the Volunteers as needed. All participants in the construction process should be coached at the beginning of the work period to provide and expect this type of feedback. A group of people who are working together to care for a homeowner who they may not know at all, should be at least as ready to care for each other by providing proactive safety comments to people with whom they are working that day.

This type of proactive caring may fall outside of the prior experience of the participants in the Habitat For Humanity St. Louis construction process. This caring attitude and clear communication of safety expectations on the part of the House Leaders, Crew Leaders, Site Safety Observers and Volunteers is one of the aspects of a Habitat project which makes it a special experience.