Roles and responsibilities of persons in site

Different type persons are present when construction is going on a site. The persons who are associated with the construction sites are principal contractor, contractor, workers, site doctors, fire safety experts, electrician, etc. The roles and responsibilities of the assigned people are described in the following:

Principle contractor

• Preparing implementing and updating WHS management plan
• Identification and observation of legal requirements of the plan
• Identification of training required
• Consulting and communicating with workers
• Dispute of resolution
• Commencing planning while performing work safely

Contractor

• They are responsible for identification of construction work related to high risks.
• The contractors comply with the regulations and duties of the safety policies, site rules and procedures
• Contractors ensure workers while engaging themselves in applying correct equipment and tools.

Workers

• Workers are responsible for taking care of the reasonable care of the health and safety.
• Workers will be cooperating with the policies of the reasonable notified procedures and policies.

Other people having WHS roles and responsibilities

• The electricians are present in the site are responsible for maintaining different faults in the machines.
• The doctors will take care of the emergencies that can occur anytime at the construction site.
• Fire safety operations department will take care of the hazards that can cause accidentally due to fire.

Hazard identification and risk control

Hazards are identified systematically while assessing risks before starting the projects and thereby using the risk control.

• It develops PPE issues and register in order to control risks that are associated with construction work with high risk (Jones and Nhung 2016).
• A risk management form is to be formulated that contains necessary works.

Apart from that, risks are identified before identification of the buying any types of chemicals or when introducing any types of new machineries in the tasks. It can also occur whenever a new information is received by the workers and there is a miscommunication. It is the responsibility of the principal contractor while identifying tasks.

In the risk management control, the following steps control the risks:

• Elimination
• Substitution
• Isolation
• Administrative control
• Engineering control
• Personal protective equipment

The risk controls are implemented which are high in order and is responsible for implementing multiple controls. The workers who are associated with the work at the construction site are communicated with the types of possible risks along with the process of risk management tools. Communication of the possibilities of the occurrence of risks is essential among the different site worker, as it will help in escaping them from different kinds of risks and hazards.

Safe work method statements

The safety of the workers is not only the responsibility of the principal contractor. It is also a responsibility of the subcontractors, who maintains SWMS register. The SWMS register is known as safe work method statements register that is used in maintaining the safety of the workers and how much safe the workers feel while working. The workers are engaged into many types of works that have risks. It is the responsibility of the contractors to check the level of safety of the machineries through SWMS register. Different types of methodologies are communicated to the people that area associated with high-risk jobs. There are certain characteristics of high-risk jobs in a construction site. The method statements are defined in the SWMS register so that they can efficiently manufacture the WHS management plan (Jones and Nhung 2016). Apart from that, the commitment of the people associated with the company itself and the construction site is mandatory for the success of the management plan. Workers must have a sense of trust towards the company so that they can deliver their best while meeting the demands of the clients. A form of coordination is necessary for the benefit of the workers as well as the construction managers.

Training and supervision

Supervision of the workers is necessary which should be mentioned in the WHS management plan of the company. The principal contractors along with the subcontractors are engaged in formulation of a supervision or induction program for the workers before proceeding to the work. The supervision program will include the following aspects:

• Rules of the site
• Facilities
• Main points of the WHS management plan
• Site specific particular hazards
• Higher risk in the work activities
• Expectations of the WHS management plan that includes procedures and policies

The training module of the WHS management includes the following aspects such as:

• Ensuring that workers are trained and competent enough so that they are efficient enough in performing their works
• Ensuring the requirements of the onsite training and the required supervision to the workers
• Organizing external training for specific tasks
• Seeking different licenses for the high risk related works in the site
• Ensuring that workers are prepared for dealing with any types of risks while understanding different kinds of the hazards and problems associated with it (Bell 2013).

The principal contractor has to maintain training and competency register in order to point out the requirements of the need of the training for the workers.

Co-operation, consultation and co-ordination

Cooperation, co-ordination and consultation of the people who are working not only in the construction site but also to the company are required for the success of the WHS management plan. The principal contractor has the responsibility of maintaining all the aspects of the WHS management plan as well as the progress of the project. Client needs up to date information about their work in progress. In order to keep in track of the record, a toolbox meeting record is not only maintained by principal contractor but also to the list of sub contractors who are associated with the work of the construction project. Once the work and health safety plan is commenced then it has to be kept in track so that the plan will work when required. For perfect implementation of any strategy, coordination and communication is necessary. Conveying of the basic ideas of the workers is required for the efficient productivity while reducing the possibilities of health and safety risks (Bell 2013). It is seen that the persons associated with the work of construction are prone to various life risks. Hence, the needs of the toolbox meeting record maintenance by the principal contractors are essential for the safety of workers.

Incident Management

In a construction site, there are possibilities for many emergencies and incidents that can be hazardous for the various categories of workers. Notifiable incidents can include fatality, a situation that requires hospitalization, dangerous incident where some persons can lose their lives. In this situation, incident report should be maintained by the principal contractor for keeping the track of the incidents that will occur in the site. Apart from that, the code of ethics and emergency responses should be maintained in the incident report that will help the principal contractor (Jones and Nhung 2016).

Apart from that, there is a stage of emergency preparedness. While ensuring different forms of emergency preparedness, some points have to consider

• While showing the workers, the checklists and emergency points of the WHS management plan.
• While checking and marking the locations and conditions of the fire extinguishers and keeping the track about the conditions
• Ensuring that all workers are alert of the various emergency checklists during the time of their induction
• During the time of any emergency condition, the principal contractor must be notified.
• Or someone can call the emergency number for preliminary help during the emergencies.

Site safety rules

The company must have to formulate rules regarding the health and safety concerns of the people working at the site. The rules of site must consider some general assumptions so that they can cover the basic possibilities of risks such as falling objects, personal protective equipments, falling from heights, working in trench or demolition work, underground essential services, excavation work. Apart from that, it is to be checked that the site amenities must be present in the construction site for the benefit of the workers. Basic site amenities include hygienic working environment, drinking water facilities and ethical behavior of the supervisors (Bell 2013).

The principal contractor of the construction site has the duty to maintain site induction register that is required to keep the records of the various incidents and fatal disasters that have been occurred earlier in the site. The significance of the checklist maintenance is to rectify the errors that has been caused earlier while improving the health and safety concerns of the people in the site. However, the subcontractors also have to follow up with the result and effectiveness of the contingency plan that has been commenced for the benefit of the health conditions of the workers (Jones and Nhung 2016).

Subcontractor Management

In a construction site, under a principal contractor, many subcontractors are working in that place. The responsibility of the principal contractor is to manage all the works of the other categories of workers along with different types of subcontractors. The subcontractors have a definite role in commencing the WHS management plan for the improvement of the working conditions of the workers, that are responsible for doing high-risk works and for the people doing lower risks works. However, the principal contractor in this scenario have to maintain a subcontractor register while checking the progress of the different tasks assigned to the sub contractors not only for the clients but also for the work health and safety management plan (Jones and Nhung 2016). Management of the sub contractors is an important task that will determine the effectiveness of the result of the workplace health and safety management plan at the construction site of the company. The subcontractors are again check the work in progress for the workers that work under them and their security and safety level because they have to formulate a report regarding these aspects. They have to show the report to the principal contractors of the construction site.

Health and safety site inspections

Inspection at a frequent interval is necessary because it will help in recognizing the number of injuries as well as the areas that can be a cause of various types of hazards. Apart from that, feedback should be taken from the different workers so that they can keep the health and safety concerns for them in a proper manner. In this case, daily inspection sheet should be formulated so that the possibilities of various hazards can be detected previously. The sub contractors have to track the record to the daily inspection sheet and they have to report it to the principal contractor of the site. Beside this, a register of injuries are to be enlisted in the register. It is essential for making any changes in the WHS management plan for the construction site of the company. The rate of injuries will also help the management bodies to determine the types of injuries that can be occurred in the future (Bell 2013). Further changes of the WHS management can be determined by the trends of injuries that have been occurred earlier.

Conclusion

The WHS management plan is formulated based on some assumptions and previous trends of fatal accidents that have been occurred at the construction site earlier. There are many people who are involved in the plan such as principal contractor, sub contractors, different electricians, doctors, and experts, who are required in the WHS management plan. The roles and responsibilities of these persons are described in details. Besides this, various aspects of the health and safety plan are also explained in details.

References

Bell, V.R., 2013. The politics of managing a World Heritage Site: the complex case of Hadrian’s Wall. Leisure Studies, 32(2), pp.115-132.

Jones, T.E. and Nhung, D.T.H., 2016. Local constraints on community participation in cultural world heritage site management: The case of Hoi an ancient town, Vietnam. CAUTHE 2016: The Changing Landscape of Tourism and Hospitality: The Impact of Emerging Markets and Emerging Destinations, p.1017.