Environment, Health and Safety Issues

The construction industry, as a major part of the economy in the UK and elsewhere, has a significant impact on the environment. An estimated 198000 companies of all sizes make up the industry, with an annual output of 58 billion. The industry produces 29% of the controlled waste in the UK (70 million tonnes annually), of which 12 to 15 million tonnes are currently recycled. About 17% of waste going to landfill sites is directly related to construction work. Good management of the environment makes economic sense because many of the environmental aspects of construction work carry financial cost. Examples are energy use and waste, where taxation on landfill and a proposed climate change levy will add to costs. 

Economic benefits include improved tender opportunities and reducing the cost of wastage (disposal, handling, transport, taxation, for example). Environmental benefits include reduced damage to the environment by control of emissions and adverse impacts on ecosystems, and reduced demands on natural resources. 

In this chapter, the role and objectives of the contractor are considered. Contractors as constructors can make only a limited difference to construction s environmental impact, and need to work with others. Clients, for example, as procurers of construction work, can call for greener buildings and thus affect the entire supply chain. 

The short-term objectives for the reduction of environmental impact of any process are  

The initial steps towards achieving short-term objectives require the identification of materials used In all wastegenerating activities, and encouraging contractors and suppliers to co-operate in the management of waste, beginning with reducing its production. 

---

Shenai-Khatkhate DV, Goyette RJ, et al (2004) Environment, health and safety issues for sources used in MOVPE growth of compound semiconductors. Journal of Crystal Growth 272(1-4), 816-821... 

Environment health and safety Issues in handling, transport and usage,... 

There are numerous challenges and opportunities to help students, faculty and staff to be more OSHA and environmentally aware via electronic media, particularly using the world wide web. For our academic institution, it is appropriate to pursue developing materials to produce the best students possible. This is especially true concerning environment, health, and safety issues. 

With the growing industrial interest in the production of biofuels, the most important areas that need attention and research seem to be (i) scale-up, (ii) cost efficiency, (iii) better fuel properties, (iv) norms and standards for producers and end-users, (v) environment health and safety issues in biomass io el handling, transportation and usage, (vi) encouragement to implement thermo-chemical processes and applications, (vii) efficient utilization of byproducts for value-added chemical or material production, and (viii) information dissemination. The biomass conversion process can be economically viable if used in an integrated manner for generation of other marketable co-products in addition to the primary biofuel product, thus contributing to sustainable development. 

Businesses defined the issues as external to the firm s core concerns - they were not real business issues - and they responded to government requirements by devising technological fixes to solve what appeared to be discretely bounded problems. Traditional segregation of environmental concerns into environment, health and safety departments assured that environment would continue to be viewed as overhead costs and marginal to true business concerns. When understood in these terms, entrepreneurial opportunities could never be associated with environment. 

For the purpose of this exercise, CERs will be defined as publicly available freestanding documents issued voluntarily and devoted to environmental, plus sometimes health and safety, issues at the corporate level . The health and safety aspects can often be covered in the annual report, and the same is true for social issues. As far as the chemicals industry is concerned the CERs are often encompassed within an overall health, safety and environment (HS E) report. 

The review of accidents started with the perception from many stakeholders that coastal and maritime engineering presents a particularly hazardous environment for the construction industry. Simm and Cruickshank (1998) identified many of the commercial and technical hazards experienced by key stakeholders within the industry. However, this earlier review did not focus on health and safety issues. The current review seeks to examine what safety statistics exist and answer the following ... 

While the project was constructed without major incident, some considered that the construction of the reefs was a hazardous operation and, due to the high accretion, they now pose a public safety issue. The construction operations were particularly hazardous as they involved marine plant working close to rock structures in the surf zone. The accretion behind the reef and subsequent public access means that health and safety issues will be a problem for the whole design life. The environment used to consist of a naturally sloping sandy beach but now includes an accessible rock reef which is hazardous to climb and with deep water existing on the seaward side of the structure. 

In their review, Pinto et al. (2011) listed several causes for poor safety performance in the constmction industry. These include poor safely organization, lack of coordination at shared workplaces, tight schedules and economic pressure, constantly changing work environments, specialization in certain tasks, poor safety awareness among top management and project managers, poor involvement of workers in safety matters, lack of and/or inadequate prevention/protection equipment, and lack of proper communication procedures. They also point out that company size seems to affect safety performance, as smaller companies tend to have limited resources for health and safety issues (2011). In Nordic countries, additional threats, such as changing environmental conditions, slipperiness, darkness and cold must all be seen as additional risk factors (McFadden and Bennett 1991 Risikko 2009). 

Reducing lead in the environment is an environmental health and safety issue that is of prime importance today. While a typical microprocessor has approximately 0.2 g of lead and a computer motherboard has 2 to 3 g of lead, and the whole USA electronic interconnection market uses less than 2% of the world s lead production, to address environmental concerns, there are various environmental directives limiting the use of lead and other hazardous substances. These directives, formulated by the European Union in a Directive of the European parliament and of the Council of the European Union are ... 

The Environment Agency was established in 1995 and was given the duty to protect and improve the environment. It is the regulatory body for environmental matters and has an influence on health and safety issues. It is responsible for authorizing and regulating emissions from industry. 

Traditional health and safety issues are increasingly being associated with other aspects of business such as environmental issues. Companies have combined Health, Safety and Environment Departments rather than having environmental concerns as add-on functions. Organisations in the UK with more than five employees are required by law to have a health and safety policy and many appoint a safety adviser, but there is no such requirement for having an environmental policy or an environmental adviser. 

Ergonomics is a science that studies the interaction between human and the work environment. It is based on a systems approach oriented to optimize production systems by reducing incompatibility between human and productive process (Nunes, 2012). When the concern for human wellbeing is absent, it makes room to health and safety issues, and ultimately may result in low productivity. Adjusting working conditions to workers needs enables better performance (failure reduction, increased productivity, efficiency, quality, and flexibility) and well-being (Nunes et al., 2012). 

Environment, health and safety are already crucial Issues in the upper echelons of the construction industry. Sadly, that is the exception rather than the rule, so, if our industry is to prosper in the twenty-first century, everyone at every level needs to understand the importance of these issues and implement the practices that will safeguard both people and our planet. 

Each Consensus Document was issued individually, as soon as finalised and agreed for declassification, by the OECD Environment, Health and Safety Division in the Series on Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology. Volumes 3 and 4 of this publication, containing the 2006-2010 Consensus Documents, were prepared and edited by Bertrand Dagallier and Carina Arambula, under the supervision of Peter Kearns, at the EHS Division, OECD Environment Directorate. 

Regulatory and advisory bodies publish methods for ambient air analysis sueh as those issued by the British Standards Institute and the US Environment Proteetion Ageney (Tables 10.24 and 10.25, respeetively). Methods for assessment of workplace air are published by the Health and Safety Exeeutive. Some of these are generie methods (Table 10.26) whilst others are eompound speeifie (Table 10.27). Examples of other offieial methods for monitoring workplaee air quality are those published by the British Standards Institute (Table 10.28), and the US National Institute of Oeeupational Safety and Health (Table 10.29). Table 10.30 provides additional guidanee on analytieal teehniques for a seleetion of substanees. 

---