Construction and Premises Hazard Analysis & Liability

Photo-01, Lusail Building Construction Site Facilities (rvgomeseria)

“This article is an excerpt topic of the author’s Thesis Dissertation from PUP (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) Master of Science in Construction Management (MSCM), and theoretical course background of Ph.D. in Building and Construction Engineering (AIU SSE USA) concerning building construction and premises hazard analysis & liability, job safety in the prevention of accident and injuries based on the critical phases, and functions within the construction environment of various facilities. Again, it is the "Most Read" article composition provided in the ResearchGate and Academia platforms based on observation and researches in the human-altered ecosystem.”

Insight

In a construction area, Site Security MUST provided to the level that the activities being performed require. The site, needless to say, MUST be insured. Security and insurance are necessary since the site may attract intruders and must thus secure the workers employed at the site, the plant and equipment, and the building structure. However, all facilities do not require the same degree of security. Those with access to the public such as hospitals, hotels, and office buildings need to have different controls as compared to industrial or commercial properties to comply with NFPA 101 requirements. For a building, the security features might include within the unoccupied periods with ease of access such as designed fences, gate controls, access controls, and other designed features through the use of physical security devices, intruder alarm systems, CCTV, lighting and guarding facilities. In the design and planning, security should be appropriate to the required occupancy in the designed facility as per NFPA 730 ‘Guide for Premises Security’ and the NFPA 731 ‘Standard for the Installation of Electronic Premises Security Systems.’

Controls need to be provided depending on the type of occupancy, the history of the land (whether it a filled land, presence of asbestos, PCB or other environmental contaminants) and facilities within the premises such as water body and/or swimming pools, etc. which need to be properly protected and maintained.

Risk mitigation can be done in the building facility with adequate visitor controls, and security protections for site yards and building construction areas. Along with those regular facility inspections, housekeeping, and prompt corrective action program would go a long way to reducing accidents on the construction premises.

Employee Orientation and Expectation

Employees must be properly educated and trained regarding health and safety policies and practices in the planning, design, and construction stages of a project with emphasis on protecting an individual’s health. Whenever an employee joins the organization or wherever transferred into a new job. Safety implementation must come first to individuals while performing any task, because it has been found that inexperienced workers, in general, are involved in accidents most likely at a higher rate than others. Experienced and good works can only be developed by working over a period of time, health and safety education and job skills training must be imparted regularly to improve the ability of an individual. Orientation and training sessions to meet the construction perspective would include: 1) Emergency procedures, 2) Location of the First Aid stations, 3) Health and Safety responsibilities, including those specified by legislation, 4) Reporting of injuries, unsafe conditions, and acts, 5) Use of personal protective equipment, 6) The right to refuse hazardous work, 7) Hazards, including those outside their own work area, 8) Reasons for each Health and Safety rule.

An employee or even a newly hired employee is expected to absorb a certain amount of health and safety information; however, a brochure could be helpful as an advisory in outlining the points necessary in the design, planning and construction job which would serve as a checklist for employees, who are new on-site or in the offices where they are working, for securing protection and productive output from their activities.

Construction Site Security and Evaluation

The management has to take the first steps to gain and maintain an effective site security planning by means of an in-depth risk assessment and analysis of most of the construction operations. The assessment would entail a systematic effort to identify any potential threats and other assets that need to be protected within the facility. Determining and justifying the likelihood and consequence of the severity would help prioritize the appropriate protective actions. Construction sites with hazardous materials and processes would require special protection and security considerations that might affect the entire facility. However, for enterprise and commercial offices, people, property, and information are the tangible asset that needs to be protected. Intangible assets, such as goodwill and branding, are also critical and must be protected. For the protection of assets, legal, regulatory and liability considerations are also essential issues, for the stakeholder to take into account for on-site security planning for the protection and safety of the common goods (Photo 01).

Evaluation aspect for security requirements is defined for people assets, property assets and informational assets involving design, planning, and construction tasks. As far as people's assets are concerned, these would include employees, visitors, contractors, the surrounding community, building built-environment and others associated with the business operation. The property assets would range from building, machinery, and utilities to operations, equipment, and systems implications. Informational assets comprise the computer systems, processes and confidential business operation and information, such as trade secrets and other proprietary business information. The risk assessment must identify the vulnerable assets in each of the forms of work or categories. Identifying and evaluating such vulnerability would require careful assessment for each risk factors identified and the potential threats to secure safety in the workplace for the design, planning, and construction operations. Moreover, these threats could be ranged from the usual or routine threats of break-ins and thefts within the construction area similarly to the previously overlooked threats which now occur - terrorism, espionage, and sabotage. Although these threats were inconceivable in the past now, they are being considered for possible prevention and protection of all employees within the construction premises.

Construction Project Completion Experienced

Every project needs to end according to the timeframe; from start to finish that’s what project completion eyes, however, the last phase of the project is normally the hardest stretch. The whole point of a project is to deliver what has been designed and making sure that all stakeholders are satisfied with all the results and all required acceptance criteria met including those on safety and security.

In most cases, when the project completion stage is often the most neglected phase since once the project is almost over, the project team starts to pack things up, clean up and stash files in a drawer or the computer system and start moving right into the next project initiation phase. This attitude needs to be guarded against. The Project Team MUST handover the project to the Owner’s or Facility Operator’s team, area by area, system by system and at the same time ensure that as-built drawings of the structure and systems, documents, vendor manuals, etc. are all cataloged, indexed and filed (hard and soft copies) properly so that retrieval in an emergency is easy and quick. These would also be needed when the project life is over and the facilities need to be rehabilitated and refurbished for different purposes.

Conclusion

Thus controlling a hazard, within the built environment, at its source is the most prevalent way of protecting employees especially in the construction area. Additionally, in the construction industry, an effective safety management system would identify the required safety and health hazards by proactive analysis of the workplace condition and thus arrive on the controls by reducing or eliminating hazards through a team approach, review and provide input on the given programs, initiative processes, and procedures.

However, within the construction environmental practice, the required workplace safety is the process of protecting and preventing employees from work-related illnesses and injuries that could occur. A job safety analysis must precede any task since it helps in integrating of accepted safety and health principles and practices by an individual into a particular task or job operation.

Write-Up References can be Read from this Links;

Gomeseria, R. V.; (September 2019); "Planning, Design & Construction - Safety & Security Policy;" VIEWPOINT JOURNAL, September 2019 Edition, Official Quarterly Magazine of the CEAI Publication, Consulting Engineers Association of India

Gomeseria, R. V. (2019, September 11). Construction and Premises Hazard Analysis & Liability. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/C6MWH

Gomeseria, RV; (September 2019); “Construction and Premises Hazard Analysis & Liability;” Retrieved from; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335703007_Construction_and_Premises_Hazard_Analysis_Liability