Quite often accidents occur during construction of buildings. There can be various reasons for these accidents. These can be carelessness on the part of workers, improper planning and wrong sequence of operations, poor quality of the materials, bad workman ship, inadequate training with respect to handling of the machinery and equipments. The accidents can be minor or major causing loss of life or impairment to human body. In turn, there can be financial losses and delay in the completion of the project.
As such, it is very essential to ensure the safety of workers engaged in the construction of buildings and to protect them from the injuries arising out of the accidents. In olden times, buildings were normally of smaller size and height. But now a days large number of multi story buildings are being constructed for both residential and office purposes. The chances for accidents are more in the case of construction of high rise buildings. The available statistics reveal that about 11 % of all the occupational injuries are from construction industry.
Causes of Accidents
There are many causes for accidents. These are carelessness of workers in handling of the equipments, technical defects in the equipments, defects in the system planning, bad quality scaffolding and formwork etc. These defects can be broadly classified into-
Execution of work:
Use of defective materials
Construction defects
Wrong processing of materials
Carelessness
Unauthorized acts
Unskilled working
Defects in the equipment
Insufficient maintenance
Improper handling
Planning
Award of work to incompetent agencies
Lack of proper supervision
Absence of coordination
Classification of Accidents
The accidents can be grouped under the following heads:
According to the severity of the injury
Major accident
Minor accident
Accidental hazard
According to the nature of the injury
Death
Temporary disablement
Permanent disablement
Partial disablement
According to the cause of accident
Equipment fault
Construction site falls
Trench collapse
Crane failure
Safety Helmet
Role of Various Agencies in Safety Management
For ensuring safety in construction, everybody involved has to play their role effectively. However, the primary responsibility is that of the management. They have to coordinate the work of different groups. The concerned groups are:
1.Employer
The employer should hold the equipments, premises and the passages in such a manner that the workers can work without any hazard and sufficient precautions have to be taken to avoid any accident. The employer should ensure that the work is supervised properly and the safety regulations are scrupulously followed. Particular attention should be taken to ensure that persons having physical or mental disorders are not employed.
2.Workers
Workers should take all possible steps to protect their individual safety as well as that of their co - workers. They should wear proper dresses, helmets, hand gloves etc. They should be conversant with the safety regulations especially when operating machineries.
3.Designers
The designer should take into consideration the relevant codes of the region when designing the structures. The quality of the materials used for fabrication should be clearly spelt out and the specifications should be written with out any ambiguity.
4. Manufacturer
The manufacturer of the equipments and machineries should ensure that the materials used are of good quality and due care was taken in every stage of manufacture and assembling.
Safety In various stages of construction
Excavation
Excavation shall be done with proper care to the safety of workers, avoiding disturbance to adjoining property, under ground electric cable, water supply lines, sewage pipes etc. The excavated materials and other items should be removed from the work site as early as possible so that it should not act as a hindrance to the ongoing work and workers can move freely. Proper signals and warning boards should be erected so that people will be aware of the work and will take necessary precautions.
Piling for foundations
Piling is adopted for deep foundations of high rise buildings. There are bored piles and driven piles. Sufficient precautions should be taken so that no damage is caused to the adjoining structures.
Walls
Scaffolding used for wall construction should be checked to see their strength and stability. Platforms must be rigid and non slippery. The ladders should also be fabricated from strong and sturdy materials and the joinery and bracing are properly done.
Form work of roofing
The form work should be designed and fabricated properly so that they do not collapse during the course of construction. All vertical members shall be properly joined and braced.
Safety Benefits
Accidents cause financial hardships to the worker as well as to the contractor. The worker will have to meet the expenses towards the treatment while the contractor will have to replace the defective equipments and machineries. The accidents may retard the progress of work which will lead to price escalation.
In addition to the financial losses, the injured worker will have to undergo both physical and mental hardships. This to a certain will keep the morale of the workers down and also in the eyes of the general public, the image of he company will be at a lower ebb.
Safety Measurement
Injury severity Rate (ISR)
This is defined as the number of days lost due to injuries for 100 man hours worked.
ISR = Number of days lost x 1000
_______________________
Number of man hours worked
Injury Frequency Rate (IFR)
This is defined as the number of disabling injuries per one- lakh of man hours worked.
IFR = Number of disabling injuries x 100000
________________________________
Total number of man hours worked
Injury Index
Injury Index= (ISR x IFR )/ 1000
Synopsis
Safety is of paramount importance in the construction of buildings. Lack of safety measures will lead to accidents which in turn will culminate in the loss of life, injury, financial losses, delay in the completion of the project etc.
Reference
1. Architectural Hand Book by Institution of Engineers, Calicut, 1999
No comments:
Post a Comment