Health, Safety & Welfare Legislation of Construction - Assignment Example

Health & Safety Policy & Procedures TABLE OF CONTENTS Number Topic Pages 1. Health, Safety & Welfare Legislation of Construction 1 i. Legal Responsibilities of Parties 1 ii. Provisions of the F&IUO And OSHO 1-2 iii. Penalties for non-compliance with F&IUO And OSHO 2-3 iv. Responsibilities for Welfare Facilities On Site 3 2. Main Elements of Effective Health & Safety Policy 4 i. Organizational Policy & Procedural Documents 4 ii. Training Requirements 4-5 iii. Recording Health & Safety Inspection 5 3. Hazard Understanding & Risk Identification 6 i. Hazard Identification Methodologies 6 ii. Hazards Identification in a Construction Process 6 iii. Recording of Hazards 6-7 iv. Risk Assessment for Critical Hazards 7 4. Undertaking Risk Assessment 8 i. Listings of Harms 8 ii. Rating Severity & Likelihoods of Harms 8-9 iii. Controlling Measures 9 5. Review, Revise & Monitoring Risk Assessment 10 i. Reviewing a Risk Assessment 10 ii. Revising a Risk Assessment 10-11 iii. Monitoring a Risk Assessment 11 References 12 1. Health, Safety & Welfare Legislation of Construction Health Safety & Welfare legislation encompasses the planning and management of safety, health and welfare of human resource and community at construction projects. The crucial fraction of such legislation is health and safety. These legislations also stress responsibilities among major stake holders to make suitable actions to avoid the jeopardy of damage to any human being throughout the construction. i. Legal Responsibilities of Parties Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance & Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance point responsibilities of parties concerned in a construction project, for example the controller of buildings, contractors, employers and designers to collaborate amongst themselves to recognize risks in the early hours, and to describe issues that are probable to jeopardize health and safety. As per revealing the responsibility of employer at a construction project, the employer is supposed to provide safety information, teaching, training and supervision to sub-ordinates; the employer is needed to maintain the place of work in a harmless condition and devoid of any jeopardy to health. Also in a construction project employers are supposed to provide a protected means of escape in case of emergency to the workers. ii. Provisions of the F&IUO And OSHO There are two major legislations of safety and health in Hong Kong SAR. They are named as the Occupational Safety Health Ordinance (Cap.509) and the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap.59). There are supplementary set of laws under these two legislations. For the safety of workers at construction site, the manager or employer requires to make actions in accident impediment, fire defense, and place of work environments, cleanliness, first aid services and manual treatment operations. Employer is also considered to provide fire fighting machinery and insurance of its maintenance. The employer is also required to ensure First aider training. The individual answerable for a specific workplace of a construction site shall carry out a risk evaluation of an associated workstation in the workplace before it is going to be utilized by users, and shall evaluate the evaluation if there has been a noteworthy modification in the condition. According to Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, every person working during a construction work shall acquire legitimate certificate in compulsory fundamental safety training, usually termed as “Green Card”. Green card training for Construction Sites regulates the erection, construction, maintenance, utilization and working of lifts, scaffolds, and operational podiums. There are additional clauses for the exercise of personal protective equipment for defense in opposition to falling of person, falling things and drowning in a construction workplace. There are various safety needs for example avoidance of inhalation of dust and fumes, safeguard of eyes, and the condition of first aid services . iii. Penalties for non-compliance with F&IUO And OSHO According to Occupational Safety Health Ordinance (Cap.509) and the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap.59) if a Proprietor or Contractor falls short of in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $200,000 & a possible detention for six months. Similarly if a Registered Safety Auditor falls short of in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $100,000 & likely detention for three months. Moreover if Safety Review Officer falls short of in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $100,000 & likely detention for three months. Scheme Operator falls short of in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $50,000. Any individual who hinders for assessing he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $50,000 and also considered to Commit a Criminal Offence Breaching. OSH Employer or Occupier falls short of in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a maximum penalty of Hong Kong $500,000 & possible detention for twelve Months. If an Employee is found guilty in fulfilling his responsibilities, he/she will be liable to a penalty of Hong Kong $50,000 and Imprisonment for six Months. An employer who violates or shows noncompliance with specified requirements he/she will be liable to a maximum penalty of Hong Kong $200,000 and/or, detention for a term not more than six months. iv. Responsibilities for Welfare Facilities On Site The major stake holders at a construction site are also liable for providing welfare facilities on a construction site. Contractors also the ones self employed, Principal contractors & CDM have to ensure welfare facilities especially in hazardous activities. For instance, think on the condition of showers if the project engages perilous materials or incredibly polluted work, example drain repairs, dusty pulling down actions, labor with polluted land or concrete bucketing; the nearby workers will have to tour to the welfare facilities. Welfare facilities include: toilets, positioning onsite (vehicles management), Washing facilities, Drinking water, Changing rooms and lockers, Rest facilities, Smoking area facility, and Heating etc. The number and quantity of facilities needed are determined by the period of the work and quantity of locations, the numbers of people who will utilize facilities, the servicing of the welfare facilities. 2. Main Elements of Effective Health & Safety Policy Health & Safety policy of an organization has many important elements in it. Most importantly is the health & safety management system. Health & Management System is defined as the organizational policy to control risks through the management process. Effective health and safety policies of an organization set a clear direction for the organisation to follow. i. Organizational Policy & Procedural Documents As discussed above the most important part of an organizational health & safety policy is the health & safety management system which contains all procedural documents, policies, record keeping evidences etc. The organization’s health & safety management system is explicated as the division of the overall management system that conveniences the management of the OH&S risks associated with the business of the organization. This incorporates the organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing and achieving, reviewing and maintaining the organization’s OH&S policy. ii. Training Requirements Since the legal requirements compels an organization to have helpful procedures for making certain the capability of personnel to perform their selected functions. The organization needs to have methodical recognition of the competencies needed by each employee. Prerequisite of training pointed out is being essential feature of the company policy & procedures. Moreover the training requirements fulfillment must also be focusing on evaluation of personals to make sure that they have acquainted and preserve the acquaintance and skills essential for the height of capability needed. The keeping of appropriate training/skills records is also very essential for the overall process of training. As per Health & safety trainings organization must ensure respirator training, First aid training, First aid box utilization, risk assessment training etc. iii. Recording Health & Safety Inspection The data needs to be recorded in various health & safety inspection reports. One report is covering training records; the other record is serving risk assessment reports, accident investigation report, Assessment records of hazardous substances, meeting reports for organizational health & safety, personal protective equipments records keeping, audits for health & safety record etc. All these records are kept in master file of health & safety inspection. 3. Hazard Understanding & Risk Identification A hazard is some event having the potential to bring harm. Risk is the probability of occurrence of the harm from exposure to the hazard. i. Hazard Identification Methodologies There are many Methodologies for identifying hazards in the workplace some of which is Employees reporting hazards perceived in their work area to their boss or manager by writing in the Hazard/ Near Miss forms or utilizing the Hazard Register system. Manager remarks and authorized recognition on the form. The management as a whole makes recommendations. Hazards recorded must be sent to the Safety Department. Safety Department is identified by e-mail each time a hazard recorded on-line. All hazards recorded are assessed at the closing of the month and remedial actions are made up for the case to close or resolve. Second method is Monthly hazard inspection which is done by a hazard inspector each month, he uses hazard inspection checklist as an easy guide for him (Filicetti, J, 1990). ii. Hazards Identification in a Construction Process The above discussed method can be employed in the environment of a construction industry. A jib crane which is used in the construction industry for material lifting can be a source of falling material hazard and can be reported by the workers or hazard inspector easily. Since in hazard inspection check list the area of a falling hazard is already listed so the inspector will review the area on all given parameters and will suitably identify the hazard associated with the movement of the crane. Thus the safety department is notified through e-mail along with video or pictures attached in the e-mail to highlight the hazardous locomotion of the crane. iii. Recording of Hazards The identified hazard is recorded in the hazard inspector checklist along with evidences attached as video CDs or photographs. In this way a proper manifestation of hazard is made. The potentially falling material from the crane in the construction industry can bring severe harm in the form of serious injury or even fatality. Similarly another hazard associated with the construction industry is the inhalation of dusty particles that can cause breathing problems and other health care issues to the workers. This situation can also be reported through the same channel of hazard inspector checklist. iv. Risk Assessment for Critical Hazards Based on the severity of the hazard a risk associated with the hazard is also assessed through various numeric methodologies. Now as per talking about the two scenarios one is material falling from the crane, the other is inhalation of dusty particles, therefore based on the severity of the two scenarios material falling from the crane is taken for risk assessment because of the fact that it can cause severely bad damage against a constant hazard of inhaling dusty particles. The risk assessment is based on two major factors, i.e. it is the product of likelihood of occurrence and severity of damage. 4. Undertaking Risk Assessment A trained personal should be allocated for doing a risk assessment analysis for any specific type of hazard. Risk assessment is a sensitive task and therefore realistic observation is needed for undertaking this activity (Hallenbeck & William,1986). i. Listings of Harms Now if inhaling of dusty particles is considered, there are different types of harms associated with it. The first and minor harm is irritation, the second and higher level harm is breathing problem, the third and severe harm is lungs infection. Therefore one type of hazard can cause various harms therefore; harm associated with a hazard is listed initially. Similarly consider the case of falling material from crane, in this case also there various types of harms associated counted as damage to property, loss of life, disability etc therefore every harm is scrutinized through the process of risk assessment. ii. Severity & Likelihoods of Harms Severity (10 to 100) is the effect of a listed harm, how much the effect is damaging in terms of life and money, whereas likelihood (0.1 to 1) is the probability of occurrence of a hazard. As in the first hazardous case of dust inhalation, the severity (10) of irritation is low but the probability (1) of occurrence is high so the value of Risk assessment all together will be within the nominal region i.e. 10 x 1 = 10. Similarly considering the harm of lungs infection can cause the worker inability to work therefore the severity (50) of this case is high whereas the likelihood (0.5) can be low, therefore risk assessment value will be 25. As in the case of hazard material falling and harm damaging property the likelihood (0.2) is low but the severity is moderate (50). The risk assessment value is therefore 10. Similarly the harm of a person dying from the material fall is with severity i.e. high (100) and same likelihood (0.2) then risk assessment value is 20. iii. Controlling Measures In each case of hazard there can be proper controlling measures that can control hazards happening in the first place or can eradicate the associated harms. Like in the case of dusts personal protective equipment like dust masks can be helpful in preventing the harm; moreover an administrative measure of providing an air conditioned room at the workplace can also help the workers feel good and comfortable in that environment as well. As far as material falling is concerned, the area under the operation of the crane must be highlighted as a No Go area during the operation of the crane, moreover the crane operator must be properly trained so that he can handle the material properly. In addition to it proper maintenance of crane can also be helpful in avoiding the accident of a material falling down. 5. Review, Revise & Monitoring Risk Assessment With changing situations risk assessment needs to be assessed itself, updated and monitored. Risk assessment should not be a for all time activity. According to Lachin, J. M (1998) the assessment required to be reviewed and revised, as needed, for numerous reasons. i. Reviewing a Risk Assessment Risk assessment can be reviewed by many means. Internal audits are also conducted by Health & Safety Department. Therefore internal audits are an ample opportunity to review the risk assessment. In case where there is no lifting of material needed and the project has entered into another phase then there is no need of the previous risk assessment and its control measures since the activity has already finished and so the hazard has also ended. Similarly a risk can be decreased or increased by altering situation hence risk assessments are never final and thus risk assessment records need to be reviewed on a regular basis. ii. Revising a Risk Assessment After reviewing a risk assessment record, if changes are needed then it is revised for example if the likelihood of the harm is increased then the risk assessment has to be revised. The revision must be taken by the ISO OH & S management system. For example the project has entered in phase where the dust inhalation problem is eradicated by plastering and now the structure has been laid on therefore now new risk assessment is needed and the old ones required to be closed. Therefore revising a risk assessment is necessary at a workplace. iii. Monitoring a Risk Assessment Measures for monitoring and evaluating the defensive and preventive measures should be embedded subsequent to the risk assessment to make sure that the usefulness of these activities is maintained, and the risks are proscribed. Monitoring is the measure of the effectiveness of a risk assessment system therefore during external and internal audits the success of these measures of controlling the risks must be quantified whether or not these measures have been suitably preventing the risks (Lerche, I., & Glaesser, 2010). References Filicetti, J. Risk Assessment Worksheet and Management Plan A comprehensive guide to risk assessment in project management. H, Hallenbeck & William. (1986). Quantitative risk assessment for environmental and occupational health. Hong Kong Government . (1997). Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. Hong Kong Government. Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance. Lachin, J. M. Biostatistical methods: the assessment of relative risks. Lerche, I., & Glaesser, W. (2010). Environmental risk assessment : quantitative measures, anthropogenic influences, human impact. Read More