Health and Safety in onstruction - Dissertation Example

 Health and Safety in Сonstruction 1. Introduction One of the most critical challenges of contractors is to meet all the requirements of the project undertaken keeping its quality at high levels; usually, the field in which a particular project involves defines the tools and the methodologies employed for its completion; however, the will of the parties – as stated in the relevant agreement – is the basis on which the project’s structure and tools are chosen. Current paper focuses on the presentation of the health and safety issues related with a specific construction project: the construction of a multistory car park – see Photo 1 (Appendix) regarding the location. The development of the project requires the use of specific equipment including a luffing tower crane with specific characteristics (see Photo 2, 2.1 and 2.2 for this equipment’s characteristics). In this paper it will be made clear which are the health and safety issues and risks resulted from the use of the particular equipment; suggestions will be also made in regard with the measures required for the increase of health and safety standards of the project – always in relation with the specific equipment. An alternative plan of action is also provided aiming to show the potentials for keeping the safety and health standards of the specific project at high levels despite the use of hazardous and complex equipment – referring to the tower crane – for its completion. 2. Construction of the multi story car park The development of the specific project – construction of the multistory car park – is related with a series of problems and demands; particular emphasis needs to be given to the health and safety aspects of this project, which are the key issue of current paper. Health and Safety in construction is effectively promoted through a series of relevant legislative texts – as described in section 2.1; however, even if these rules are applied there are still risks for the successful completion of the particular project (see section 2.3); these risks are expected to be minimized when the necessary safe systems are provided (section 2.2); it is also necessary that a series of measures are taken (section 2.4) ensuring that the specific project will be fully aligned with the existing health and safety standards; apart from that, an alternative plan of action is proposed (section 2.5) aiming to further support the project’s successful completion. 2.1 Statutory requirements The legal rules referring to the health and safety standards of construction projects are many ensuring that all aspects of health and safety in construction are adequately addressed. However, employers – i.e. the contractors – are not always aware of the relevant principles (Baxendale et al., 2000, p.33). The project under examination needs to be aligned with the principles of existing health and safety legal framework; this framework includes a series of legislative texts, like a) the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 – known also as the Robens Report (Joyston-Bechal et al., 2004, p.2), b) the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Joyston-Bechal et al., 2004, p.5), c) the Management of Health and Safety at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2003, d) the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (Joyston-Bechal et al., 2004, p.15), e) the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (Ramsey et al., 2007, p.500), f) the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 (Ramsey et al., 2007, p.508), g) the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (Ramsey et al., 2007, p.511) and h) the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (Ramsey et al., 2007, p.500). At the same time, the contractor and the employees participated in the specific construction project need to show the highest possible care for the project’s good execution – otherwise, they could be liable for negligence which is ‘the only tort (civil wrong) of real significance in health and safety’ (Hughes et al., 2008, p.6); the above liability cannot be avoided or denied by the project’s contractor – or other employee hired by the contractor – in case it is proved that a tort (civil wrong) has been committed the risk of which ‘willingly accepted’ by the perpetrator (Hughes et al., 2008, p.7). 2.2 Safe systems required for the development of the project In order to decide on the safe systems required for the development of the project it is necessary to review the conditions under which the project will be developed as well as the equipment (tools) involved in its realization. The site in which the car park will be constructed (see Photo 1, Appendix) has specific characteristics: existing buildings serve not only professional but also housing needs. Particular attention should be paid on the assembly of the tower crane in order to avoid the risk of a potential collapse; furthermore, the volume of tasks developed through the specific equipment need to be carefully checked making sure that there will be no fall of material. In any case, employees handling the specific machinery but also those working in the ground – in the surrounding area – have to be appropriately equipped and trained so that the risk from a potential accident to be limited (see also section 2.3 below). It would be also necessary ‘to isolate’ the equipment from its environment – referring to the establishment of signs that will create an area of work the entrance to which will be prohibited to local people – only employees will be allowed to enter this area in case that a particular task is delegated to them. The borders of this suggested ‘work area’ would be ‘Corporation Street, Maudland Road and the buildings H, F and SC (see Photo 1, Appendix). In general, the safe systems developed in the context of this project should ensure that the specific construction project is aligned with the provision of current legislation (as presented in previous chapter); towards this direction, the contractor should make sure that all precautions have been taken for the protection of employees from fall, the avoidance of a risk from falling objects, the protection of the head of employees and so on (Stranks, 2005, p.140). 2.3 Hazards associated with the specific equipment All construction projects are related with specific health and safety risks; these risks are likely to be differentiated – in accordance with each project’s characteristics; however, there are certain hazards that exist in all such projects. Occupational skin disease is one of these hazards – referring to the health of the personnel employed in a particular construction project (Holmes et al., 1999, p.251); this hazard would be also related with the specific project – development of the car park. The potential fall from height is another such hazard (Holmes et al., 1999, p.251) that should be carefully addressed in the specific project – taking into consideration the project’s characteristics – use of a luffing tower crane for the construction of the car park. The use of the specific equipment would be related with health problems and risks to the employees handling the specific equipment but also those working in the ground; in the first case, employees face the risk of a fall, of an electrocution or of other health problem of minor importance (for instance, headache, loss of attention for a while especially after working for many hours); in the second case, employees face the risk of death or severe injury in case of the equipment’s collapse; there is also the risk of injury from failures in handling the equipment – especially when employees in the ground participate in a specific activity. The health and safety of employees participating in such projects are usually under risk in case of the following failures/ damages of the equipment: a) collapse, b) disassembly, c) electrical failure and d) crane malfunction. 2.4 Measures required for the limitation of risks In order to identify the measures that would be most appropriate for increasing the health and safety standards of the specific project it would be necessary to explain the safety concept as it is related with the construction industry. In accordance with Behm (2005, p.589) ‘the design for construction safety concept is defined as the consideration of construction site safety in the design of a project; globally, the concept has gained momentum as an intervention to improve worker safety’; this means that safety in construction is related with the following two issues: a) the use of equipment for ensuring the safe development of the various phases of the construction projects and b) the introduction of measures for ensuring the safety of employees participating in these projects. The project undertaken is expected to have a series of risks – referring especially to the risks referring to the health and the safety of the employees as analyzed above; these risks need to be effectively controlled making sure that the project will be aligned with all existing rules related with the health and safety in work; A series of measures can be proposed for controlling the risks related with the health and the safety of the employees that will participate in this project’s realization. A first measure would be the introduction of appropriate first aid training program; the participation of the employees in this program would help them to be ready to react in case of an accident in the workplace – at least up to the arrival of professional support, i.e. medical staff. The value of this measure – first aid training program – has been highlighted in the study of Lingard (2002), which focused on the potential effectiveness of such programs in construction projects developed across Australia. The results of the above study indicated that ‘for the most part, the first aid training had a positive effect on the occupational safety and health behavior of participants; it was also proved that these program enhances participants' motivation to avoid occupational injuries and illnesses and improves their risk control behavior’ (Lingard, 2002, p. 209). The effectiveness of training in the construction industry – referring especially to the health and safety training programs provided to the employees in the above industrial sector – was also explored by Goldenhar et al. (2001); their study led to the assumption that these programs can be quite effective but they are not adequately examined by the employers/ contractors; as a result the exposure of employees to hazards or their readiness to respond to the needs of construction projects are not appropriately evaluated. It is concluded that an appropriately customized health and safety training program should be provided to the employees that will participate in the specific project; however, it would be necessary for this program to be closely monitored as of the employees’ level of participation and their response to the given guidelines/ instructions in accordance with the issues developed above. At this point, the following issue should be examined: is the workforce of the same cultural background? If cultural differences exist among the workers, then these differences would be taken into consideration when designing the specific program otherwise the above initiative would have no chance to be completed successfully (Bust et al., 2008). The technology should be also involved in the effort of increasing the standards of health and safety of the particular construction project. In the study of Cheung et al. (2004) it is noted that the monitoring of health and safety in construction projects could be based on an appropriately customized IS system; the system tested by Cheung et al. (2004) ‘entitled as the Construction Safety and Health Monitoring (CSHM) system was based on four components: (a) Web-based Interface (templates); (b) Knowledge Base; (c) Output Data; and (d) Benchmark Group’ (Cheung et al., 2004, p.159); the above system was able to offer ‘a speedy performance assessment of safety and health activities on construction sites’ (Cheung et al., 2004, p.159); a similar system should be designed and developed for the specific project – multistory car park. It would be necessary though to identify the key components on which the system would be based – taking into consideration the project’s characteristics, the participants’ competencies but also the financial resources available for acquiring the necessary IS. The Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is proposed by Rozenfeld et al. (2010) as a tool appropriate for assessing risk in the manufacturing industry; the above tool would be also used in the construction industry but under the terms that it would be appropriately customized taken into consideration the potential exposure of employees to dangers caused by their counterparts; the JSA is based on the ‘identification of potential loss-of-control events for detailed stages of the activities commonly performed in construction, and assessment of the probability of occurrence for each event identified’ (Rozenfeld et al., 2010, p.491). At the next level, it would be necessary to identify the perceptions of employees on ‘workplace safety climate, psychological job demands, decision latitude, and coworker support’ (Gillen et al., 2002, p.33). In case that a health and safety training program had been developed before the beginning of the project – as described above – then the above task would have been completed in the context of the specific program. 2.5 Alternative plan of action Despite the issues developed above it is always possible that the project undertaken – development of multi story car park – do not meet the statutory requirement on health and safety – as explained in the section 2.1 above. The violation of the relevant legal rules would be only partial but still a problem would exist in regard to the project’s continuation. In order to avoid this outcome, it would be necessary for an alternative plan of action to exist; this plan would include a series of actions that would lead to the achievement of the project’s initial target but with different equipment – providing a higher level of safety compared to that provided through the previous project’s tools and equipment. In the context of this plan, another tower crane – of less height – would be available for the project’s realization up to a specific point; then, if the employees would be ready to respond to the demands of this equipment a higher tower crane could be used for completing the project, i.e. for finishing the specific building; an initial equipment of such quality would be a tower crane of half the height of the proposed one (see also photo 2.1 where the suggested height of the alternative equipment is presented – the blue line). 3. Conclusion The project under examination sets a series of worries and concerns in regard to the health and safety of employees – as explained above. It should be noted that all initiatives required for the increase of the project’s health and safety standards should be developed in advance, i.e. prior to the project’s beginning; this strategy could help to identify on time any potential weaknesses of these plans; this is an issue also highlighted in the study of Gangolells et al. (2010) where it is made clear that ‘decisions made prior to work at construction sites can influence construction worker safety’ (Gagolells et al., 2010, p.107). Even if all necessary measures are taken for limiting the risks related with the particular construction project, still the potential hazardous behaviour of employees or the failures of the equipment cannot be fully avoided – in accordance with a series of statistics published in 2007/2008 ‘6 million working days were lost due to workplace injury’ (Kloss, 2010, p.133); the contractor and the supervisor of the project under evaluation will have to face various challenges when trying to follow the statutory requirements for health and safety in the workplace; however, they should bare in mind that the relevant measures are not in their discretion; moreover, any violation of the health and safety legislation could have severe effects for the offenders – in the context of the legal rules presented in section 2.1 above. References/ Bibliography Barber, J. (2002). Health and safety in construction: guidance for construction professionals. Thomas Telford Baxendale, T., Jones, O. (2000). 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Safety Science, Volume 42, Issue 10, pp. 921-931 Appendix Photo 1 – area of interest, location of the project Photo 2 – Equipment used in the project’s development Photo 2.1 Analysis of the project’s equipment Photo 2.2 Analysis of the project’s equipment Read More