Health and Safety Regulations in Construction - Case Study Example

Name Institution Course Tutor Date Health and Safety Regulations in Construction The Swansea high street, SA11LN, is supposed to undergo the redevelopment project which involves the demolition and Façade retention scheme in order to construct new offices. This construction work has to be carried out in respect with the underlying provisions of the Health and Safety legislation. The health and safety legislation provides procedures, technical requirements and the construction standards to be met by those involved in the construction work. This is so as to extensively minimize risks associated with construction. Laws have been put in place in a bid to improve efficiency and accountability in construction work and to maintain health and safety of employers, employees, contractors, engineers and the public at large, Lingard et al , (2005). The redevelopment project should be undertaken in a manner that does not deprive or interfere with ones’ right of living. Otherwise, it will amount to tort,( Geistfeld, 2014). Therefore, we will be looking at some of the construction legislation and their applicability in the redevelopment project in the Swansea high street. Health and safety laws 1. The health and safety at work etc Act 197443. This Act requires employers to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of their employees, other people at work and members of the public who may be affected by their work. The employers of any kind of work are required to assess their health and safety policy, Mazuri, (2014). The health and safety policy is very crucial as it sends a sign of high level of health and safety standards that the employer will ensure. In the redevelopment project at Swansea high street, the provision of this legislation applies and requires the owner of the Façade to ensure that the health and safety of employees, people at the construction site and the public is not compromised due to negligence and lack of accountability. The employer of Façade should ensure that the construction of the offices does not violate any rights of the public. 2. The management of health and safety at work Act 199944. This legislation requires the employers of any kind of work to plan, control, organize, review and control their work. In order to do all that, employers need to assess the level of risk involved in that work, asses areas of weaknesses, competence and degree of expertise of the employees and should have the ability to deal with any foreseen hazardous events. This legislation is applicable to the redevelopment project of Façade. The employer of Façade should carry out an interim risk assessment procedure in order to evaluate the extent of risk associated with the construction. This risk assessment will enable him to properly plan together with other experts on how the project will be undertaken. Some of the risks that the project may be exposed to are damages to third parties’ properties, for instance, buildings surrounding Façade in the high street, roads, vehicles and even physical injuries to individuals at the construction site and the public too,( Helander, 1991). 3. The construction (health, safety and welfare) Regulation 199645. This regulation requires employers, self employed and employees in a construction work to ensure adherence to health and safety measure. Employees need to ensure their safety too. This regulation also provides the welfare of the people at the construction work. This welfare, health and safety measures include welfare requirements such as toiletries, washing facilities, meals, rest areas, technical support, emergency plans, pedestrian segregation and use of appropriate machineries and tools. The construction site of the new offices at Swansea high street is in a very tricky location because it is at the center sarounded by properties of other people and pedestrians are also there. The employer needs to ensure that pedestrian segregation and other emergency plans are put into consideration. Moreover, the health and safety of individual can also be improved through better welfare facilities that the employer needs to put in place as this will vastly motivate the workers and they will carry out their job more effectively and with due care, Parviz, et al (2014). 4. The control of substances hazardous to health regulation 200216. This Act requires employers to regulate any form of exposure to hazardous substances in order to prevent ill health or health damage to employees and other people. These form of exposures range from emissions to noise pollution. Exposure to excess noise has serious hearing problems. In order to prevent individuals from such exposures, employers need to conduct a risk assessment to identify such harmful exposure and put preventive measures like the ensuring the use of hearing protection equipments as articulated by John, (2014, 69-80.). The building to undergo redevelopment is in an environment that is not open. This exposes the individuals within Swansea high street to any hazardous substances that may compromise their health. The employer of Façade therefore needs to take measures to ensure that the residents around that high street are safe from such risky exposures. The construction should be well planed, controlled, reviewed and environment friendly to the constructors and the public. Any harm to the health of the public would mean that the employer, unless otherwise, has acted negligently and will have to face the law. 5. The provision and use of work equipment regulation 199846. This Act deal with all sorts of equipment used for construction. It also deals with such issues as the danger of machineries, appropriateness, roll over protection, visibility and inspection. The provisions of this legislation also places duty on people who make them and owners of the equipment to have control over the use of equipment in construction. The equipment used should be environmental friendly. For the redevelopment project to be undertaken, the employer of the Façade has a duty to ensure that proper machineries are used in the demolition and construction of the offices. During demolition and construction, the surrounding environment, the buildings and roads, should remain undamaged. This can only be achieved if appropriate machineries from reliable contractors are used. The types and mode of equipment to be used is determined during planning process and according to Shrivastava (2014, January), the contractor prepares an estimate of all material requirement for the entire construction process. Use of appropriate equipment will assist the employer to reduce the risk of damaging other people’s properties and compromising the health and safety of people. The machineries to be used in the demolition and construction of the new offices should not inconvenience the pedestrians walking along the high street and also affecting the businesses around the perimeters of the street.. The employer of Façade should ensure adequacy of resources and proper segregation of pedestrians. 6. The control of vibration at work regulation 200531. This law requires employers to assess the net risk of vibration to the employee, decide whether it should be exposed above the daily exposure action value, decide whether they are likely to be exposed above daily exposure limit value and take immediate action to reduce their exposure, keep health records of employees and keep monitoring over time and provide training to employees on the use of equipment and vibrations. It is very imperative for the employer and the contractor to control the vibration effect as it may course further extensive damages to the public and also the employees working on the construction, (Lu et al, 2014). In the Swansea Street, the roads and the nearby buildings may be damaged if vibration is not controlled. This may be an additional cost to the employer. 7. The control of noise at work regulation 200529. This regulation requires employees to assess the risk of noise the employees are exposed to and take both preventing and corrective measures. Employees are required to provide hearing protection equipment to protect employees from harmful noise of machines. The employer of Façade should work with experts to sufficiently ensure that the noise is not disturbing to the public and the employees. Employers and contractors should always make sure they are compliant and not assuming the defectiveness of machines and their usual loud noise. They should find a way of preventing that as supported by John, et al (2014). The redevelopment project in Swansea high street should be undertaken in respect with the requirements of the health and safety regulations. This will ensure that no rights of individuals are violated. It will also ensure that the risks of loss of workers through falling and also severe injuries are avoided. The demolition and Façade retention scheme will only be successful if the above among other regulations are put into considerations. Workers health, safety and welfare is important because the construction industry is a risky occupation, Chalmers (2014, June). References Chalmers, J. (2014, June). A Comparison of Health and Safety Concerns of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Construction and Warehouse Workers. In 2014 CSTE Annual Conference. Cste. Ferreira, C. M., Hippert, M. A. S., & Borges, M. M. (2014). Safety analysis in the building construction carpentry work. Occupational Safety and Hygiene II, 2010, 311. Geistfeld, M. A. (2014). The Tort Entitlement to Physical Security as the Distributive Basis for Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations. Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 15(2), 387-416. Ghoddousi, Parviz, et al. "Mapping site-based construction workers' motivation: Expectancy theory approach." (2014): 60. Helander, M. G. (1991). Safety hazards and motivation for safe work in the construction industry. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 8(3), 205-223. John, G. 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In Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate (pp. 81-89). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Read More