Construction Site Safety Jeopardy

Fall protection, ladders, trenching, and electrical hazards in a toolbox-talk quiz. Copy the board free and have the crew buzz in from their phones.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Fall Protection

$200
This personal fall arrest component, worn on the body, spreads arrest forces across the thighs, chest and shoulders.
What is a full-body harness?
$400
Falls, struck-by, caught-in or between, and this make up OSHA's Focus Four construction hazards.
What is electrocution?
$600
Holes in floors and roofs must be protected by guardrails or these, which must be secured and marked.
What are covers?
$800
The top rail of a guardrail system must be this many inches high, plus or minus 3 inches.
What is 42?
$1,000
An anchorage for personal fall arrest must be able to support at least this many pounds per worker attached.
What is 5,000?

Scaffolds and Ladders

$200
When climbing a ladder, keep this many points of contact at all times.
What is three?
$400
For a proper angle, an extension ladder's base should be 1 foot from the wall for every this many feet of working height.
What is four?
$600
Scaffolds must be inspected before each shift by this kind of person, trained to spot hazards and authorized to fix them.
What is a competent person?
$800
Window washers often work from this kind of scaffold, hung by ropes from above.
What is a suspension scaffold?
$1,000
Scaffold legs should rest on base plates and these wood supports, never on bricks, barrels or boxes.
What are mud sills?

Trenching and Excavation

$200
The biggest danger in trenching is this, when the walls collapse and bury workers.
What is a cave-in?
$400
Trenches this many feet deep or more need a protective system unless they are dug entirely in stable rock.
What is five?
$600
Trenches 4 feet or deeper need a ladder or other exit within this many feet of lateral travel.
What is 25?
$800
Excavated soil, called spoils, must be kept at least this many feet back from the trench edge.
What is two?
$1,000
A trench box, which protects workers inside it rather than holding up the walls, is this kind of protective system.
What is shielding?

Electrical Hazards

$200
Before digging, US crews call this three-digit number to have underground utilities marked.
What is 811?
$400
Portable tools on site should run through this device, which cuts power when current takes an unintended path, such as through a worker.
What is a ground-fault circuit interrupter?
$600
Locking and tagging energy sources so equipment cannot start during work is this procedure.
What is lockout/tagout?
$800
Equipment must generally stay at least this many feet from overhead power lines carrying up to 50 kilovolts.
What is 10?
$1,000
Electricity can injure without direct contact when current jumps through the air in this explosive event.
What is an arc flash?

Struck-By and Caught-In

$200
This high-visibility garment helps equipment operators and drivers see workers on site.
What is a safety vest?
$400
These areas behind and beside heavy equipment, where the operator cannot see, are called this.
What are blind spots?
$600
A person who guides an equipment operator with limited visibility using hand signals is called this.
What is a spotter?
$800
Loose clothing and long hair can be pulled into rotating parts, so these protective covers must stay on machines.
What are guards?
$1,000
The area reached by a crane's rotating counterweight must be barricaded because of this hazard zone.
What is the swing radius?

Site PPE

$200
This head protection is required wherever falling objects are a hazard.
What is a hard hat?
$400
Work boots should have this protective feature over the toes, often made of steel or composite.
What is a safety toe cap?
$600
Grinding and cutting call for these, rated to ANSI Z87.1.
What are safety glasses?
$800
Cutting concrete, brick and stone releases this dust, which can cause an incurable lung disease.
What is crystalline silica?
$1,000
Under ANSI Z89.1, hard hats in this class are rated to protect against up to 20,000 volts.
What is Class E?

Final Jeopardy — Fall Protection

Under OSHA's construction standards, fall protection is generally required when workers are at an elevation of this many feet or more above a lower level.

What is six feet?

How to run this board

This board covers the hazards that cause the most serious injuries on a construction site: falls from height, scaffolds and ladders, trenching and excavation, electrical hazards, being struck by or caught between equipment and materials, and the PPE a site demands.

It is a refresher for crews who have already been trained, not a substitute for OSHA outreach courses, competent-person training, or your site-specific safety plan. Edit clues to match your own equipment, procedures, and emergency contacts.

It fits a fifteen-minute toolbox talk if you play one or two columns at a time. Split by trade or by crew, and let the foreman read the clues so the discussion stays tied to the day's work.

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