Construction sites accidents

On construction sites, as is m the nature of things, there frequently occurred serious accidents. It also happens that people become sick and unwell. Mr. Faust was a choleric he was a man who had worked on many construction sites, and he had a rather rough manner.. . . One of the differences between Camp IV, Monowitz, and the other concentration camps was the density of its population. People had to be pushed into this camp. 

Accident statistics are also highly impersonal aggregating accidents removes the people from the numbers - the workers become lost in the data. As McEvoy (1997 75) suggests, they become an abstract factor of production, to be bought at a price determined by impersonal market forces and combined with capital and resources at the will of the entrepreneur. But when people speak about safety, although they often still talk of accidents, they do so in a different way to this bald numerical approach. For the construction workforce, accidents are often a highly personal event - it is sadly very likely that someone with many years in the industry will have been witness to an accident, a near miss, or even been party to one themselves. The way people easily talk about such events illustrates how accidents are an inherent part of construction site life, for example ... 

Although accidents are just one of the ways in which we construct safety on sites, they help create a shared acceptance of a reality in which accidents will happen. It is in this reality where safety improvements are sought. But this is not a context which readily supports a shift to a safer industry. Indeed, an inherent fatalism has often been identified within industrial workforces which can play havoc with organisational safety targets, particularly those around zero - currently the biggest number in construction site safety- and one which is explored in much more detail in Chapter 8. 

The more we reiterate accidents and statistics, even in the negative formats of x hours worked without. .., the more we support the understanding that this is inevitably a dangerous industry, and one in which accidents are just a familiar characteristic of the construction site environment. We could instead do worse than recognise the roots of occupational accidents as a direct result of our work process and practices, rather than inevitable consequences, and therefore start to challenge the way we do things from new perspectives. That we so readily talk about accidents and not safety also helps us understand safety a little better - it is paradoxical, much more easily identified and understood by its absence than its presence, and accidents are the ultimate manifestation of unsafety in practice. 

Another characteristic of accidents is the way they are often explored through ideas of cause and effect - put most simply unsafety is the cause, and the accident is the effect. Looking back over historical safety statistics, it is not surprising that recent improvements in safety on construction sites have been recognised ... 

Consider carrying out a site inspection. Whilst it is relatively simple to identify the unsafe, there may simply be too many potential hazards and risks to ever confidently proclaim safe in a given situation. Gravity is arguably one of the key hazards we have to deal with on construction sites, and as a result there is always the potential for slips, trips and falls within any task. When considered from this perspective - and the fact that this is one of the most common causes of minor accidents on UK construction sites-the limitations of the lexicon quickly become apparent. Who can confidently declare safe when people can trip up on the flattest and cleanest of surfaces ... 

And interestingly, at the site level, alongside the acceptance of safety violation as the natural state of affairs, punishment or some other form of redress for such violations is actually found to be expected. Although violations are often constructed without consequences of personal injury or accidents, they are constructed within a context where punishment might well be the correct course of action, should the perpetrator be caught. The construction site workforce expects safety rules to be bent as a matter of course, and if the perpetrators are caught, punishment is certainly due. 

The idea that first inspired this project was very simple -1 was going to find out why people still had accidents on large construction sites, despite there being lots of management efforts made to prevent this, and I was going to sort this out by working out how to develop a positive construction site safety culture. 

YANG. 1956. Analysis of relative importance level by countermeasure against foreign worker s accident at construction sites 15-34. Seoul. Seoul National University of Technology. 

Despite all the safety precautions taken on construction sites to prevent injury to the workforce, accidents do happen and you may be the only other person able to take action to assist a workmate. This section is not intended to replace a first aid course but to give learners the knowledge to understand the types of injuries they may come across in the workplace. If you are not a qualified first aider limit your help to obvious common-sense assistance and call for help, but do remember that if a workmate s heart or breathing has stopped as a result of an accident they have only minutes to live unless you act quickly. TTie Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 and relevant approved codes of practice and guidance notes place a duty of care on all employers to provide adequate first aid facilities appropriate to the type of work being undertaken. Adequate facilities will relate to a number of factors such as ... 

In this chapter we have looked at many different types of electrical installations and wiring systems. Most of this type of work is carried out alongside other trades as a part of the construction process. Electricians have an important part to play in any construction project. However, a construction site has the potential to be hazardous because of the temporary and changing nature of the building environment. We have looked at the common causes of accidents at work and how to control the risks associated with various hazards in earlier chapters of this book. To make your work environment safe always ... 

Electrical accidents on construction sites are almost always caused by unsafe equipment and/or installations, unsafe workplaces caused by environmental factors, or rmsafe work practices. Protection from electrical hazards is one way to prevent accidents. According to OSHA, protective methods that may be employed on your jobsite include insulation, electrical protective devices, guarding, grounding, personal protective equipment (PPE), and safe work practices. 

Fire is a real threat at construction sites. Storage and use of flammable liquids increases the threat substantially, and also increases the possibility of a tragic accident involving burns to workers. Respect for, and proper use and care of dangerous liquids, is critical to a safe jobsite. 

Ladders are an indispensable help for construction crews. While they are uncomplicated and simple to use, you can t take ladder safety for granted. They are a major source of accidents at construction sites. They are also a source for numerous OSHA citations. In December 2010, the following ladder violations were in the top 25 OSHA construction citations ... 

Stairways, like ladders, are a source of accidents at construction sites. They are also a source for... 

Failure to adequately control energy accounts for many serious accidents at construction sites. Lockout/tagout procedures help safeguard you and fellow employees from the unexpected start-up of machinery or equipment or release of hazardous energy while performing servicing or maintenance tasks. 

Transformers are used on construction sites to step, to avoid accidents with hand tools. 

On most construction sites, every precaution is taken to move traffic safely around the site. However, it takes only one mistake to cause an accident. Mark your work area with plenty of cones, signs, and flashing arrows. If possible, park a vehicle between you and the rest of the construction site. As an added precaution, point the wheels in the direction you want the vehicle to go if it is struck. 

The concept of the HSEQ Training Park as a new novel safety training innovation has been introduced in Finland. The original concept by the Rudus Construction Company in Espoo in Southern Finland was followed by a joint development process in Northern Finland, in Oulu. The construction process of the Training Park in Oulu shows how rival companies can joindy develop new kinds of practices when aU stakeholders have a common interest in accident-free construction sites. A good benchmark for the constmction industry as regards cooperation could be the Northern Finnish process industry, which has for years successfully jointly developed HSEQ practices, as reported by Vayrynen et al. (2012). 

Health and Safety Executive, Guidance Note No.GS7, Accidents to Children on Construction Sites, HMSO, London (1989)... 

Any inspection of an employer s factory, plant, establishment, construction site, or other area, workplace or environment where work is performed by an employee of an employer, and includes any inspection conducted pursuant to a complaint filed under 1903.11(a) and (c), any reinspection, follow-up inspection, accident investigation or other inspection conducted under suction 8(a) of the Act. 

When objectives are set unrealistically high (such as Having zero accidents and incidents on our 47 construction sites this year ) they have little or no positive motivational value. People laugh at them, ignore them, or are demoralized by them. Motivational objectives are attainable objectives (such as Reduce our lost time to accident by at least 30% this fiscal period ) [2]. 

Outline the powers available to an HSE inspector that may be exercised following a serious accident on a construction site. 

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