This document discusses construction site hazards and safety. It begins by defining key terms like safety, accidents, hazards, and risk. It then describes common hazards found on construction sites like chemical, physical, biological, and ergonomic hazards. Specific examples are provided for each type of hazard. Accident measurement approaches and Swedish construction accident records from 2005 are also summarized. The document outlines techniques for improving health and safety, including proactive measures like safety policies, training, and inspections. It stresses that safety is everyone's responsibility and describes the direct and indirect costs of accidents to emphasize the economic benefits of prevention.

1. Construction Hazatds and Safety
BY, Industrial Safety Training Institute (ISTI).

2. Learning outcome
At the end of the lecture, students should be able to:
• Understand the different types of existing hazards on site
• Comprehend the diferent types of accident measurement
approach
• Reflect on the Swedish construction accident records
• Appreciate the importance for improving health & safety
in construction
• Undertake the techniques of improving health & safety in
construction
• Understand the existing legislative framework
• Understand an accident analysis if required.

3. • Safety is free from risk and danger.
• Accidents is defined as an unexpected and
desirable event resulting in damage or harm.
• Hazards is an unsafe condition or activity, that if
left uncontrolled can contribute to an accident.
• Risk is the assessment of ’probability of loss’
and ’potential amount of loss’.
(concise Oxford Dictionary)
Definitions

4. Common situation on a construction site
• Construction work is dynamic, diverse, and constantly
changing in nature.
• Constantly changing job site environments and
conditions
• Multiple contractors and subcontractors
• High turnover; unskilled laborers
• Constantly changing relationships with other work
groups
• Diversity of work activities occurring simultaneously
• Construction workers are at risk of exposure to various
hazards and risks that can result in injury, illness,
permanent disability, or even death.

5. Hazards
• Chemical
• Physical
• Biological
• Ergonomic

6. Chemical Hazards
Chemicals can exist in the form of
• dusts, fumes, fibers (solids)
• liquids, mists
• gases, vapors
• welding fumes
• spray paints
• cutting oil mists
• xylene vapor
• solvents
Examples of
chemical
hazards
found in
construction
work:
• asbestos
• lead
• silica
• cadmium
• carbon
monoxide

7. Physical Hazards
• Noise
• Vibration
• Temperature extremes
• Radiation
Physical hazards are different types of energy which
may be hazardous to workers.

8. Biological Hazards
Exposure may occur during demolition, renovation,
sewer work, work on air handling systems, or other
construction work from contact with contaminated or
disease-carrying
• soil
• water
• insects (mosquitoes, ticks)
• bird, bat droppings
• animals
• structures

9. Ergonomic Hazards
Ergonomic hazards can cause painful and disabling
injuries till example Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) .
This following situation may causes these injuries:
• heavy, frequent, or awkward lifting
• repetitive tasks
• awkward grips, postures
• using excessive force, overexertion
• using wrong tools for the job
or using tools improperly
• using improperly maintained tools
• hand-intensive work

10. Types of accident measurements
• Death
• Fatal injury (broken leg, hips, amputation)
• Non-fatal injury (finger cut)
• Occupational accidents (MSD, hearing loss)
• Absence from work ( >1 day, > 3 days etc)
• Near misses
• Rate per 100 000 – number of injuries or causes
of ill health per 100 000 employees.
• Working days lost – days off work due to
workplace injuries & work-related ill health

11. Other health hazards
• Living conditions and welfare facilities
– Temporary accomodation
– Food
– Drinking water
– Sanitary conveniences
– Facility for clothing
• Work related mental stresses
– Alcoholism and drug addiction

12. Personal protective clothing and eqiupment
(PPE)
• Legal requirements
• Eye protection
• Respiratory protection
• Ear protection
• Face protection
• Head protection
• Hand protection
• Foot protection
• Body protection
• Fall protection

13. Construction accident record for 2005
(Samuelson & Lundholm, 2006)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
95 96 97 98 99 0 1 2 3 4 5
years
number
Occupational fatality
Occupational fatality/1000
person
Occupational health fatality
Occupational health
fatality/1000 person

14. Leackage, flood
1%
Landslide, fall,breaking
of material
14%
Fire explosion
2%
Other injuries
2%
Body injury due to
physical lifting
17%
Body injury not due to
physical lifting
5%
Fall of person not from
height
11%
Fall from height
11%
Other form of loss of
control
1%
Loss control of material
handling
10%
Loss control of tools
15%
Lost control of vehicle
6%
Lost control of machine
5%
Samuelson & Lundholm, 2006
Causes of construction accidents 2005

15. ISO EU Sweden UK Malaysia
ISO
BS8800
Framework
Directive
Council
Directive
89/391/EEC
The Work
Environment
Act
(1997:1160)
The Health and
Safety at Work
Act 1974
The Health
and Safety
at Work Act
1994
The
Construction
(Design and
Management)
Regulations
1994
Existing health & safety legislations in practice

16. Reasons and benefits to improve
health and safety in construction
• Responsibility;
• Economic reasons;
• Impact of safety on overall performance;
• Contractor’s performance;
• Control of accident causes.

17. Responsibility
• Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
• It is a moral and legal obligation of employers to provide
a safe working place and of employees to work safely.
• Employer’s duty of care to employees as covering the
following areas:
– safe system of work;
– a safe place of work;
– plant and machinery that is safe to use;
– competent supervision and/or suitable training; and
– care in the selection of fellow employees.

18. Costs of accidents –
direct costs and indirect costs

19. Direct costs
The direct costs are insurance. These include medical costs and
others workers’ compensation insurance benefits as well as
liability and property-damage insurance.
Indirect costs
Below are the lists of indirect costs:
Transportation costs – include the cost of emergency
transportation, together with the cost of other personnel that
were necessary to get to the injured worker to proper medical
facilities
Wages paid to injured worker for time not worked – include all the
time in which the worker was not actually doing his or her job
and for the wages paid.

20. Cost incurred because of delays which resulted from accident –
other crews affected or delayed; equipment idled; duration of
project lengthened; plus all wages, rental fees and indirect
supervision costs that occurred as a result of the accident.
Costs of overtime necessitated by accidents – overtime occurred
because of the accidents
Loss of efficiency of crew – decrease of crew efficiency due to low
morale or reshuffling that might occur to replace an injured
worker.
Cost to break in and/or teach replacement worker – hiring new
worker would include training and orientation
Costs for clean-up, repair or replacement and stand-by costs –
normally accidents involves spillage, cave-ins vehicle damage,
material wastage or site clean-up

21. Extra wage costs, slower returned worker – normally when a
worker return to the job site and is partially and/or temporarily
disabled, the worker is probably working at a different, less
demanding job or less efficient at the former job.
Costs to reschedule work – include time spent to review and
reschedule the project due to investigations or project being
temporarily suspended by the authorities.
Costs of wages for supervision as a result of the accidents –
include all time spent on the accident and its results: caring for
the worker’s medical treatment, investigation, completing forms,
disseminating information, visiting the worker, planning to
prevent recurrence, appearance in court

22. Costs for safety and clerical personnel as a result of the accident –
typing, investigating, forwarding forms, time with press, etc.
OSHA and civil fines – paying fines.
Cost of legal assistance – engaging a lawyer to settle the accident
claims.
Other costs – any other cost that were incurred because of the
accidents.
The average ratio of indirect costs to direct costs is 4:1.

23. Impact of overall performance
• Time
• Budget
• Accident statistics
• Absentism
• Low morale

24. Contractor’s performance
• Studies have proved that there is an
adverse effect on a contractor’s reputation
and unfavourable image for the client
when the project suffers high accident
rates.

25. Control of accident causes
• Safety performance measurement enables behaviours
and conditions to be identified that have the greatest
potential in contributing to an accident.
• It also forms a basis to predict future accident problems
and enables management to control the causes of
accidents on site and establish long-term accident
control.
• These measurement techniques provide continuous
information concerning changes in the safety state within
an organisation in operation.

26. How to improve health and safety on
construction sites?
• Reactive measures
– Accident recording & reporting
– Accident investigations
• Proactive measures
– H & s safety policy
– H & s safety programme/plan
– H & s safety induction/training
– Tool-box talk
– Others

27. Example of an accident analysis
Accident: Falling off a stepladder
The unsafe act: Climbing a defective ladder
The unsafe condition: A defective ladder
The correction: Replace the ladder
Questions:
– Why was the defective ladder not found during normal inspection?
– Why did the supervisor allow its use?
– Didn’t the injured employee know it should not be used?
– Was the employee properly trained?
– Was the employee reminded not to use the ladder?
– Did the supervisor examine the job first?
Answers:
– An improved inspection procedure
– Improved training
– A better definition of responsibilities
– Pre-job planning by supervisors

28. References
• Grifitth A & Howarth T. 2000. Construction health & safety management.
Pearson Education Limited.
• Samuelson B & Lundholm L. 2006. Arbetsskador I byggverksamhet 2005.
Byggindustrins
• Kunju Ahmad. 2000. Developing a safety performance measurement tool
(SPMT) for construction sites. Loughborough University thesis. UK.
• Heberle D. 1998. Construction safety manual. McGraw Hill. USA.
• Davies V.J. Tomasin K. 1990. Construction safety handbook. Thomas
Telford, London.
• Brown. 1996. Total integration of safety professional into project
management. Proceedings. of the 1st International Conference of CIB,
Libson, W99. pp 137-144.
Regards, Mr. SYED HAIDER ABBAS
MOB. +92-300-2893683
MBA in progress,
NEBOSH IGC, IOSH, HSRLI, NBCS,GI,FST,FOHSW,ISO 9001, 14001,
'BS OHSAS 18001, SAI 8000, Qualified .
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