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Health, Safety and Welfare in the Construction Industry

Question 1A: Employers are responsible for the employees health and safety, under the law. The employers are
liable for the protection of the employees from any hazard or risk that my expose their health to. An employer
must do whatever is practicable to achieve health safety and welfare of their employees. Employers are bound to
make sure that the workers/employees and others are protected from any risk and hazard that may cause harm in
the construction site. This means effective controlling of risks to injury or health that may arise in the workplace.
Under the H&S law its the employers duty to assess the risks in the workplace. This means the so therefore he
should be harmed, therefore no risk assessment should be carried out.

1B: It is the employers responsibility to provide the employees with the correct instructions and training so that
the employees are aware of the risk and know how to deal with it. Employers must check on the employees health
and safety issues; this could be achieved by a trade union or by direct or through a safety representative which
elected by other members of staff.
Employers must assess the work being undertaken and the environments at which the employees will operate in
and when determine the appropriate PPE (personal protection equipment) must be worn. Example: - A typical
construction/building site may require workers to wear a Hard Hat, Coveralls, Safety Footwear, Gloves, Eye
Protection and High Visibility Vest. These are the equipment which is being provided to the employees free of any
charges. You do not always need to implement every measure, for example when working on a fully boarded and
guarded scaffold that is already up, not being altered or taken down, workers would not need to wear personal fallarrest equipment as well.

2.1:

Because each of the companies differs from one other so thats why they dont have standard policies.
Standard polices cannot be applied different companies each of them have specific goal to achieve. Thats
why all the Company policies are clearly and directly related to the operation and how it being run.

Because it allows the employee to see how committed their future employer is toward them and their
employees health and safety and how they will look after you if you work for them.

The policies are being reviewed periodically to insure that it is still up to date and revised because it is
necessary. The employees are told that they have reviewed the policies so that they are aware of the
changes that being made because by introducing new equipment, substances and procedures that could lead
to new hazards. So it makes sense to review what you are doing on an ongoing basis, look at your risk
assessment and review them each year.

Type of accident

How the accident is caused

Cuts to hands

The employees are not wearing the right equipment. They

should be wearing gloves to protect their hands from getting
cut by the sharp object they pick up.

Slip, trip and fall

The employee should be wearing boot that has grip so that it

stops them from tripping or slipping.

Lower spine injury

They are not lifting the heavy objects properly, their back
should be straight whey they are lifting heavy object.

Foreign object entering eyes

They employees are not wearing their goggles/safety

glasses, to protect their eyes from foreign object. They
should always their goggles when they enter the contraction
site.

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Severe burns to the arms

The condition at which the employees work might be

extreme and he did not have the right protection so that why
the employee has been burned. They should wear protective
gear so that they are fully covered stops them from getting
burned again.

Because employees want to work for a company which takes care of their needs and act in favour of their
employees. This could be more help available for them to carry out their work.

2A and B

2C: The employees will get told of by their employers because they are not acting responsibly because they have
read the health and safety instruction before they signed the contract to officially becoming an employee.

2D: the employers can print this out and distribute it between the employees to make sure that they are aware of
the risks and learn how to prevent them in future. Collecting this data can help to contribute to future improvement in safety at the factory.
When data is collected then the employer can contribute with employees to make sure they are aware of risks and work on how to prevent future accident. By
collecting all this data will help the employer to decide and make sure that the working environment is safe for the employees to work. Since there was no
personal protective equipment, employer should look at the data, which was collected, and provide employees with personal protective equipment.
Personal protective equipment will prevent employees from slip, trip or falling or foreign object entering the eye
because they have personal protective equipment that can protect them from any hazard that can occur during work.
For other hazards that can cause danger to their life they should report the matter to the employer. The employer
should make sure the working environment is safe for employees to work.

3.1:A:
he has no safety boot and hat. if
he drops on head first he going
suffer from a big injury froths
head.

He not wearing any

PPE, he should be
wearing a visible
jacket and safety boots

he is putting his life

endanger by lifting an
iron rod which might
more than 80kgs
without a stable
ground. he is standing
on top of a ladder

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Item

Hazard / Danger

Risk to person

Grinder

vibration, hand-arm

Hand-arm vibration can lead to permanent health

condition known as, carpal tunnel syndrome

Equipment

lifting heavy objects

it could hurt the back and they could build back

pain from it in future.

Hard hat

falling objects

Without the hard hat the falling object could

possibly be fatal. the hat stops the object hitting
your head so that you can carry on doing your
work.

Reactor Room

Exposure to radiation

long term exposure could cause mutation to

the genes and which more likely to cause
cancer.

safety boots

falling objects and slipping

Stops you from slipping because it has a very

good grip and its metallic at front which protects
you're toes from getting hurt from falling objects.

3.1B: The new working environment is dangerous because it increases the rate of hazard and risk which may take
place. The workers have to deal with longer working hours and in some cold temperatures which is bad for their
health, because they have to work hard in cold temperature which could reach up to (-5) degrees. These
temperatures make the worker to get tired and be less productive because all the energy which is stored in their
body needs to be used to maintain the core body temperature which is (37) degrees. Any slight changes to the

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core body will have knock on effect on persons health and they may need to be hospitalized for because their
enzymes have been denatured. Night shifts are dangerous for a construction worker because they might be tired
and sleepy, this effects the workers ability to work which can cause them to harm themselves or their colleagues.
The new working environment also requires the employees to be working in the winter which can be more
dangerous due to the slippery surface therefore workers may slip and fall down The company should ensure that
the working environment is safe for the employees to work otherwise they will face HSE (Health and Safety
Executive) inspection.
When providing new machines that company should also provide new PPE (personal protective equipment )
equipment to the workers in order to protect themselves from getting hurt. The company should also renew their
health and safety regulation because they have made changes there working environment. The employees must
be properly retrained in order to be able to use the new machines. The machine should be part tested before
anyone who wants to proceed to use it. The employees who are using the machine must wear personal protective
equipment in order to protect themselves from any danger that me be caused because of the machines such as
safety glasses and safety.

4.1 A:
Firstly, the employees and visitors may get injured if they slip or trip over objects or spillages. we are currently
carrying out good housekeeping rules which is based on the basics of the general rules of housekeeping e.g., the
employees must keep walkways free of any sorts of object so that it can prevents other from tripping over them
and cause any injuries. they should always keep the stairs will lit and keep their surroundings organised. as the
employer we will take action by putting up signs, and create as test or an assignment which the current employees

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should take to make sure they are aware of the rules and regulations. All stuff, employees and visitors must follow
the rules otherwise they may face a warning form the manager.
Secondly the employees and the visitors lives are at risk when they are entering the construction site because
they may not have their hard hats and safety boots which was supplied to them at the beginning of their contracts.
All the member of stuff and visitors are told that they should be wearing their protective clothing (boots and hats)
whenever they are due in but they dont seem to be concerned about their own health or other around them. As an
employer were hugely relining on our employees to take care of them self and other around but in case of anything
that goes wrong. There is a rule which states that if they the employees is seen without their protective gear they
could and would be penalised for it and they could be facing warning form the project manager.
In order for the company to follow the health and safety policy they will need to use control measure and
legislation such as proper training to new member of staff, good communication, putting up signs and Use of
correct PPEs to ensure the safety ow the employees in the site. in order to make progress on the sites the
employers should have good communication with the employees this could be achieved by using a walky-talky to
keep track of progress being made by the workers. Any hazard raised during work should be dealt safely and
ensure hazard is removed so that the workers life is not in danger. When employees are working the employer
should inspect the employees/workers to ensure that they are working safely and to the standard which is set by
the company.

4.2 B:
As an experience employee you should always check and ensure that nothing is missing from the trusses. The
employees/workers should always check rafter in the trusses before proceeding to climb with the trusses. This is
because if the rafter member is damages or broken if its broken this can lead to the employee being in danger of
falling down with the trusses. The top of handrails should not be removed because it supports the structure of the
trusses. The person who took the handrails of the trusses should be cautioned.

First of all, the health and safety policy and legislation must be followed and implemented properly at the company
or the working place. This means that the environment should be safe for the workers in order to proceed with their
task. Rather than workers lifting trusses up to the scaffolding, they should use a machine that can lift the heavy
object (trusses) so therefore it makes the employees task much safer. The company should provide personal
protective equipment for the employees in order to protect themselves from danger during work. The company
supervisor or employer should ensure that the employees are wearing safety equipment (PPE) when working on
the scaffolding or site. The employers must always be providing the employees with a safety harness to prevent
them from falling. When putting the trusses together there should be two employees to put in place the trusses so
that one can hold it and the other could screw/hammer down the trusses. For the safety of the employees the
company should provide the employees with power tools (nail guns and drills) in order to screw down the screws
safely without hurting themselves.

References:

unknown . (unknown ). controlling the risks . Available:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/managing/managingtherisks.htm. Last accessed 10th Nov 2014.
unknown . (2009). Health and Safety Inductions . Available:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/induction.pdf . Last accessed 9th Nov 2014.