A guide to...

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A guide to...
General Construction Site Safety
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Aim
This training tool should be used to help educate
everyone on the dangers of working in the
construction industry and how best to assess
risks and minimise injuries.
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Construction Legislation
The Construction (Design and Management)
Regulations (CDM) 2007 came in to force on 6th
April 2007 and completely replaced the previous
CDM 1994 Regulations and the Construction Health,
Safety and Welfare Regulations 1996. The
average fine issued to organisations that fall
foul of CDM has risen considerably, from 1,800
in 2008 to more than 7,000 in 2011.
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High Risk Construction Work
By nature, construction work is high risk and
must be controlled properly to avoid serious
accidents. According to HSE, in 2010-2011 50
construction workers lost their lives, 2,298
major injuries were reported and 1.7 million
working days were lost through work-related
ill-health.
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Construction Safety Case Study
A bricklayer whose fingers were crushed in a
workplace accident when he was a 17-year-old
apprentice, leaving him with a life-long
disability, has received 250,000 in compensation
after a 5-year long legal battle.   The
23-year-old from the Wirral suffered crush
injuries to the index and middle fingers on his
dominant right hand in 2006, after he tripped on
discarded plastic bindings while carrying a
440mm-long brick on his shoulder. As he put out
his hands to break his fall, the brick fell from
his shoulder and landed on his fingers.   He will
never work as a bricklayer again but, despite his
difficulties, he has retrained as a forklift
truck driver. However, he is now limited in the
type of jobs he can do.   The firm admitted
liability and settled the claim out of court.
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CDM Case Study
Two partners in a company that erected unsafe
scaffolding, which crashed to the ground in
strong winds, were fined 8,000 and 5,000
respectively. Both were ordered to pay costs of
2,040 in the case brought by the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) at Exeter Magistrate
Court.   Scaffolding Systems South West Ltd based
in Exeter, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation
28(2) of the Construction (Design and Management)
Regulations 2007 after a large section of
scaffolding erected by the firm at a builders'
merchants on 25th March 2009 fell away from the
building, seriously damaging a number of parked
cars.
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A Safe Working Environment

• To help ensure a safe working environment for
  everyone, its vital that you
• Follow all health and safety rules that have been
  provided
• Undertake work in line with provided method
  statements, risk assessments and permits to work
• Report any accidents/near misses to the
  designated health and safety contact
• Comply with all safety signage on site
• Only operate tools, equipment, machinery and
  vehicles that you have been trained on and
  authorised to use
• Ensure you use the personal protective equipment
  (PPE) you have been provided with, properly

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Traffic Management and Site Safety

• Observe traffic management systems, including
• Pedestrian routes
• Parking areas
• Loading and unloading areas
• One-way systems
• Speed limits
• Familiarise yourself and comply with
  site-specific
• arrangements including
• Emergency procedures (fire and evacuation)
• First aid provisions
• Welfare facilities (toilets, fresh water,
  changing facilities, lockers, canteen/rest areas
  etc.)
• Who to report health and safety issues to

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Good Housekeeping

• Ensure good housekeeping to prevent slips, trips
  and falls. A high number of accidents occur on
  construction sites due to workers tripping over
  rubbish and waste
• Remove any material that could fuel fires
• Timber or other materials with projecting nails
  must NOT be used for any work or be stored in any
  place where they could cause danger

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Reporting Health Problems

• Reporting health problems as early as possible
  will highlight the need for risks to be reduced
  with the necessary measures. Health risks can
  include
• Asbestos exposure
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Musculoskeletal disorders/RSI
• Dermatitis
• Respiratory disease
• Hearing problems from exposure to noise
• Hand-arm vibration
• Stress

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Site Welfare

• Be aware of extreme temperatures. During the
  warmer months, hats and sun cream should be used
  and suitable clothing worn to prevent sunburn. In
  colder temperatures ensure that suitable warm
  clothing is worn and warm up breaks are taken
  as agreed
• Dispose of all waste in the correct
  skips/receptacles
• Do not engage in horseplay/practical jokes
• Utilise any provided mechanical aids
• Ladders and Stepladders are to be used for access
  or as places of work ONLY when there is no
  reasonably practicable alternative and it is safe
  to do so
• Only use scaffolding which has been erected by a
  competent person and that has been safely tagged
  to indicate safe use

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Questions and Answers
Q1. What does the following safety sign
mean? Q2. What types of incidents should
you report to the designated health and safety
contact on site? Q3. What types of health
problems should be reported? Q4. If you go to
use a power tool and find that it is damaged,
what should you do? Q5. When you arrive on a new
site, what information do you need to know?