Swansea High Street: a Faade Retention Project with the Aim of Identifying Major Hazards - Case Study Example

Health and Safety Student’s Name Course Professor Date Many older buildings can have a number of hazards. Mostly, materials require careful handling during renovation and demolition. If these materials are inappropriately handled, they can lead to injuries to workers, the public and have adverse impacts to the surrounding environment. As a result, such incidences might attract regulatory fines, anticipated costs against project’s budget and negative public opinion. This analysis looks at a case, Swansea High Street, a façade retention project with an aim of identifying major hazards, assessing risks and review results in accordance to existing safety legislation. In this project, major work involves the demolition of the front parts of the buildings. Major hazards that are involved include asbestos, lead, awkward posture, noise and dust. Though demolition workers will be more exposed to these hazards, their effects extends to people working in nearby streets and buildings, by-passers and the surrounding. Each of the above hazards can be detailed further. Possible Hazards Asbestos Most of these buildings that will undergo renovation were built some decades ago. In near past Asbestos was commonly used as a major component in construction and for heat and fireproofing. It is obvious that the walls in these buildings that will see a major face-lift were build in 20th century when carcinogenic effects related to asbestos were not noted. Possibly, there are close to a thousand tons of asbestos in these buildings. More of asbestos dust will be exposed to the air during demolition. High death rate may occur among workers during, shortly after or long-after the work is completed (Clement & Vallance 2010). Lead Lead is commonly used in construction of buildings as paint, automobile exhaust accumulated on walls as dust, plumbing, solders, radiation shield and fusible alloys (Safe Work Australia 2011). The project involves demolition, removal, clean up and installation of materials with lead. It will involve striping the walls, grills and other materials with substantial quantities of lead. In these buildings, lead was obvious used in electrical conduits, cornices, plumbing and lead-based pains that prevent corrosion of any steel structures used. Workers will mostly absorb lead into their body through breathing the dust and fumes in their lungs. It can also get into their mouth and be ingested. Those workers who will be involved in iron work, painting, electrical work, welders and demolition will be the most exposed to lead. Awkward Posture One major problem posed by façade retention project is that work may not be easily modified to reduce incidences of awkward posture, force and static positioning. Unlike the major demolition; where machinery is used to bring down a building at once, this project requires human force with reduced impact to the remaining part of the building. In turn, workers are limited to use a variety of postures in reducing squatting or bending. For instance, those working on upper floors will have little time to stretch. Those dealing with demolition and installation might also be limited to side-lie, kneel, sit or side-sit mostly when working near areas of building partition. Project timeline may necessitate each group of workers to work on a specific phase and work and there might also be minimal job rotation. Noise The noise from this project majorly impact on Ebenezer St and Mariner St that are on the length sides and faces of the projects. Additionally, the side facing the major avenue, A4118 will have some noise impacts as well as the area behind. Mostly, drills, cutters, machinery and vibrators will be used in this project to demolish and install the walls. The workers will be exposed irrespective of the work they are carrying as they will have to work near one another. Noting that the building has been in use, it is possible that the project is scheduled on a very short time. In turn, noise before and after hours might be common on this street as an attempt to finish the project on time. Dust Demolition work will have most of the dust, noting that it will take a lot of time and the dryness of concrete brocks. Workers will be exposed more but others across the streets will have to deal with dust from ongoing demolition and installation work. Risks Assessment There two significant risks involved in this project including, health and safety and environment related risks. All the hazards considered above carries significant influence on health and safety related risks. As Anderson (2010) observes, the nature of this project being a façade retention project makes it inherent of various risks. First, it is obvious that there is a tight project schedule considering that the owner of the building would want to resume using the premises. The contractor will be under pressure to carry out the project within the minimum time possible. Secondly, unavailability of sufficient managers and professionals can affect the way caution will be taken on prevailing hazards. Considering that the work is limited to demolition of the faces of the building, professionals might only be involved minimally at the begging of the project. Thirdly, the subcontractors involved might have low management competency making it hard to coordinate work in a manner that reduces health and safety incidences (Manu, Ankrah, Proverbs & Suresh 2013). The fourth major possibility in this project is having unsuitable program planning. For instance, the impacts of hazards can significantly reduce if workers delivering every phase will work each at a time. The plan may set demolition work first, followed by design and material preparation and have other experts work at a time than having all working together (Bell 2011). There is likelihood of occurrence of general safety accident as most of the work is done by human effort and with minimum spaces to cast demolished materials. Workers are unlikely to work at right angles when handling, passing and using working materials and tools. Design variations, high quality expectations, inadequate scheduled program and variations by client can distort the plan and management of health and safety for during the course of project. Time, quality and performance pressure mostly lead to disregard of health and safety concerns in most construction projects (Anderson 2010). Projects going for short duration can experience inadequate coordination between its participants. Participants have the power to influence the level of exposure to hazards. For instance, in projects involving new design and construction work, contractors must follow excessive approval procedures in different administrative or government departments. There is likelihood of having inadequate hazards information and tests depending on the information available about materials used in the buildings and professionals involved. Environmental related risks include all forms of dust and noise. Exposure and Impacts The project may take a minimum of four to six months and workers will face prolonged inhalation of asbestos. There are health problems that are possible to occur including asbestosis, mesothelioma or lung cancer (Hannaford-Turner 2010). Significant portions of lead ingested or inhaled mostly gets into the bloodstream. After it circulates throughout the body, it gets stored in various organs and tissues. Though some is easily filtered and secreted, some will obviously remain in tissues and blood. Long exposure increases absorption and when large quantities are store they can lead to irreversible damage to cells, organs and organ systems. Lead damages the central nervous, cardiovascular, reproductive and hematological system. Toxic exposure can lead to loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, headache, colic, excessive tiredness and many more (OSHA 2004, p.3). Awkward posture leads to increased risk and injury. The workers soft tissues and muscles may not tolerate frequent stretch and challenging activities. If workers works in awkward posture for long, they may get skin blisters, neck, back, knee and hand joint’s problems. Workers will be at close range to demolition and installation noises and can have hearing problems. Noise will obviously influence their psychological health and possibly demonstrate aggressive behavior, disturbed sleep, stress and fatigue. Sharp noise may also cause severe headache and disturbance to emotional balance. People in other buildings might also be affected by continued noise which might distract communication between them. Dust will be a significant hazard in this project and can continuously expose people to flu, fever, headache and respiratory disturbances. Safety legislation In construction, where this project falls, involving or likely involving disturbing asbestos WHS Regulations defines it as a high risk project. The contractor undertaking the control and management assumes the responsibilities to identify the presence of asbestos and inform others. The walls will e demolished and WHS Regulations require the person who will undertake the work to (a) obtain a copy with asbestos register for the project from whoever manages or controls the workplace, (b) failure to have asbestos register, the work should not proceed until the premise is inspected to determine whether asbestos/asbestos containing materials were installed in the structure; ensure a competent person is involved to undertake determination; if presumed to be present, the clients should be informed or whoever in managing or controlling the workplace. AS 4361.1: offer guidance to lead pain management. It offers testing that can be followed to recognize dried paint film exceeding 1% lead containing paint. WHS Regulations expects the document to be used before commencing any demolition activity. Lead sources and hazards are indicated depending on approximate date when the premise was constructed. Sources of lead hazards includes paint and plumbing for buildings constructed from 1920-1978, automobile exhaust for those from 1923-1986 (Safe Work Australia 2011, p.30). Precautions to be taken should aim to minimize lead dusts and fumes generation. Workers are required to wear personal protective equipment appropriate for preventing inhalation and ingestion of lead fumes, dust and particles and maintain personal hygiene. In this project contractors must ensure that they clean the work area properly throughout the period and after work. In this project work area security as required under WHS Regulations is highly necessary. Exclusion zones will ensure that, no unauthorized personnel will enter into some work areas at various times. Majorly, this is a system that prevent falling objects to impact on workers. It has to be implemented noting that the project is being carried on the perimeter of the premises and so, any falling object will be designated to fall on exclusion zone. WHS require the area to extend horizontally beyond overhead work area (Sherriff & Tooma 2010). In turn, there should be electing of impassable barricades, providing information to workers and required supervision in exclusion zones. As Sun & Zou (2010) observes, WHS Regulations emphasizes on public access and protection as a safety concern. Mostly this will include areas adjoining the places where work will be in progress like roads and walkways. Demolition work capable of causing falling debris require a method to be erected before demolition, kept in position in progress and be inspected and maintained on regular basis. According to Ismail, Doostdar & Harun (2012), WHS Regulations guides in removal of debris and this will require the principal contractor to ensure practicable storage, movement and disposal of wastes and materials in a manner without risk to safety and health. Debris will have to be removed progressively, prevent build up that can affect floor integrity, access, strike workers or become fire hazard. Project contractors, managers and workers will have to participate with existing regulatory bodies prior to and in the process of demolition and renovation. The partnership allow for identification, characterization and management of hazardous materials safely and through environmentally responsible way. Conclusion Nowadays, most old buildings are undergoing renovation, and though they retains their overall look, internal layout and floor structures construction is important to meet the needs of its occupants. This reports attempts to look at a number of hazards involved when carrying out such renovations and how to carry out risk assessment. To reduce the impact of hazards and risk, all parties including the regulators, contractors, clients and the owners must know the typical hazard in building materials and their impacts. Possible risks included in the façade retention projects, the impacts to people, environment and related costs must be understood. Risk assessment is required before, during and after completing the project. Necessary regulations and standards should be involved to follow and influence the management of such hazards with various risk management strategies set in place. References Anderson, J. (2010). Briefing: Regulations to improve construction health and safety. Proceedings of the ICE-Management, Procurement and Law, 163(3), 97-100. Bell, K. T. (2011). One Nail at a Time: Building Deconstruction Law as a Tool to Demolish Abandoned Housing Problems. Ind. L. Rev., 45, 547. Clement, D., & Vallance, D. (2010, November). Towards a Safe Asbestos Free Environment Summary of Presentations at the National Asbestos Summit. InCancer Forum (Vol. 34, No. 3, p. 177). Hannaford-Turner, K., Elder, D., Sim, M. R., Abramson, M. J., Johnson, A. R., & Yates, D. H. (2010). Surveillance of Australian workplace based respiratory events (SABRE) in New South Wales. Occupational medicine, kqq011. Ismail, Z., Doostdar, S., & Harun, Z. (2012). Factors influencing the implementation of a safety management system for construction sites. Safety science, 50(3), 418-423. Manu, P., Ankrah, N., Proverbs, D., & Suresh, S. (2013). Mitigating the health and safety influence of subcontracting in construction: The approach of main contractors. International Journal of Project Management, 31(7), 1017-1026. OSHA, 2004, Lead in Construction’, Retrieved [19 April 2015] from www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3142.pdf Safe Work Australia, September, 2011, ‘Demolition Work: Draft Code of Practice. Sherriff, B. N., & Tooma, M. (2010). Understanding the Model Work Health and Safety Act. CCH Australia Limited. Sun, A. C. S., & Zou, P. X. W. (2010, May). Understanding the True Costs of Construction Accidents in Australian Construction Industry. In W099-Special Track 18th CIB World Building Congress May 2010 Salford, United Kingdom (p. 184). Read More