Health and safety on site

Figure 1.1 Both workers and managers are responsible for health and safety on site.

In an industry increasingly reliant upon the use of subcontractors, the main contractor retains the onus for health and safety on site. This onus can extend to training employees of subcontractors where their activities may affect the health and safety of the employees of the main contractor and of the subcontractor himself (ss. 2 and 3 of HSW). This is more clearly defined by CDM which requires the principal contractor to ensure that other employers on the construction work provide their employees with appropriate health and safety training when they are expos to new or additional risks due to ... 

The client also has a statutory obligation to appoint a principal contractor to co-ordinate and manage health and safety on site. The principal contractor is any person for the time being appointed under regulation 6(1 )(b) [Reg. 2(1)], with duties as outlined in CDM Regulation 16. The last appointment to be made under the CDM Regulations relates to the contractor(s), who is any person who carries on a trade, business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not) in connection with which he ... 

The HSC believe that single-point overall responsibility for the management of health and safety on the construction site is crucial. We therefore propose to... 

Additional information on health and safety aspects should be sought by consulting material safety data sheets available from suppHers of the chemical in question. In addition, most suppHers of bleaching chemicals, upon request, provide on-site training sessions by experts on the safe use and handling of their products. 

Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) on compact disc from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (can buy at CCOHS web site). "The HSDB(R) (Hazardous Substances Data Bank(R)) database contains data profiles on 4,500 potentially toxic chemical substances. It is created and updated by specialists at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Compiled from an extensive range of authoritative sources, HSDB is widely recognized as a reliable and practical source of health and safety information. Much of the data is peer reviewed. 

NIOSHTIC on compact disc from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (ean buy at CCOHS web site). "NIOSHTIC(R) is a bibliographie database which provides comprehensive international coverage of documents on occupational health and safety, as well as related fields. It eontains detailed summaries of over 200,000 articles, reports and publications, spanning over 100 years. NIOSHTIC(R) sources include over 160 scientific and technical journals, NIOSH reports (published and unpublished), NIOSH research bibliographies, abstracts from CIS Abstracts, and personal files from respected professionals on selected topics. 

OSHA- Occupational Health and Safety Administration The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, OSHA, is a federal government agency in the U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA s Web site is http //www.osha.gov/. The primary goals of OSHA are to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the health of America s workers. OSHA employs over 2,000 inspectors to ensure job site safety. OSHA was created by the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act of 1970. While many see OSHA as an intrusive government agency intent on enforcing arcane rules, the fact is that OSHA saves lives. And if that is not enough... 

Aside from size considerations, the primary difference between bench-scale and pilot-scale work is that bench-scale tests are conducted in the laboratory pilot-scale testing is usually carried out on the site. Pilot tests are subject to a whole range of problems, such as siting, health and safety, obtaining clearances, installation and operation. However, the data obtained from pilot-scale tests are much more appropriate and useful because they reflect what is actually occurring in the field. 

In many eases, treating sites as being hazardous waste sites ean help to minimize any assoeiated health and safety risk if more seriously eontaminated areas are diseovered during site remediation, or eleanup, workers will not be overexposed based on eurrent requirements. 

The site manager (SM) is typieally the on-site representative and is responsible for maintaining eontaet with the host (elient, eustomer, ete.), the PM, and the health and safety manager (HSM). The SM is also responsible for implementation of the HASP. The SM reports to the PM and works direetly with the elient in most eases. 

The HASP, on the other hand, foeuses on the site-speeifie aetivities and outlines the appropriate elements of the site s existing health and safety program to the related task. The existing programs are reviewed to identify those elements meeting the needs of the planned site aetivity. Program elements and proeedures are supplemented with worksite-speeifie detail and tailored to meet speeial or unique aspeets of the hazardous waste aetivity on an as-needed basis [1]. 

An outline of the medieal surveillanee program, as approved by the oeeupational health staff, should be ineorporated in, or appended to, the site-speeifie safety plan. Modifieations to the program should be based on the professional judgment of the oeeupational health physieian, in eonsultation with the health and safety professionals, and on the hazards of the speeifie worksite. 

Having qualified persons in the role of health and safety officer is required. How to determine minimum qualifications at each site is a site-specific task. It would depend on site activities, required and anticipated levels of protection, training requirements, general joh knowledge, and a variety of other factors. Sometimes choosing a qualified SSO can he quite difficult. The authors are in agreement that personally contacting references is very important. 

Site conditions and work activities change constantly. Change, and what effects change have on health and safety, should be included in every health and safety plan. If not, the plan needs to be amended to reflect current site conditions. Individuals names for key on-site positions should be listed in each safety plan. If the personnel change, the plan should be amended. But prior to the amendment, a review of the replacement persons training and qualifications should take place to ensure that qualified persons are chosen. 

The regular HSS was on a month s leave. Responsibility for management of site safety and health at Site A was assigned to several individuals ineluding the response manager, the Teehnieal Assistanee Team (TAT), health and safety oflfieer (HSO), and the on-seene eoordinator. It was not elear at the time of the audit whieh of these individuals aetually fulfilled the role of full-time HSO, nor was it elear how these individuals would eoordinate and eommunieate on overlapping health and safety issues. 

Site H was the only site for whieh the eontraetor had developed and effeetively implemented inspeetion proeedures eonsistent with the HAZWOPER requirements. Site safety teehnieians eondueted daily and weekly inspeetions during eaeh work shift. The teehnieians reeorded defi-eieneies on an inspeetion eheeklist, and the site health and safety offieer... 

Does the SAHP inelude a means of informing subeontraetors of site emergeney proeedures and health and safety hazards present on site [OSHA Referenee. 120(b)(l)(iv)]... 

It might be assumed that if an examination of the plant layout is being carried out, the future plans, as they affect the site layout, will be known. This is not always the case therefore, management should be questioned at the beginning of the project. Particular attention should be paid to hazardous substances that may be used on the site, and the health and safety document should be consulted. 

Table 20.19 summarizes information about each study, including the location of the well, the lithology of the injection zone, waste characteristics, and the major geochemical processes observed. Current commercial-hazardous-waste, deep-well-injection facilities can be found on the Environment, Health and Safety Online (EHSO) web site.163... 

The long-term widespread use of DDT over a number of years demonstrates one typical Soviet trick - abusing loopholes in the rules. DDT was actively used for decades, while not being on lists of permitted substances, a situation condoned by the Health and Epidemiological Services and their on-site agencies. Pesticide use systematically was not in accordance with the permissible standards in the USSR. In 1976 the USSR introduced a System of Labor Safety Standards Harmful Substances, Classification and Overall Safety Requirements, according to which all harmful substances were broken down into four risk classes, taking into account several different indices (table 1.5). 

Yucca Mountain may be the most studied area in history. The federal government claims that the environmental effects of the repository will be small and have essentially no adverse impact on public health and safety. These claims have been challenged and there has not been the political will to go ahead with the site. 

Material Safety Data Sheets contain health and safety information on thousands of chemicals. These are available at a number of locations. Some of the sites are alphabetical by chemical name. Some allow the user to key in a chemical name. Here are some examples. 

This OECD Site contains general information on environmental and chemical health and safety. 

Site has information on seafood health and safety issues. 

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