Safety In Construction

INTRODUCTION

Term “safety” exist as a result of the “accident” prevention of accidents means follow safety

measures. So there is a direct ling in between safety and accident.

An accident is an unexpected occurrence which can take place at construction sites mostly happen to men going about their daily work and consequently, those involved with site safety must not concern themselves such as roofing problems of roof works, transportation, scaffolds, etc…

The most common types of accidents at sites are,

1. Injury due to machinery
2. Falling from height
3. Electric shock
4. Getting hit by a falling object
5. Getting run by a moving vehicles

To reduce these accidents in numbers and criticality following guidelines have to be followed.

1. All new staff should receive safety briefing given by the safety officer before starting any of work.
2. General personal protection equipment (PPE) such as safety boots and helmets should be wear. In addition, adequate PPE (e.g. ear & eye protection) should also be wear for construction works such as welding works.
3. Alcoholic drinks and other substances, which may impair judgment, must be prohibited from the site.
4. Any personnel working at high level, safe and proper working platforms and scaffoldings should be used.
5. Ladders should always stand on a firm base.
6. Adequate lateral support bracing should be used when fitting scaffoldings.
7. A qualified electrician should carry out electrical installations.
8. Insulated wire shall be used for wiring of temporary power supply.
9. Opening which may cause fall shall be closed, or barrier.
10. Work at heights in strong wind and heavy rain is prohibited.

SAFETY IN SITE

In any construction site safety is very important. Not only labours but officers also should beware of sudden accidents. So that we must when the works are carried out accidents can be occurred to any person at any time. So precautions have to be taken to prevent those accidents. Supervisors should check whether they are used or not and the staff should advice the labours.

An accidents may be defined as an unforeseen event, which is causing personal injury or property damage. From the accident data it has been seen that 85% - 95% of accidents are preventable. It requires a little bit of care or timely precaution to prevent accidents. There are many people in our country, where they seem to believe that an accident is an act of god.

But we think it is possible to avoid accidents by our own efforts. It is the main responsibility of everyone including the management, trade unions and workers to go in for prevention of accidents, which is better than cure.

Causes of accidents

Accidents may be caused due to,

1. Unsafe Conditions
2. Unsafe Acts

An unsafe condition may refer to the condition of the floors, ladder scaffold, machines tools, etc. an unsafe act is something, which is done by somebody, culminating in an accident. The cause of nearly all accidents has its relation to an unsafe condition. The unsafe condition contains the potential to injure someone. It is the unsafe act that leads to an accident.

Hence the first attack should be on the unsafe condition because it is controllable. The next important attack has to be on unsafe acts of workmen.

Safety Rules & Regulations

• Wear helmets, gloves and boots while working.
  
• Observe all signs boards and danger notices.
• Report all unsafe conditions to your supervisor.
• Help to keep the site clean and tidy.
• Do not work at height if you are feeling weak or dizzy.
• Do not smoke within the site.
• Do not throw debris down from height.
• Never permit at any time to be operated, erected & tested by anyone other than the experienced person or relevant operator.

PRECAUTIONS OF SAFETY

So it is needed to follow precaution for providing safety as follows,

• Provide safety helmets to officers & workers.
• Provide boots for hard workers.
• Provide gloves to workers
• Provide uniforms to workers to easily identified of others
• Provide barricades.
• Safety belts when working at higher ground or narrow places.
• Not allowing the scaffolding material or tools to be dropped from a height.
• Make sure that the bracing is fixed exactly correct.
• Ensure that the specified wall ties are fitted as erection proceeds.
• Check that the fittings are properly tightened.
• When handling the machine or truck mixture covered area properly by placing.
• Provide goggles for welders and grinders. When doing work that might cause damage to the eyes.
• Provide rain coats
• Provide masks to avoid dust
• Do not throw any heavy things on the high levels that may cause injuries.
• When handling machine like back-hoe loader ensures that there is no danger from live electrical cables or equipment closer to working place.
• Use right tools. Do not use small tools as a instead of heavy-duty tools.
• When do cutting operation use safety glasses.

In any case of accidents, the following precautions may reduce their criticality.

• Having safety officers trained for first aid.
• At least some trained supervisors should be there.
• Having a first aid room & a first aid box should be there.
• Having a vehicle always reserved in case of an accident.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Head Protection

Helmet is used to prevent damaging head due to falling objects, overhead loads and sharp projections.

Foot Protection

Proper foot ware is used to protect the foot from falling materials and also to prevent penetration of nails. E.g.:- safety shoes and boots

Hand Protection

Protective gloves were given to the workers whenever there is a danger of injuries to hands. e.g. - for bar benders and masons gloves were given

Eye Protection

Goggles were given to the workers who engaged breaking, cutting, drilling and welding to protect their eyes.

Safety Belts

Safety belts were normally given to the riggers who work in higher elevations to prevent falling down. The belts should be properly checked at the beginning of the day and it should be connected to a proper support. In addition to these protective equipment’s, labours were well instructed and trained to use the safety methods while their working and also notice boards were placed at the critical places.

There was a separate officer to look after the safety of the people and site and major safety rallies were carried out to educate the labours about good and bad practices of working and also in handling equipment. I was able to attend to a safety rally as well

Safety Net

In case of safety the safety net play a major role. It prevents the falling materials to be spread over the land which is the best method of protecting the neighbors. Also presence of safety net, encourage the workers feel more comfortable at higher elevations.

Mask

When working with dust or chemicals.

Barricade tape

If there is an unsafe place. Cover with a barricade tape

First aid

First aid box are provided on the office. At small accident workers can medicine for their damage. The accident should mention in the book at the first aid box.

All the equipment’s are pre tested for safety before using them for an example fully insulated power cable should be used in case of electrically driven equipment.

In addition to those things there was a well-equipped first aid room with a trained person. And the method of action to be carried out was displayed at front of the site to take quick actions and prevent damage being serious

Site security arrangement for the site safety

• Site security is an important factor in any construction work site. These are the things we did in our site.
• At the two entrance door, a security post was established. One door is only for concrete trucks.
• Security post should be located in a place where all sides of the can be seen from the security points but we could not find such a place. So there was a mobile security officer who always goes around the site.
• Visitors can not come to the site without permission.