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No matter what kind of construction site you might work on there are often some very high risk areas which need to be cordoned off in order to keep people from walking into harm's way. Many of these dangerous areas have their traffic restricted using retractable barriers or caution tape clearly marking them as such. Other methods, such as simple signs or physical obstructions are normally used as well, but it's hard to beat a length of customized caution tape clearly describing somewhere as a "hardhat area" or some similar equivalent. With so many parts of a building site that can potentially cause harm, using retractable barriers and other safety gear just makes good sense and is often preferred over the potential cost of a workplace injury. Some sites prefer to use simple crowd control retractable barriers while others need a temporary fence to make the statement that much more apparent to site employees and visitors. In either case, the message is usually a necessary one: avoid this area. These physical restrictions on access make it nearly impossible to accidentally stumble into a dangerous or restricted area unaware. Being able to customize the message being displayed can also be helpful as sometimes a simple "caution" warning just isn't enough to warn people away. Advising of the potential for falling objects or other dangers can make it clearer exactly why it might be that people shouldn't walk around an obvious barrier. The very notion of maintaining a safe working environment is essential to many industrial and construction sites. Effective retractable barriers can do a lot to create that environment, especially when combined with a variety of additional safety gear. Requiring steel toed boots for all employees, making hard hats available and requiring eye protection in order to operate certain equipment are just a few of the measures undertaken. A combination of these practices has helped to lower the nationwide statistics on workplace injuries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average frequency of workplace injury has fallen over the last few years, from nearly five percent to less than four. While this may not seem like a great improvement, that one percent drop in workplace injuries has meant that tens of thousands of accidents have been prevented. Safety practices in the industrial and construction sectors have become increasingly strict over the last few years, largely due to the increased cost of doing business which results from having to pay out for worker's compensation. While a required part of doing business, worker's compensation insurance tends to increase if a job site has a high frequency of injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has taken great steps towards ensuring that all working environments, not just those that are considered high risk, are both conducive to the health of employees and maintain high safety standards. Even the average office worker requires an employment briefing detailing proper posture and use of equipment. In few areas of the job market is safety as essential a part of operations as it is in construction, industry and manufacturing. In these areas, many measures are taken to prevent injuries and accidents. From barriers that prevent access to dangerous areas to signage warning of temporarily unsafe condition, in the end it is the responsibility of management to take steps to keep their employees safe from harm for whatever reasons are necessary. It may be the threat of lawsuits or sincere concern for workers' health that drives these decisions, and while the motivation is not important it remains in the hands of everyone involved to ensure that these practices are followed.
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