Construction Management and Fire Safety - Essay Example

Structural design, health and safety, risk management, and fire safety plan Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: City & State: Date: Structural design for a school and sport centre Design characteristics Before the roof is constructed, the roof must have number elements ready for the construction process to kick off. These elements include the material for the roofing, the roof durability and the construction (Forrester, et al, 2012: P. 112). Essentially, for the roofing, material necessary for this area is the use of celotex insulation, which can stay for long as roofing for the area without developing any complications. This is because it has high performance with high thermal requirements. Actually, the roof is the only area that is not easily accessible for the repairs and it is better to have stronger roofing at the start to lower the maintenance costs. Therefore, roof construction need to have stronger supports that connect to the walls of the building to support the roof from crumbling. Construction of the roof is determined by the fact that there is a need to develop a structure that has the stronger supports for the hoisting the roof as it needs to have proper support underneath. The best style for this roofing should use the pitched method but with external piping for free drainage of the falling water from the roof. A stronger roof should contain two sections, the supporting structure and the roof outside. The outer skin of the roof shall have waterproof layer. The roof shall be having the wall that will offer support reckoning on the shape and the size of the roof. Thermal resistance of the floor Where = thermal resistance of the material (K/W) x= length of the material (m) k= thermal conductivity (W/(K-m) A= area of the surface perpendicular to flow of the heat (m2) Area  Length of the material = 0.108m Therefore,  Health and safety for the site and the (school with sport centre) According to the health and safety act regulations, section 2 it is clear that occupants have danger or outbreak to the environment. In essence, it is an obligation for all heads of the areas of concern to ensure better sanitation and all the areas inspected of any hazardous cases around. Health and safety work act states clearly that, for persons in charge of the premises they have a duty to protect the entire area, which include the members and other persons other than occupants (Barnard, 1998: P.6). Concerning safety and health, act regulation 5, persons in charge of given premises have a duty and responsibility to control emissions of harmful emissions to the ambient. In this case, the cooling plant near the working areas have less care thereby posing a substantial risk to occupants and other people around. To the effect of this, it is ideal to have a local HSE observer to ensure that there is no violation of the health and safety act. Health and safety for the school and the swimming pool in the gym Normally, where there is stagnant water there is possibility of growth of the Legionella, which is a pathogen bacterium, which is a gram-negative bacterium. Its rods are associable with infections called Legionellosis that relate to respiratory system in the human body caused by breathing in the bacteria called Legionella pneumophilia in droplet nuclei or in tiny droplets of water. Therefore, it is mandatory that the school should ensure that the swimming pool is at the required standards. This is achievable through: Thorough cleaning of the swimming at least three times in a day Ensuring the pool water is always treated using biocide. This lowers the water PH thus discouraging growth and development of the bacteria in the swimming pool area. Spray biocide around the pool areas. This way there would lower and no chances of infection in the pool. Advice the members related or have an interest to be in the pool to clean up sweat first as well as observing the cleanliness in the pool Fire safety plan Highly populated areas with buildings congested in one area are a considerable risk to fire exposures. This is in relation to the cases of the buildings that are at a proximity thus causing higher chances of catching fire and spread easily. A building that has been exposed to fire in such areas is significant hazard to the occupants in that area. These buildings have a number of accelerating factors that encourage fire development in case of a fire breakout. These are: Type of roofing Type of wall used, Fire protection openings, The finish and combustibles around the building Demographic profile Different groups within the community have different safety issues related to fire safety challenges. This in turn is highly agitated by the population density within the area as well as the shifts to the area. Failure to have proper communication and occupancies of different groups pose a substantial risk to fire safety within the designated area. Strategies to change people’s behavior in relation to safety from fire The greatest challenge to achieve is to change people’s behavior (Haley, 2007: P. 27). Therefore, developing appropriate strategies that people can adopt to deal with safety from fire is a challenge too. In order to acquire the peoples will to change and focus on safety from fire fundamental strategies used include the following: Resilient and strong leadership Morally, it is not correct for the authority not to install the required firefighting equipment within the compound. It would very risky to have a occupational area where there people in the area and no firefighting equipment. Thus, it would ideal if the institution ensures that there is enough of the firefighting equipment in the area. To affect this, strong and diverse work force is necessary to promote fire fighting tactics and workforce (Peter, 1999: P.132). This way, people can change their behavior and give a hand in relation to safety from fire risk. A strong work force of professionals When a group of dedicated professionals joins hands to provide services, they should do a perfect job. This is in relation to entice people to have a strong will to help in that fight for safety form fire risks (Stranks, 2005: p. 57). With such motivational work force, the people can positively change their attitude and behavior towards safety from fire. Since this is a school compound a group of professional who are ready to train the occupants on fire handling. In as much as there are professionals hired to do the fire fighting it would pose a great risk to have occupants who have no clue on fire fighting tactics. Public service ethos The entire work force used across the school should be based on the partnership and decentralization of skills and resources. This in turn improves the community service delivery thus changing people’s attitude towards the safety from fire issues. In addition, diversity of the work force provided by the fire fighting forces is an advantage that helps to capture the community’s behavior towards safety from fire (Judith, & Jacquelynne, 2010: p. 78). Safety procedures must be laid out in case there is fire outbreak thus in case there is firebreak out: The members present should be advised to gather away from the building to assemble at the fire assembly point set in front of each building. In addition, all the school should have a fire management plan to assemble the students and dismiss them after briefing. Risk management for the site and the (school with sport centre) Health and safety management for the site and the school with sport centre The management team in the area must ensure that there is a plan set to ensure that the health and safety plan is adhered to. This ensures that no risk in the area where the occupants are. Therefore, the management team should ensure: That there are plans relating to environmental, health plan for the institution That they provide necessary training to equip the members in the area with adequate knowledge and skills that they require in the verge of fighting and upgrading any environmental health and safety issues That they ensure that they have proper safety management plan in a yearly basis That they provide EHS management plan copy for proper communication in the area That they provide directives that should be adhered to by all the members in the area that need to have considerable safety issues It would be ideal if they should exercise the plan approach and develop an action plan on how to structure the health and safety management skills and planning. In practicality, the institution should develop standards that would lead to a sustainable environment for them to have a comprehensive health and safety-policing plan of action. This is in relation to the kind of risks that might be present during the construction process, which is as summarized below. Risk s Mitigation measures 1 Falling stones Ensure that no one goes close to the ongoing construction activities 2 Material handling In case the materials used include glass fiber ensure there is proper procedure on material handling 3 Water management and sanitation Ensure that the construction is well-treated using biocide to reduce the growth and spread of the bacteria elements. The institution should in a more economical think big environment to define proper measures required to lower the dangers relating to health and safety. Thus, the management team should have: Biosphere protection strategies It is ideal to develop strategies that will help in reducing the emission of any hazardous material to the environment and ensure that there is no volatile organic compound that might be released to the ambient in the region. This way there would be a containment of an environmentally clean compound. Reduction and management of waste disposal There should be proper plan on how the waste should be disposed from the compound that has the school and the sport centre (Ladou, 2006: p. 16). They should practice and venture in opportunities that help to recycle and reduce the waste in the area. Risk reduction The management should develop strategies that would help in the development of a way that they need to use in the management of the environmental risks. Institutional management of the environment on safety issues is a step stone to create an occupational area with less health risks. Fire safety management for the site and the school with sport centre For proper management and containment of the fire risk is in the occupants. This entails use of specific tools that need to be developed amongst the occupants in the area. Professionalism Professional ethics must be observed when considering the construction of the compound that has different people who have different lifestyle and characteristics (Roughton, 2002: p 28). Therefore, the management of the school and the sports centre should ensure that they institute training programs that would see fire risks maintained and contained at the local level. Communication Proper communication is key to successful and ultimate fire management (Beard, & Carvel 2005: p 89)). Ensuring that every occupant in the compound is well informed on the major risks that relate to the fire management in the compound would help in reducing the risks involved. Bibliography Ladou, J., (2006). Current Occupational & Environmental Medicine (4th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Roughton, J., (2002). Developing an Effective Safety Culture: A Leadership Approach (1st Ed.). United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann Stranks, J. (2005). Health and Safety Law (5th ed.), London: Prentice Hall. Health and Safety Work Act 1974, s.2-15 Beard, A. & Carvel R. (2005). The handbook of tunnel fire safety, London: Thomas Telford. Haley, A. (2007). Roots: the saga of an American family, Hillsboro: Vanguard Books. Peter, D. B., (1999), Making Schools Safe for Students: Creating a Proactive School Safety Plan, California, Corwin Press Forrester, D., et al, (2012), Modernising Secondary School Buildings, New York, OECD Publishing. Judith, L. M. & Jacquelynne, S. E, (2010), Handbook of Research on Schools, Schooling and Human Development, New York, Routledge. Barnard, M., (1998), Health and Safety for Engineers, New York, Thomas Telford. Read More