Organization and Designing of the Construction Site - Term Paper Example

Health and safety University Student Id Course Date Introduction The site layout designing and organizing are crucial in ensuring the essential safety and health requirements in the construction site. The management functions affect the aspects of construction methods, productivity, safety and the sequence of the health. The designing of the site layouts lack the appropriate evaluation of the relevant factors that are likely to affect the safety and health issues at the construction site. The safety in a new construction site can be compromised by failing to consider the necessary structures during construction for ensuring safety. The appropriate facilities need to be put in place with the aim of enhancing health issues and safety in the construction site. The project managers are mostly focused on maximizing the productivity without the necessary consideration of the safety and health implications (Lee, et al, 2009). For the new construction site to ensure health and safety there is the need for the project managers to put into account the safety and health issues during the designing phase. There are various strategies that can be employed in the course of ensuring safety in construction site through site layout organization and designing. This paper explores the essential safety and health requirements for better layout organization and designing of the construction site. The Build Construction Site There are safety and health management aspects that need to be considered to ensure that the site layout organization and design is better. For instance, the design designing of the site need to ensure that there is enough lighting for the workers in the site to guarantee health and safety. The preferences of the workers at the site mostly come in as a result of the psychological, physical and also physiological reasons. The parameters of the human visual system which include the visual size, retinal image quality, retinal illumination and also the color difference among the others usually have an impact on the performance of a given task (Carter and Smith, 2006). Moreover, the natural light influences the production of a hormone known as the melatonin which is responsible for the regulation of the internal clock of the body. Importantly, the natural light is quite necessary for the effective functioning if human body in day-to-day activities. Therefore, the site layout design should be in a position to allow enough natural light for the workers in the site to see clearly. Besides, in construction site, the level of temperature are important in determining the health and safety aspects. Thermal comfort is usually defined as the state of mind that can express satisfaction with the temperatures, whereby it varies from one individual to another. The judgment of the thermal comfort is mostly a cognitive process that involves various inputs which get affected by some factors such as the; psychological, physical and also physiological factors. In addition, thermal comfort in most cases it depends on the dynamic factors which include mood, window location, changing posture, and clothing. However, for the overall thermal comfort to be achieved in a building, a complicated task must be performed since it is usually an outcome of different parameters (Cheng, Ryan and Kelly, 2012). Also, the thermal comfort sometimes varies as a result of the wide range of various factors which include sex, age, metabolism rate and the time of the year among the others. The site layout designing and organization need to make sure that the necessary temperatures in the site to guarantee security and safety of the workers and other people in the construction site. The construction site need to have proper flow of clean air where the flow in and out should be enough to avoid respiratory diseases like asthma. The site layout design and organization need to make sure that there is enough flow of air in the construction site can help in making the indoor air quality high. Quality air at the site can be possible through the selection of the ventilation system that control the ventilation rate is based on many factors such as the local climate, expectations, building designing and also the behavior pattern of the occupant (Carrillo and Chinowsky, 2006). For instance, the mechanical ventilation system in most cases is used in the buildings found in hot regions, whereas the personalized ventilation systems are mostly appropriate for the office buildings in both hot and humid locations. The management of the air quality inside is done by either increasing the ventilation rate or through reduction of the pollutant load present in the air. In addition, the ventilations in a building usually play a significant role in facilitating the exchange of the indoor air as well as removing the carbon dioxide present in surrounding at the site. Essential safety and health requirements in a new building site There are some safety and health requirements that the construction site has to meet in the process of designing the layout. This involves making use of the available information concerning the construction environment to come up with the necessary designing that can meet the health and safety requirements. The construction accidents in the UK is of great concerns as they have led to injuries and deaths. As a result, safety and public health issues are important in the construction industry where the project managers have the duty of ensuring public health and safety in the construction site (Carrillo and Chinowsky, 2006). The essential safety and health requirements that need to be considered to ensure better layout designing can include ventilation and the indoor air quality, thermal comfort, daylighting and lighting, noise and acoustics. Ventilation and indoor air quality The indoor air quality are important in ensuring the quality of the physical environment that is among the essential safety requirements. Indoor air quality refers to the extent of the quality of the air inside a given building which usually has impacts on the productivity of an office. Moreover, a certain workplace which has a high quality of the indoor air is more likely to have high performance of the office works such as the text typing, mathematical task and also proofreading. In addition, studies concerning the indoor air quality of the existing buildings have actually shown that a large number of the participants are not substantially satisfied with the quality of the indoor air, whereby the participants revealed some of the health related issues which greatly faced the occupants of those buildings (Rawlinson and Farrell, 2010). Some of these health related issues are; the sick building syndrome, asthma symptoms and also allergies, whereby the sick building syndrome is an illness that is related to the building and whose common symptoms include; itchy, burning and dry eyes together with irritations in the nose. Also, other symptoms of the sick building syndrome are; mental fatigue, headaches, and the respiratory irritation. Furthermore, the global observation for the symptoms of the sick building syndrome has resulted in research efforts in analyzing the components of the air quality inside the building. However, the air quality inside is usually a very complicated entity which is actually very difficult to accurately measure. Moreover, some of the time dependent chemical and physical parameters which include the relative humidity, the contamination level of the air and also temperature are part of the components of the indoor air quality. Unfortunately, both the chemical and also the physical parameters are usually impacted by various factors which include the outdoor conditions such as climate and another factor is the building conditions such as the construction, material, and material (Teo and Ling, 2006). There are still other factors which affect those parameters such as the buildings` HVAC systems which comprise of the heating, air-conditioning systems, and ventilation too and also the indoor space arrangements which include the furniture, equipment, and furnishing. Importantly, all these factors are always dependent on each other and are usually affected by the multiple variations as well as interactions. Furthermore, in accordance with the research which has been conducted in the European countries have shown that a ventilation rate that is below 10L per every second, is always associated with the health risks and the sick building syndrome. However, there has been an argument in the sector of built environment that a ventilation rate which is high usually results in a higher consumption of energy than as usual, whereas the researchers have argued that a high indoor air quality would result in general benefits to the occupants of the building (Howorth and Watson, 2008). Furthermore, there are usually various ventilation systems that can be used in controlling the ventilation rate of the buildings. The ventilation systems include; the mechanically ventilated system, naturally ventilated systems and also the mixed mode systems. Thermal comfort The aspect of the thermal comfort in a given office is usually measured through a complaint analysis concerning the number of discomforts, which is always a reactive method. Moreover, by doing research concerning the indoor air quality building can be designed in a manner which is actually more comfortable to the occupants of the buildings thus leading to high productivity (Howorth and Watson, 2008). In addition, literature in most cases makes use of the thermal preference, thermal acceptability and also a thermal sensation in order to explain the human response towards the thermal comfort. Thermal sensation refers to the both direction as well as the magnitude of an individuals` sensory perception concerning the thermal environment. On the other hand, thermal acceptability refers to the extent in which an occupant approves the thermal environment, while the thermal preference is the thermal condition which is ideal in terms of thermal environment (Carter and Smith, 2006). Furthermore, thermal comfort is usually influenced by various factors such as the air velocity, metabolic rate, air temperature and also the clothing insulation. The productivity of the building occupant always increases when the thermal environment changes. However, the preferred state of the thermal environment always varies from one individual to another, whereby studies have suggested that the individuals who are of different in gender, age and also body mass index actually have preferred a thermal state which is varied (Howorth and Watson, 2008). Moreover, literature has also shown that females usually get more dissatisfied with the thermal environment as compared to the males. Also, it has indicated that the females are more sensitive to any changes in the thermal environment as compared to the males. In addition, in order to achieve the appropriate thermal comfort, the rate of energy consumption is required in the ventilation (Carter and Smith, 2006). Furthermore, research has been conducted concerning the thermal comfort for several years whereby the first instrumental work was about the analytical model which was developed for the purpose of predicting about the thermal comfort. The analytical model comprises of the physical parameters like air temperatures, relative humidity, mean radiant temperatures and also the air velocity. Lighting and daylighting The daylight always influences the day-to-day tasks of every individual since it controls the individuals` biological clock which is usually based on the sunrise and the night darkness. Moreover, light is required for every person because it acts as the regulator for the both physiology and the performance. For instance, employees in various offices in most cases spend their time inside the offices and therefore the tasks of many offices are always dependent on the indoor lighting (Carter and Smith, 2006). Importantly, daylight is usually viewed as the best source for light because of its excellent color that provides human visual comfort. In addition, the daylight creates a sense of brightness and also cheeriness and it has a positive effect on the people. Daylight provides almost 40% of the total energy which is consumed in yearly basis in various buildings all over the world. For instance, in the United Kingdom lighting usually, contributes the highest share of almost 33% of the total electricity which is consumed in the office buildings whereas in the United States it contributes a third of the total energy consumed in that nation. However, it has been proved that artificial lighting is the main contributor to the emissions of the carbon dioxide and also global warming (Cheng, Ryan and Kelly, 2012). Therefore, measures for the effective daylighting and also intelligent lighting systems can assist in the reduction of the negative impact of the utilization of the artificial energy. Moreover, those organizations which greatly focus on the significance of the day lighting are more likely to achieve high occupant productivity in the workplaces (Carrillo and Chinowsky, 2006). Besides, 86% of the building occupants were interested in using the daylighting as the main source of light for the office tasks. The significance of having windows on the buildings is that they usually provide views of the visual information such as the weather and the surrounding activities which tend to bring a positive effect on the productivity of the occupants. Noise and acoustics The noise effects in the terms of the response of auditory can be explained as the psychological attributes which include; annoyance, loudness and also noisiness. However, both noise and acoustics are of great relevance in designing a building, whereby the acoustic performance of a building is very important in designing office since the majority of the office tasks usually require noise controls so that the occupants can perform their duties efficiently (Carter and Smith, 2006). Negatively, the bad acoustic and also the noise can actually result in the dissatisfaction of the occupants with the environment of the office hence affecting the performance of the workers. Moreover, the office noises can either result from internally or even externally, whereby some of the external sounds are; machinery, traffic and also the public whereas the internal noises includes; machines sounds, worker conversations and also one-minute requests. However, both the acoustic and the thermal sensations have an equal impact on the office workers. Some of the external sounds such as the traffic noise in most cases result in blood pressure and also stress hormones to the occupants (Cheng, Ryan and Kelly, 2012). The acoustic discomfort can be controlled through the maintenance of low-level noises in the environment of an office. Conclusion The construction industry in the United Kingdom is considered to be among the most dangerous industries considering the number of accidents that have occurred recently. Substantial psychological and economic costs coupled with numerous human tragedies has led to increased concerns among project managers in new construction sites. As a result, there have been some efforts geared towards improving the construction safety and health in the construction industry. However, some project managers have not been giving the safety and health issues in new construction site priority leading to continued accidents in the sites. The layout organization and designing are important in the process of addressing the safety and health concerns in the construction sites. The layout needs to be designed and organized in a way that can guarantee safety and ensure a healthy environment. A new construction site has to consider the different aspects that affect the safety and health issues to make sure that they are considered in the process of making any decision. It has been clear that the major problem exists in planning a safe and healthy environment in the construction industry. References Carrillo, P. and Chinowsky, P., 2006. Exploiting knowledge management: The engineering and construction perspective. Journal of Management in Engineering, 22(1), pp.2-10. Carter, G. and Smith, S.D., 2006. Safety hazard identification on construction projects. Journal of construction engineering and management, 132(2), pp.197-205 Cheng, E.W., Ryan, N. and Kelly, S., 2012. Exploring the perceived influence of safety management practices on project performance in the construction industry. Safety Science, 50(2), pp.363-369.. Howorth, T & Watson, P. 2008. Construction Safety Management: Principles and Practice. Wiley-Blackwell. Lee, U.K., Kim, J.H., Cho, H. and Kang, K.I., 2009. Development of a mobile safety monitoring system for construction sites. Automation in Construction, 18(3), pp.258-264. Rawlinson, F. and Farrell, P., 2010. UK construction industry site health and safety management: An examination of promotional web material as an indicator of current direction. Construction Innovation, 10(4), pp.435-446. Teo, E.A.L. and Ling, F.Y.Y., 2006. Developing a model to measure the effectiveness of safety management systems of construction sites. Building and Environment, 41(11), pp.1584-1592. Read More