NICMAR – SODE

PGP-CM-MODULE-13
ASSIGNMENT NO: 02
COURSE TITLE:

CONSTRUCTION
SAFETY
MANAGEMENT
COURSE CODE – PGCM32

DATE OF DISPATCH: 13/11/2016

LAST DATE OF RECEIPT: 13/11/2016

PREPARED AND SUBMITTED BY:

NAME: MOHAMMED NOMAN
REG NO: 215-06-11-50423-2171
CONSTRUCTION
SAFETY
MANAGEMENT
 ASSIGNMENT

You have been appointed as a project manger of a 17 storied high rise

building in Mumbai. The site is surrounded by many other sky scrapers. Your
company has prepared a safety manual for normal buildings since so far your
company was engaged in the construction of townships and industrial
buildings. Top management has asked you to revise the safety manual. Discuss
the various aspects in this situation. Following data is provided.

Foundation - partly pile foundation

R.C.C framed structure

Tower cranes for construction

Dozer and JCB machines for earth work

Steel scaffolding, bucket lifts for concrete and automatic batching plant
I) Hazards and causes of accidents:
Anyone involved in the construction industry would know that
construction safety accidents are a part and parcel of the industry.
However, this only means that you should be doing all you can to make
sure that they don’t occur.
The next best thing to eliminate accidents is to reduce them, or at least
reduce the risk of occurring.
If we have to achieve this goal, we have to first understand what the
main causes of accidents and deaths occur on construction sites.
Providing a solution to a problem is not impossible without first
knowing the cause of problem.
Construction safety accidents for this project listed below.
 In partly piling foundation works the legs of the tripod should be
properly spiked in the ground. This will prevent accidents due to
slipping up of the tripod legs when rested on a paved ground or
sleepers. The failure of a pulley due to shearing of bolt or pin is quite
common. Therefore, frequent check-ups of the pulley is essential.
The accidents due to drowning and injuries while handling sheet
piles are also very common and care should be taken in such cases.
Piling work causes vibrations that may damage the nearby structure
and hence examination of structures nearby piling work should be
examined before executing the work. There are chances of
movement of subsoil mass into the borehole, which may cause
subsidence to some existing foundations in close proximity.
Vibrations caused by the operation of machinery at sites adjacent to
the excavated pit may cause collapse of walls unless they are
properly braced in case of excavation work. Rock cutting involves
blasting operations and are risky and special attention is required
during the process, otherwise it may cause damage to lives and
properties. Rock excavations involves drilling and blasting
operations. This includes transportation of explosives, loading and
unloading of explosives, handling of explosives, storage of
explosives, using of explosives etc and hence it is risky and special
care is required in handling the above works. The above work shall
be done carefully with trained staff and supervised by qualified
personnel. Most of the accidents during the use of explosives are
caused due to faulty loading of blast holes, failure to withdraw fast
enough from the blast area, returning to blasting points too soon
from after firing, presence of strangers near the blasting points,
misfire etc.
  The construction of framed structure involves transportation of
material, handling of material, scaffolding and formwork, mixing of
material, placement of concrete, removal of formwork and
scaffolding etc. Usage of machineries is more in the works except
scaffolding and formwork and the condition of machineries may also
cause accidents. Regularly scheduled inspections are important in
maintaining tower crane and other machineries using at the site.
 The cranes with long boom are likely to touch live overhead power
line. Accidents of such type are not uncommon. It should never be
overloaded.
 The scaffolding materials used should be of good quality and must
be thoroughly after its erection and before doing concreting works to
ensure safety.
 The shuttering materials used should be of sound and quality
materials. During its operation like lifting and placing there are
chances of falling down of materials and may cause damage to
human lives, working at bottom. Special care is required during its
operation.
 The electrical operations at batching plant should be adequate. The
location of batching plant should not be nearby electric lines, there
are chances that the boom of crane may touch the electric lines and
may lead to injuries or death to the personnel working around it
during the movement of crane for lifting of materials from bin.
 The men and machines moving near the plant should be provided
with safety precautions.

II) Safety legislations and standards for construction industry:

There is no safety legislation applicable to construction industry in
India. The following are the standards of rules in construction industry.
 The repair workshops of contractors or those attached to construction
sites are covered under the factories act 1948.
 Quarries operated by a contractor are covered under the mines act
1952.
 Vehicles plying to and fro at construction sites are subjected to the
motor vehicles act 1951.
 A contractor’s office is covered under the shops and commercial
establishment acts.
 The contract labour (R&A) act, 1971, regulates the employment and
working conditions of contractor’s labour.
  The immigrant labour is regulated under the interstate migrant
workers act, 1979.
 The worker’s compensations act, 1923 is applicable to all
construction sites throughout the country.
 Child labour and maternity are dealt with under separate statues.

Thus comprehensive safety legislation for the construction industry is

yet to be framed. However, over the years, through practice as well as
the decisions handed down by various courts a set of ground rules
describing safety practices that must be followed at construction sites
and by the constructors have emerged.

There are four sources of legal requirements regarding safety as

applicable to construction sites and the construction industry.

(i) Standards lay down by the bureau of Indian standards.

(ii) Statutory provisions framed under various labour laws.
(iii) Contract conditions written into the contract document signed by the
client and contractor when the work is awarded.
(iv) Decisions, judgements and awards given by the judicial authorities
from time to time.

It should be appreciated that the failure on the part of a party to comply

with the requirements of any of the four above-stated sources may
amount to a criminal offence and that in certain circumstances, the
contractor or the site engineer may be personally charged with an offence
in addition to his organisation.

III) Safety in building construction:

As the work in this 17 storied building project includes foundation
partly of pile foundation and partly rock cutting and dewatering, RCC
framed structure, usage of machine includes tower crane, dozer, JCB
and steel scaffolding work, lifting of concrete through buckets and the
production of concrete will be from an automatic batching plant.
Following are the safety precautions to be taken for the above building
project.
 All workers must wear tight fitting clothes or uniforms, helmets,
hand gloves, protective footwear and eye goggles.
 Electrical connections must be handled with great care and all cables
should be properly insulated and earthing done.
 Excavation work involves drilling and blasting operations where
miss handling of explosives, usages, carelessness in transportation,
misfire, wrong blasting operations etc will lead serious injuries and
can cause loss of life to individual
 Piling work causes vibrations that may damage the nearby structure,
particularly the old ones. It is thus essential to keep watch on the old
structure while piling work is being done.
 Machineries operating near excavated trenches should be carefully
operated otherwise there may be sliding of earth due to vibration
during operation and can also cause falling of machinery and loss of
life of workers working around it.
 In framed structures scaffolding is required to make platforms for
working on heights. The material used for scaffolding should be of
quality and periodic checking on scaffolding should be ensured for a
safe working.
 The bracing of scaffolding should be checked during erection.
 The workers working at various heights for storied building for
fixing shutter, welding work etc should wear helmets and also the
platform over which the workers standing for doing work should be
strong and it should be ensured before doing any work.
 The materials like nut, bolts, shuttering and scaffolding materials
using at various levels for high-rise buildings should not be thrown
carelessly to bottom which may cause injury or loss of life of
workers working at ground level or below levels.
 Proper maintenance of machineries using at site should be ensured
for a safe working at site.
 Care should be taken during the operation of batching plant where
there will be movement of crane for lifting material from the bin and
also the movement of machineries like tipper, transit mixer etc for
dumping of aggregates and loading concrete from plant to site will
be adequate and proper safety arrangement should be made available
in this location.
 Good maintenance of plant and machineries will reduce the chances
of accidents.
 Safety training should be provided for workers to ensure a safe
working environment.
IV) Management of accidents, employment injuries and occupational
hazards diseases:
Accidents at site can be managed and controlled to the maximum extent
possible by implementing a safety department at site headed by a safety
officer for overall control of activities and for providing sufficient
training to staff and workers working at site. Arranging a safety talk
every day before start of work will also help in controlling the accidents
at site. Arranging a safety talk everyday before start of work will also
help in controlling the accidents at site. All the workers should be
provided periodic and sufficient information regarding safety and
remedial measures. All the day-to-day activities should be monitored
and any remedial action required should be implemented immediately
for ensuring an accident free at site. Train all staff and workers to
perform and act themselves as a safety officer can reduce accidents. By
putting safety boards wherever required mainly at hazardous locations
and by displaying a notice board, the causes of accidents and remedial
measures, where all people can come and read it, the accidents can be
minimised.
The contractor should make arrangements to provide first aid boxes at
site that are readily accessible during all working hours and are under
the charge of a person who is trained in rendering first aid. In large sites,
ambulance rooms should be maintained to treat workers in case of
sickness or injury during working hours.

V) Safety organisation site management:

A client or a contractor who is serious about establishing high standards
of safety at work sites as well as throughout the organisation should
have a safety policy, which forms a integral part of the overall policy of
the organisation. The safety policy comprises a statement of the
organisation’s objectives regarding safety of men, in operations and at
work sites. It also contains guidelines for actions that will be taken at
appropriate levels to achieve the objectives. Safety policy to be made in
a printed brochure and circulate it widely amongst employees. The
safety policy should deal with the subject more positively and the state
that top management wants risk free and zero accident work
environment. The safety policy will enjoy higher credibility and get
better implemented if the safety reports reach the top management or
board of directors regularly and constitute a permanent agenda item of
their regular meetings.
 A safety manual should be prepared and circulate it among all
employees and monitor the site works for ensuring whether the safety
requirements, safety policies are implemented at site and all the
employees are following the safety requirements for making an accident
free site. Individual organisation should be associated with all the
activities relating to safety, health and welfare problems. For
maintaining an effective safety and health policy and system within the
industry and for a better and efficient site management for safety,
outside co-operation like the following points should be adhered.
 Good relationships should be established with local inspectors of the
concerned government departments.
 Laison with educational establishments can help further a greater
participation by them in the training of young people in aspects of
safety etc.
 There should be full co-operation with trade union officials.

VI) Role of safety department:

A large organization may set up a safety department to implement the

safety policy. This department should be integrated in the general
organization in the same way as the technical engineering and finance
departments are integrated. The direct control of the safety department
may be vested in a senior safety officer or a personal manager, but is
essential that the overall direction of the programme be vested in a
nominated member of the top management. Following are the functions
of the safety department.

 To establish the norms and guidelines for the provision of safety of

sites, men, materials, equipment and structures for the line
management in charge of these functions.
 To prepare check lists, manuals, and other documents for use by the
line management in carrying out the function no.1.
 To supervise safety at site and within the organisation.
 To give advise on all safety matters in accordance with the safety
policy.
 To maintain all safety records, prepare reports and monitor the same
to all concerned.
 To conduct the safety training in the organisation.
 To carry out safety audit periodically.
  To discharge all statutory obligations of the organisation regarding
safety, and maintain liaison with the government safety machinery
and other industry associations.
 To organise competitions, posters, melas and such other activities
that promote safety consciousness amongst employees.

In small organisations, even though they cannot create separate

safety departments, they will nominate a suitable officer to supervise
safety precautions.

VII) Role of safety officer:

The safety department should be headed by safety officers, who are duly
qualified for the purpose. The following are the duties of a Safety
officer.

 To advise and assist the factory management in the fulfilment of its

obligations, statutory or otherwise, concerning prevention of
personal injuries and maintaining a safe working environment.
 To advise the concerned departments in planning and organising
measures necessary for the effective control of personal injuries.
 To advise on safety aspects in all job studies and to carry out
detailed job safety studies of selected jobs.
 To check and evaluate the effectiveness of the action taken or
proposed to be taken to prevent personal injuries.
 To advise the purchasing and stores departments in ensuring high
quality and availability of personal protective equipments.
 To advise on matters related to carrying out plant safety inspections.
 To carry out plant safety inspections in order to observe the physical
conditions of work and the work practices and procedures followed
by workers and to render advise on measures to be adopted for
removing the unsafe physical conditions and preventing unsafe
actions by workers.
 To render advice on matters related to reporting and investigation of
industrial accidents and diseases.
 To investigate selected accidents.
 To investigate the dangerous occurrences reportable under factory
rules and the cases of industrial diseases contracted by any of the
workers employed in the factory under the rule.
  To advise on the maintenance of such records as are necessary
relating to accidents, dangerous occurrences and industrial diseases.
 To promote setting up of safety committees and act as adviser to
such committees.
 To organise in association with the concerned departments,
campaigns, competitions, contests and other activities which will
develop and maintain the interest of the workers in establishing and
maintaining safe conditions of work and procedures.
 To design and conduct either independently or in collaboration with
the training department, suitable training and educational
programmes for the prevention of personal injuries.
 No safety officer shall be permitted to do any work, which is
inconsistent with or detrimental to the performance of the duties.

VIII) Role of safety committee:

A safety committee is a most useful instrument for facilitating the

necessary co-operative effort, which is essential to success in accident
prevention. It should have representative from top management,
supervisory grades and from the workers, with additional representation
from the safety department and maintenance staff. It should act as an
advisory body and meet regularly. Such safety committee can perhaps
function more effectively in factories where conditions are relatively
static but there are obvious difficulties on construction sites where
conditions are constantly changing.

IX) Safety training, incentives and monitoring:

Following are the features of safety training.

 The new workers should as soon as possible, be made aware of

the needs of safety and the organisation which exists to
safeguard them from accidents and from injury to health.
 While recruiting workers it should be ascertained what
experience they have had and with what kind of work they are
familiar and based on that only they should be placed on work
for which they are suited and where they should get receive
instructions from the immediate superior on the precautions
which should be observed as part of their general instructions.
 Some of the workers may indeed never have seen some of the
more simple forms of tools used on a construction site and may
need instructions in their use from somebody who has
knowledge into that.
 Where workers are unfamiliar with the language in general use
on the site, selected trained people who speak their language
should be available to help them.
 Safety officers can advise the individual workers on safety and
health precautions during their visit to site.
 Special talks can be arranged on various aspects of safety by
means of films to illustrate important aspects.
 Special one day safety exhibitions with talks from safety
experts can also be beneficial and for a correct working.
 Workers should be given instruction for working in high-rise
buildings where, they are required to work on platforms on high
elevation and through some other means in connection with
various activities.

Members of senior management should meet regularly to discuss
all aspects of health, safety and welfare. A better safety can be
ensured at site by motivating the employees through some
incentive systems. Incentive system includes provision of a fixed
amount for the site personnel, which will be reimbursed every
month along with their salary for keeping an accident free site. If
there is more than one site, there will be a competition among the
site groups for getting the safety awards to their group for
maintaining safety provisions at site as well as for making the site
free from accident. By arranging safety Melas and competitions
like exhibitions, film shows, lectures, discussions to sustain interest
in the observance of safety precautions can also motivate the
workers and employees for a safe working at site. All the activities
at site should be monitored in a daily basis and any remedial
measures required or action o be taken should be implemented
immediately for maintaining the site totally accident free.

All the activities at site should be monitored in a day-to-day basis

and the safety reports should be made. Any remedial measures
 required should be implemented immediately. The safety officer
should watch the activities carrying out at site and should ensure
whether all the safety measures are following at site. If anybody is
seeing to be not adhering to safety requirements, should be warned
and action should be taken.

X) Safety checklists and inspection reports:

For all the activities to be executed at site, checklists should be made

and should report to the concerned if any occurrence or fatal accident
happened at site.

The following are the safety checklists for Pile foundations

 The workers or personnel employed for piling work must know the
elements of machinery and equipment, how they can cause accident
and what steps should be taken to avoid such accidents.
 Near by structures should be examined during piling for avoiding
any accident which may come due to vibration during piling.
 All the workers should wear helmets, protective footwear and eye
goggles and electrical connections must be handled carefully.
 Engines must be stopped before fitting V-belts or flat belts on them.

The following are the safety checklists for rock cutting and dewatering.

 During drilling and blasting operation, movement and handling of

equipments, transportation, stock and usage of explosives should be
carefully handled.
 Competent person should handle blasting operation for avoiding
misfire etc.
 The machinery should be properly located during cutting operation
for avoiding any sliding of soil or falling of machinery during its
operation.
 The dewatering pump should be of adequate capacity and in good
working condition
During the construction of framed structure, the following checklists for
safety should be maintained.

 Scaffolding arrangements should be thoroughly checked before

concreting.
 Ensure the formwork and scaffolding materials of good quality.
 Ensure the workers are using helmets during working hours.
 All arrangements for concreting like electric connection, platform for
concreting, loading and unloading of concrete from transit mixers etc
should be watched and ensure it is as per standards.

Lifting of materials to various elevations should be done by

considering the safety provisions.

Following checklists should be maintained and followed in connection

with usage of handling of machineries like tower crane, Dozer, JCB etc

 Proper and adequate maintenance should be ensured before operation

of machineries.
 The workers should not be stand near by machine during its rotating
or operating position.
 Ensure firm or solid platform for the operation of machineries,
otherwise due to vibration during operation can cause sliding of soil
or falling of machines, which may lead severe injury or loss of life.
 There should not be presence of fire near the diesel tank of
machineries.
 Operation should be controlled by a skilled person for avoiding and
accidents due to electric lines etc near by working site, which may
damage during operation.

Following checklists should be maintained for usage of steel

scaffolding, lifting of concrete through buckets

 The material used for scaffolding should be of good quality.

 Scaffolds must always be erected and maintained by skilled and
trained personnel.
 Ensure that sufficient guard railing should be fitted and maintained
in platforms.
 Platforms over which workers are standing should not be overloaded.
 Ensure that loose packaging such as bricks should never be used
below standards.
  Scaffolds must be properly braced and platforms must be properly
supported.
 Check on straightness of ledgers, adequacy of bracing, alignment of
supports etc.
 The machinery and bucket should be properly maintained or checked
before doing work. Periodical maintenance should be ensured.
 A trained person should be engaged to control the men working
around it during lifting of concrete through bucket and its lifting
arrangement should also be standard.
 Unloading of concrete from bucket should be done with trained or
competent person.
Check lists for safety at batching plant are the following.

 One trained person should control the traffic and movement of men
and machineries around batching plant.
 Proper arrangements should be provided for keeping the near by
working places or living places free from dust.
 Ensure that all the electrical fittings and arrangements should be
properly done.
 Men and machineries should be away from the crane while moving
it during lifting of materials from the bin for loading and producing
concrete.
 The batching plant area should be free from electric lines near by it
which may cause electric shock or other major damage while moving
the crane or lifting the body of tipper during unloading of aggregate.

XI) Conclusion / Recommendations:

The risk of accidents is present in all everyday activities and it is not fair
to pretend that a work site can be entirely free from accidents. However,
a more practical way is to consider a construction site safe when persons
can go about their normal daily work without undue risk. It is the
responsibility of the contractor that every work site under his control is
provided with first aid boxes that are readily accessible during all
working hours, and are under the charge of persons who are trained in
rendering first aid. There should be at least one such first aid box at
every site. At large sites, the scale is one box plus additional boxes at the
rate of one box for every 150 workers normally employed. It is
appropriate for large construction sites to maintain an ambulance room
 or dispensary with all facilities and adequate supply of drinking water
should also be made available.

XII) Bibliography / References:

Construction safety management – NICMAR