Health & Safety In The Workplace.

Each site will have its own specific hazards & Health and Safety requirements.

In the construction industry there has been major changes to health & safety requirements. Construction be it residential or commercial is classed in the high risk category for accidents to occur in the workplace. There are generally many hazards or potential hazards on construction sites which must be managed.

Tool Box Meetings.

A good way of keeping staff, subcontractors and clients aware of hazards existing , new, or potential hazards at various stages of construction .

These should take place on a weekly basis and make necessary people aware of hazards and a course of action to be put in place to try and eliminate these hazards.

These meetings should be recorded in writing making note of who is in attendance of that meeting.

Awareness.

There are several ways of making people aware of the surroundings on a construction site and the dangers of that site. Here are a few.

• Hazard Board in place in clear view for any person entering the work site which needs to be regularly updated at different stages of the build.
• Site Induction. Induct staff, subcontractors & clients before they commence working on or visiting the site. Explain your Health & Safety requirements for the job. Make people aware of the hazards and the course of action to be implemented to eliminate.
• Paperwork. Record Tool Box Meetings , accidents that happen on site and the cause of the accident and action taken , get clients staff and subcontractors to sign a site induction document to show they have been inducted and made aware of requirements & hazards of the site.
• Site Signage. Make sure there is sufficient  site signage highlighting danger and hazards.

Policy

• Have a site specific Health & Safety plan in place.
• Ensure sub contractors have personal health & safety policy  in place working on the site.
• Ensure the company has personal health & safety policy in place for its staff or employees.
• Have Health & Safety policies on site at all times.

Building Costs.

What a lot of clients fail to realise is due to requirements we as building contractors must now have in place on the work site also adds cost to the build for them. Some examples

Working at Height.

• Proper scaffolding must be in place installed by a licensed scaffolder.
• Fall Protection. Before roof rafters or trusses are installed fall protection must be in place. Either giant air or bean bags covering the entire floor, nets,or a trampoline type material stretched across the top of the framing before trusses are stood. If you should fall you are either caught in the net or the fall is broken by the bags helping to eliminate injury.
• Wearing a harness in certain situations.

Site Fencing

• This may be a condition of the building consent and is designed to keep un-authorised  people entering the site. It is also used if the site is close to footpaths where pedestrians may pass and in some circumstances may also have to be screened off from the public for safety reasons.

Building Contractors have to allow for extra costs involved for putting these things in place which in turn gets passed onto the client as a cost of the job as it is an expense to the contractor. The fines we can incur  for non compliance are just not worth the risk.

Make sure your Building Contractor has made provisions for Health & Safety measures required for your building project.

Build Once Build Right