CE 610 Construction Management : Quality Control and Safety During Con

1.0 Significance of Safety Checks

Safety is mainly the responsibility of managers at construction sites however safety inspectors recruited by governments visit and check the safety standards according to the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) (Hendrickson & Au, 2008). Construction is the most dangerous occupation around the world, have a significant number of fatality rate compared to other businesses (Construction, 2017). It is the duty of the project manager on site to check the design and all safety and quality control during the construction. To control these aspects, the managers should have a team checking the quality of work and the other keeping check on adherence to safety standards on site. The safety inspectors assigned by the government will mostly not visit every construction site, but if they visit and find any gaps in safety adherence, then they can stop the project. Ensuring to provide a safe and quality environment to workers is the duty of project manager in addition to taking care of other management issues, cost and time management of the project.

2.0 Purpose of the Safety Checks

The safety check is mainly done to avoid any untoward accident at the site which leads to a fatality (Construction site safety, 2017). The safety check procedure will review any accident or near misses and also look for regular inspections. These checks will also ensure that all the workers and contractors at the site are trained appropriately to work at heights, understand how to use fall protections systems and what is the significance of personal protective equipment (PPE). By bringing this practice of check into an account, the site manager can make safety a part of the everyday conversation at the site. They should also ensure that safety is added to the project plan.

There are non-construction hazards that can also cause fatality such as electric shocks, it will be responsibility of the manager to make sure that everyone working at the site is also aware of the non-construction hazards and what measures are to be taken to deal with one if it occurs (Zhao, Thabet, McCoy, & Kleiner, 2014). Safety measures at work increase the quality of job performed as the workers will be highly satisfied with the employer care for getting importance for their safety. Safety check does not prevent fatality but gives the responsible person to identify and mitigate hazards. The inspection report will serve the purpose to document those hazards and to recommend solutions to reduce them.

3.0 Who should perform Safety checks?

It will be best to have supervisors and manager on the safety inspection team as they are much more familiar with the environment, workers, equipment and inspections. The inspection team must consult the supervisor and manager before starting inspecting any area, discuss with them and take recommendations, while documenting it also report the points which the supervisor can correct immediately (Effective Workplace Inspections, 2009). This report will keep the records clear and can be used as a reminder to check those areas during the next inspection. The hazards reported will be felt by the supervisor as a criticism of their working approach but inspection team cannot ignore them, and the team should not fail to report the hazards.

Safety checks should include checking of machinery and tools, operating them at unsafe speeds or in violation of safe work practice; rendering safety equipment of guards as ineffective; using tools in unsafe ways or using defective equipment; using body instead of tools where necessary; overloading of machinery; repairing the machinery that is in motion; creating unsafe work environment by improper personal hygiene and workers standing or working under suspend loads without proper protective equipment (Toole, 2002). In the past, owner used to be reluctant to get involved in the matters relating to site safety due to addition of a liability (Sikes, Qu, & Coble, 2000), however after the 1980’s more and more owners are getting involved with safety of workers at which, specially with the sites have large construction budgets.

4.0 Frequency of safety checks at construction site

The safety checks at the site should happen based on guidelines detailed by a regulatory authority or from a safety management system such as OSHA. Conducting of routine self-inspection that will cover the entire worksite should be done monthly, depending on the area of the site. If it is very large, then complete site checkup quarterly will also suffice. The management system such as OSHA requires the site inspection team to include some important components in the inspection (Usrey, 2012). They are the inspection schedule, checklist, record of findings, tracking the hazards identified for timely rectification and responsibility for abatement. Equipment inspections should also be included in the site inspection and should not be confused with one activity as they are separate inspections.

5.0 Documentation to be used for safety inspection

Construction safety inspection checklist should be employed that is charted by the management systems such as OSHA, or a well documented and reviewed spreadsheet covering all the aspects of inspection relating to site safety should be drafted, checked and certified by a HSE expert in the company. There are many templates available on the internet, but a certified one is best. It is recommended to use “Osha Checklist For The Construction Industry” as it covers all the requirements general safety and health along with occupational health, PPE requirements and all inspection list of tools, machinery and working instructions (South Carolina Department, n.d).

6.0 Managing and controlling contractor on construction site

As the construction at a site involves multiple functions to be carried out, the company cannot employ full-time workers for all the jobs and hence rely on contractors to get the work done. Contractor chain is very much seen in the construction industry. On the site, collaborating them for a task will be difficult because of differences in their way of working, schedule, approach, company risks and working cultures. Occupational safety and health recommend that the there must be close co-operation between different parties involved at the site, there should be a proper assessment done when hiring a contractor, encouragement to get safe contractors on board and recording of their OSH performance at the contract termination. Managing of contractors is vital to ensure adherence to OSH guidelines (Ustailieva & Starren, 2016). There are always safety and health risk for contractors as they work at the client site, and are self-employed workers with less training and certifications. Contractors have to be informed about the working conditions before they are sent out to the site, and the client should clearly outline their safety and health instructions to be followed by them during the activities at a construction site.

References:

Construction. (2017, March 4). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction#Safety

Construction site safety. (2017, February 21). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_site_safety

Effective Workplace Inspections. (2009, March 1st). Retrieved from CCOHS: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/effectiv.html

Hendrickson, C., & Au, T. (2008). Quality Control and Safety During Construction. In Project Management for Construction. Prentice Hall.

Sikes, R. W., Qu, T., & Coble, R. J. (2000). An owner looks at safety. In C. R., H. J., & H. T., Construction Safety And Health Management (pp. 193-205). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

South Carolina Department. (n.d). OSHA checklist for the construction industry. Retrieved from South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Office of OSHA Voluntary Programs: https://www.scosha.llronline.com/pdfs/construction%20check%20list.pdf

Toole, T. M. (2002). Construction Site Safety Roles. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 128(3), 203-210.

Usrey, C. (2012, September 20th). Safety Inspections: How Often is Enough? Retrieved from Predictive Solutions: https://www.predictivesolutions.com/blog/safetycary/inspection-best-practices/safety-inspections-how-often-is-enough/

Ustailieva, E., & Starren, A. (2016, March 1st). Contractor management. Retrieved from OSH Wiki: https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Contractor_management

Zhao, D., Thabet, W., McCoy, A., & Kleiner, B. (2014). Electrical deaths in the US construction: An analysis of fatality investigations. International journal of injury control and safety promotion, 21(3), 278-288.