Introduction
In the United States, construction has always been one of the most dangerous industries to work in. The number of fatalities that occur in this industry year after year demonstrate this. In 2014, 19.6% of worker fatalities, in private industry, were in construction (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015) despite the industry comprising only 6.8% of the total work force. This epidemic is not unique to the United States. Essentially every country faces similar problems regarding construction safety. For example, in 2004 the Australian construction industry employed approximately 8% of the countries workforce. However, workers compensation statistics indicated that the industry’s incidence rate was 28.6 per 1000 employees,
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Safe design is the process of identifying, assessing, and eliminating hazards or potential risks that may occur in the workplace during construction or the life cycle of a designed product (Breslin, 2007). Designers have not traditionally addressed safety in their design and are often unaware of how their design impacts safety, yet research has shown that in construction project management, many safety risks may be eliminated or mitigated and opportunities seized at the design stage if proper analysis and assessment is carried out (Zou et al, 2008). Countries around the world have realized this to be true and numerous countries have passed regulation placing some of the safety burden on designers. This paper reviews the literature on the design and implementation of safe design techniques and programs in the construction industry.
Why safe design?
Many times, risks faced by contractors exist at no fault of their own. That is, in some cases the contractor is bound by a design that places specific hazards on the construction site. Designers who are cognizant of and responsive to their effort on construction safety would aid in making jobsites safer for construction workers (Gambatese et al, 1997). Situations such as these led the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to create a safe design concept, prevention through design. Prevention
Over the past five years, as the economy continues to improve, a growing number of workers are returning to jobs in construction. Historically, an increase in employment means that more workers are exposed to hazards that will likely result in more serious and fatal injuries. Among the top four reasons construction workers are injured, falls remain the leading cause of fatal injury (Bethancourt, 2017). Nevertheless, falls are the leading cause of death in construction. According to OSHA, all construction workers exposed to fall hazards more than 6 ft must be provided fall protection in the form of a guardrail, safety net or personal fall arrest system. OSHA (2010) has also stated that personal fall restraint, when applied correctly, is acceptable
After completing high school, I found myself spending most of my time on the computer, mostly playing games. One of my favorite games I spent the most time on was League of legends. Basically there two teams that get to pick from a roster of over 100 champions to fight against each other in an arena. The goal of the game is to take out the enemy teams nexus. Every game I try to avoid dying to the enemy team by being as safe as possible. Safety is also very important in scaffolding. Construction is a very hazardous industry with falls being the leading cause of death. Safety is very important to me in league of legends
Health and Safety is a key factor in built environment. This is due to the increasing levels of accidents. With the modern complexity in its built environment, the modern buildings become more sophisticated to be built. In order to build these structures the workers get exposed to many hazards. In modern construction the Health and Safety measures are critical in order to reduce the risk levels and to offer a safe environment for the workers to work upon.
Reckless endangerment is an illicit act that can result a substantial or serious physical harm to property or a person. This kind of behavior is punishable by law and can result in penalties ranging from a misdemeanor to felony which also carries mandatory jail time. An Engineer’s professional career should exemplify the core values of engineering competence, professionalism, accountability and honesty as the underlying “rule of conduct.” Consequently, all building designers shall make it their number one priority and responsibility to properly design and use quality parts to build all structures. The ASME codes of standards reiterate this fact with all the cannon outline as a guide to practice. “The fifty Nine Story Crisis” of the Citicorp
[1]. Goetsch, D. L. (2010). Construction Safety and the OSHA Standards. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education
The history of health and safety legislation in the UK is like a patchwork quilt with a large number of distinct pieces of legislation going back in ancient time. One of these patchworks is CDM regulations. The following is coverage of analysis that explain the role and duties of designers and analysis of sources of design liability. The duties and regulations are as explained below.
Since ancient times all the way to the present day there have been monumental advances in construction technology and safety, from the techniques and methods of construction to the equipment used in construction which wasn’t revolutionized during the industrial revolution. The only constant throughout all the aforementioned advancements is the use of scaffolding, from ancient times where sockets in the walls around the Paleolithic cave paintings at Lascaux, the Berlin Foundry Cup depicts scaffolding in ancient Greece (early 5th century BC), the ancient Egyptians, Nubians and Chinese are also recorded as having used scaffolding-like structures to build tall buildings. Early scaffolding was made of wood and secured with rope knots. All the way to the present day where scaffolding has enclosed and has been used to repair the dome of the Capital of the United States of America or even The Statue of Libetry, construction workers around the world are using temporary work platforms (scaffolds) to reach areas where work must be done which by any other means would be otherwise unfeasible. Along with the advancements in construction technology and safety so has scaffolding changed with the times, form the make-up of the materials used, to the requirements demanded of the builders in order for the scaffold to be deemed safe for use. This paper will discuss: Different types of scaffolds that can be built and utilized for different tasks and the material they are made up of,
The definition of safety leadership is the process of interaction between leaders and followers, through which leaders can exert their influence on followers to achieve organization safety goals. This paper is about safety leadership traits and how it deals with construction. To understand safety leadership we need to have to maintain enough conversation and communication. The differences between the two are conversation is merely filling the airwaves with noise and communication is reaching a shared understanding. Throughout reading articles, there have been ten main traits and characteristics that great safety leaders have such as, leadership competency, passionate and visible role, actively care about people, involve the workforce, plan for improvement, set and
Defective design, incomplete design or design may include lots of mistakes or may not be constructible. Designers are sometimes rushed to complete the design phase by owners to start construction early and achieve the time to market objectives. · Deficiencies in drawings and specifications. This relates to the quality of drawings and specifications produced by the design professionals. · Changes made to the design during the construction phase are another source of internal risk in the construction project. It talks about the usage of BIM and how the concept of BIM helps in overcoming these problems related to design phase.
ARCHITECTURAL FAILURES, SAFETY MEASURES AND RISKS IN CONSTRUCTION - NIA 303 (2) Text of Paper presented to the NIAPPE preparatory seminar at Digital Bridge Institute on 6 March 2012 by Arc. J. O. Toluhi PART I – ARCHITECTURAL FAILURES The concept of architectural failures is better understood from the perspective of what architecture really is, criteria for architectural project success and what failure connotes. What architecture means Architecture is defined in various ways by architects and non-architects alike depending on their focus or area of emphasis. You must be familiar with the definition offered in the ARCON law which attempts to capture different ramifications of the profession. By Le Corbusier’s definition, "Architecture is
This report will explain the benefits to civil engineers of gaining the early involvement of the supply chain on civil engineering projects; analyse and evaluate the importance of coordination and communication between the Project Manager, Main Contractor, Lead Designer, Technical Manager (Specialist Suppliers) and Health and Safety Manager, and between the project team and other professionals within the built environment. Further to this the report will provide an over-view of the key pieces of Health and Safety legislation within the United Kingdom, as they apply to civil engineering projects. Finally, there will be an analysis and evaluation of the impact of civil engineering work from the perspective of the 'triple bottom
The research paper is conducted to give awareness to all parties involved in construction industry and to identify the common hazards at site. In construction industry, accidents are likely to occur due to human error, hazards of the surrounding environment, and failure to comply with safety instructions. Generally, safety aspects should be the main priority at constructions site to minimize the accidents. The data were collected using questionnaire that distribute to Selangor and Kuala Lumpur area only. So, further research need to be conducted at other states in order to get more details and precise data.
The construction industry is one of the major sources of employment in the United States’, employing over 9 million workers who account for around 7% of the total United States workforce. In 2010, the industry made up about 3.5% of the total gross domestic product of the country. (The Construction Chart Book, 2013). Construction is the one of the most hazardous industrial activity. The occurrence of accidents and injuries is so great that every year many people are victim to injury, harm and even death. Preventing this accidents is vital in protecting workers and ensuring a safe working environment. Construction managers and owners should take practical measures to minimize risk by assessing possibly where accidents likely to occur. Construction work usually involves working at heights, and working in complex work environments that make it riskier with regard to worker safety and health (National Institute of Safety and Health [NIOSH], 2002, 2004; National Safety Council [NSC], 2008; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2002, 2007). Prevention of accidents has become increasingly the main aspect in construction industry. Exploring the possible ways in eliminating accidents should be sought and hence study. The next biggest leap in the construction industry is eliminating accidents and reducing the risk of them occurring. This goal can be achieved through continuous safety training and the involvement of owners and
Construction managers and other top management officials have long since realized the importance of providing safety to their employees. This moral obligation that management took upon themselves came mainly because they of the realization of the high costs associated with potential construction injuries. These costs began eating into the profits of the employers, and once they realized the decrease of profits, higher attention began to regulate the safety of their employees. To help mitigate their losses, the implementation of the costs management began taking form, and cost codes were applied to projects. Two forms of costs were applied, the direct (insured) costs and the indirect (non-insured) costs. The direct costs that were analyzed included the " medical costs and premiums of workers ' compensation benefits, liability and property losses" [1]. The higher of the cost to the employers, the indirect costs, include items such as
Construction projects must satisfy a lot of complex requirements, which are often contrasting if not contradictory. On one hand, the parameters of time and cost must be respected, on the other the quality of work and the safety on site can’t be compromised. Thus, from the outset, every construction project is a time-cost-quality-safety trade-off and the role of every Project Manager is to ensure the integrity and optimality of this quadrilateral.