Quite often you will find that your next job will mean working in and around the public, such as working on shop fronts, fixing roofs on office buildings or maintaining pathways or roads.

Working within the public and away from a secure site poses its own issues, especially where the health and safety of the pedestrians walking past the public site are concerned.

And even when you are working on a construction site that is within a public space, you need to take precautions to protect both your equipment and avoid injury.

Here are a couple of things you need to be aware of and should be doing.

Protecting The Public: Top Tips

1. If you have to close off part of a pedestrian walkway, ensure the public don’t have to walk into the road. Set up temporary barriers to form a walkway if required

2. Check who is on site daily, and ensure everyone has left at the end of the day. It can be easy to spot if someone who shouldn’t be is on site by ensuring all members of the construction team wear hi-vis clothing

3. Ensure any public walkway beneath a building site/scaffolding is closed off. Falling machinery, tools or debris can cause serious injury

4. Aim for site deliveries to be scheduled outside of rush our times to avoid travel disruption as much as possible

5. Erect signs to warn the public that they are nearing or entering a construction zone, such as ‘lorry’s turning’ signs or ‘construction site’ warnings

6. Ensure any materials are stored or stacked correctly to prevent falling, such as timber being laid flat on the ground instead of vertically up against a building

7. Cover any and all excavations, divots or holes to avoid falls or trips

8. Cabling should also be covered for the same reason

Protecting The Site: Top Tips

1. If ladders are required, make sure they are erected in a secure zone away from the public to make sure they are not knocked over

2. Any work on an elevated level should be done on secured scaffolding/platforms with hand railings to prevent falls

3. Erect metal railings and gates at the entrance to sites near public access points to prevent children, pets and other people either accidentally or vindictively entering the site

4. Keep the site tidy to negate the temptation of or the ability to carry out an arson attack

5. Keep any hardware locked away and out of site at the end of play to avoid any thefts

6. Securely lock up the site at the end of play to avoid any trespassing and damages

We hope you found this mini guide helpful! Remember, to stock up on all the tools and hardware you’ll ever need for a job, just visit www.tradefixdirect.com for the best online prices.