What is the World’s Safest Building Material?

Without a doubt, steel is one of the safest materials for commercial buildings, both during the construction process and long after the building has been completed. There are many reasons for this, and it’s imperative to note the ways that steel not only provides a safe space for occupants after the project is done, but also keeps workers and contractors safe while the building is being erected. As a material with the highest strength to weight ratio than any other material, meaning it can support far more than its own weight, this makes is safe for those who have to work with it before it’s done. The ability to support far beyond the material’s own weight means things like tools and equipment needed to put it together will not add stress to it in any way if it needs to provide support.

As popular as wood, concrete or brick are as building materials they can actually be quite dangerous during the construction process. From spills, the materials falling from various heights and other hazards, prefabrication takes much of these risks away by putting much of it together off-site. Most of the “dirty work” is done in another location before being shipped to your job site to be put together.

This greatly reduces the risk of injury on site, from things like fire, falls, burns or even heatstroke in the warmer months. The time that works spend at high heights is already reduced since there are much less “moving parts” to bring together. With less time being spent up there, there is much less opportunity for them to fall and injure themselves. This in particular is one of the most common types of accidents in the construction industry.

Steel buildings can go up at any point during the year but there are some extreme weather conditions that can cause delays on any job site. Whether it’s snow, high winds or extremely high temperatures, weather can fluctuate at any time and create an unsafe environment. With prefabs steel being put together mainly indoors, there is much less time spent at the job site itself meaning you can better plan around bouts of extreme weather.

When it’s all said and done, steel is a material that can create buildings that last for decades, and is able to withstand tons of factors like extreme weather that would usually be detrimental to buildings made from other materials. This is why, in times of said extreme weather like storms and hurricanes, steel structures like community centers and churches provide shelter.

Steel is resistant to a lot of the things that make other materials unsafe. Wood, for example, has a lot of vulnerabilities depending on where you are. Fire is one thing that wood can largely not stand up to, especially if the fire is put out too late. The building might not be completely burned out, but often the damage that is done, weakens important parts of the structure enough to make it totally unsafe, leading to it being demolished anyway. Wood is also sucsceptible to termites and rot caused by moisture for the exact same reasons. THe building might not collapse right away, but these things can severely weaken the structure over time.

In addition, thanks to steel’s nearly maintenance-free nature, occupants also won’t have to be worried about any dangers resulting from the building’s general wear and tear. Steel structures are designed to last for years with the appropriate paints, coatings and insulation.

For these reasons, steel is hands down the safest and best materials to create the perfect commercial structure.

For any questions or concerns about our steel buildings, call us today at 1-877- 363-5726