Safety in construction is a prime requirement but it is often neglected on work site

31. SAFETY MEASURES IN CONSTRUCTION
Importance of safety
• Safety in construction is a prime requirement but it is often
neglected on work site.
• The range of construction and building activities involving
complex techniques have led to many new problems of safety
measures at site result in a better work environment, higher
productivity and greater contentment among workers.
Safety measures
• Prevention of accidents is a major aim of construction
management, both for human and financial consideration..

32. • Whatever the nature of construction projects, accidents are likely to
occur causing physical injury, casualties and loss of money.
• In order to prevent accidents at construction site, certain safety
measures are to be taken in the following major activities which are
prone to risk of accidents.
1) Excavation
2) Drilling and blasting
3) Storage
4) Hot bituminous works
5) Scaffolding, ladders, formwork and handling of equipment’s
6) Fabrication and erection
7) Demolition

34. Safety measures for excavation
 Before doing the excavation, a complete knowledge of underground
structures, such as sewers, water pipe lines, gas mains etc. is
essential and suitable precautions should be taken to prevent
accident to the workers engaged in excavation work.
 Personal safety equipment’s such as safety shoes, Safety helmets
etc. should be worn by all persons entering a trench where hazards
from falling stones or other material exists.
 Whenever the workman to excavate in trenches in soft soil or
fissured rock or hard soil exceeding 2m in depth, the trenches
should be sufficiently shored and timbered.

35.  At place where public is likely to trespass fencing or barricades
should be erected to avoid accidents, during nights adequate lighting
should be provided.
Safety measures for Drilling and blasting
 Drilling and blasting is the controlled use of explosives and other
methods such as gas pressure blasting to break rock for excavation.
 It is practiced more often in mining, quarrying and civil engineering
such as dam and road construction.
 Drilling and blasting utilizes many different varieties of explosives
with different compositions and performance properties.

36.  High velocity explosives are used for relatively hard rock in order
to shatter and break the rock, while low velocity explosives can be
used in soft rocks to generate pressure and heave effect.
 Vehicles to be used for transporting explosives should be good in
condition with tight wooden or non-sparkling metal floor and
sides.
 Explosives should be stored only in a magazine which is clean, dry,
well ventilated, and reasonably cool.
 Leaves, grass or broken pieces of any kind should not be allowed
to accumulate within 8m of magazine.

38.  No person should allow touching the wires and opening the bare
leading wires of the electrical blasting caps during dust storms.
 Smoking should be strictly prohibited at places where explosives
are used.
 Explosives and fuse lighters should not be stored in a damp or wet
place or near oil, gas or steam pipes or other sources of heat.
 Before blasting all clear signal is given.
 After blasting operations, it is necessary to check the entire area of
the exploded explosives, which shall be safety removed away
from the work site.

39. Safety measures for storage of materials
 Adequate firefighting arrangements should be provided at site
particularly in areas where petroleum products and timber are
stored.
 Explosives must be stored in proper magazines and the prescribed
safety measures for handling and storage of explosives should be
observed.
 Petroleum products should be separately stored.
 Smoking and other fires should be strictly prohibited where these
products are stored.
 Only required quantities of such products should be stored at site.

41. Safety measures for hot bituminous works
 Workers engaged on job involving handling of hot bituminous
works should use protective wares such as boots, gloves, goggles
and helmets.
 When bitumen plants are working on a public road, an adequate
traffic control system must be established.
 Compressors, electrical installations and other equipment’s such as
elevators and conveyors should be adequately protected from
weather, mechanical damage and dust particles.

42. • When heating and handling of hot bituminous materials is to be
done in the open, sufficient stocks of clean dry sand or loose earth
should be kept ready at the work site to cope with any resultant fire.
• Bitumen plant should be provided with the safe means of access to
working platforms, hand rails, pulley, belts and drive mechanisms
should be protected by suitable guards.

43. Safety measures for fabrications and erections
 Fabrication is the process of bending, cutting and moulding steel
structures to create beams, columns and steel members.
 Moving part of all the equipment’s should be provided with safety
guards.
 All equipment’s such as gas cutting and welding sets, drills and
power hacksaws, grinders etc. should be checked periodically to
ensure their safe working.
 Workers engaged in gas cutting and welding operations should wear
suitable gloves, aprons, goggles and use proper screens.
 Power cable for all equipment’s should be properly insulated and
protected from damage and cuts.

45.  Cut pieces and scrap should be stored at an appropriate place to
avoid accidents.
 Workers engaged in erection works should wear helmets and use
safety belts to avoid accidents.
 All erection equipment’s such as cranes, derricks, hoists, etc. should
be thoroughly checked before use.

46. Safety measures for Scaffolding, ladders, formwork and
other equipment’s
 Every scaffold should be firmly supported or suspended and
properly strutted or braced to ensure stability.
 The supporting bullies of formwork should be checked for each
individual member.
 The bullies should be properly braced. Many accidents occur due
to negligence of this aspect.
 When the work is been performed above a scaffold platform, a
protective overhead covering should be provided for the men
working on the scaffolds.

51.  The protection should not be more tan 3m above the scaffold
platforms and should be made of plants.
 During dismantling (take to pieces) of scaffolds, necessary
precautions should be taken to prevent injury to persons due to fall
of loose materials, bracings and other part of scaffolds.
 Care should be taken to see that no un-insulated electrical wires
exist within 3m of the working platforms, gangway etc. of the
scaffolds.

52. Safety provisions required for explosives
Anyone manufacturing or storing explosives to take appropriate
measures:
 To prevent fire or explosions
 To limit the extent of fire or explosion including measures to
prevent the spreading of fires and the communication of explosions
from one location to another
 To protect people from the effects of fire or explosion

53.  An explosive is a material, either a pure single substance or a
mixture of substances, which is capable of producing an explosion
by its own energy .
 It is not proper to define an explosive as a substance, or a mixture
of substances, which is capable of undergoing a sudden
transformation with the production of heat and gas.
 The production of heat alone by the inherent energy of the
substance which produces it will be enough to constitute the
substance an explosive.

54. SAFETY THROUGH LEGISLATION
Indian government has brought up number of legislations from time
to time to address the safety aspects of construction works.
Some of legislation are as follows.
 Factories act -1948
 Mines act -1952
 Indian explosives act – 1984
 Indian boilers act – 1923
 Petroleum act – 1934
 Petroleum and minerals pipeline act – 1962
 Indian electricity rules – 1956
 The electricity act – 2013

55.  Motor vehicle act – 1988
 Contract labor act – 1970
 Workman compensation act – 1923
 Building and other construction work act – 1996
 Occupational safety and health act – 1970
 However, we need to understand that legislations alone cannot
ensure safety in job construction / operations
 All of our effective approach towards prevention of accidents and
promotion of safety conscious is achieved
 Alertness levels are increased to practice safe working habits, the
rules and regulations remain the paper.

56.  At the time of an untimely accident people talk about safety rules
and flows in their implementations only to forget the same in one or
two days.
 Safety should be set up as an objective as implement as economic
gains and zero accidents in job performance should be motive.
 The safe working practices (such as 10000 accident free hours of
production etc.) should be rewarded and hailed within the
organization.
 Safety should be builder’s first responsibility since controlling of
accidents reduces the scrap of human and product.

57. • The losses on accident of unsafe working practices / accidents are
reduced output,
 wasted wages
 lost time
 lowered morals
 damaged property
 loss of experienced hands
 medical bills
 above all loss of good will.
Accidents add up to employer worries

58. SAFETY CAMPAIGN
• Safety campaign aims to reduce the number of injuries sustained by
workers performing basic construction works.
• Guidelines of National safety consist towards safe working practices
should be prominently displayed at work spot and precautions to be
taken to avoid accidents should be discussed in meeting.
• Safety works with visual presentations should be arranged at least
once in a month and all the workers need to be educated to become
aware of value of safety in engineering works.

59. • Use of protective clothing, safety helmets, face shields, safety
equipment’s for eyes, ears, hands, feet, legs ( such as gas
masks, gloves etc.) should be widely advertised and followed.
• Safe working employees should be rewarded and awarded to
raise the awareness levels among others.
The objectives of the campaign are as follows:-
To improve the capability of residential builders to control risks.
During the assessment, inspectors will focus on:-
 Fall prevention through voids, from ladders, and other work
platforms

60.  Site housekeeping
 Site security
 Site supervision
 Additional issues related to electrical.
• The campaign will also improve the health and safety of young
workers in the construction industry, who are over represented in
injury statistics than the older or more experienced workers.
• It aims to educate managers and supervisors to ensure they can
effectively manage the young workers safety in the site.
• The inspectors will keep visiting the workplace in order to create
awareness regarding to safety and health.

61. SAFETY INSURANCE
• Insurance laws are applicable only to regular employees.
• In construction industry most of the labor is of casual nature and
insurance laws are not applicable to them.
• For the welfare of casual labor, different Acts such as Minimum
wages Act, Compensation Act etc. are passed by the Government.
• Keeping in mind the intensity of a probable loss in case of
mishaps/unpleasant accidents in engineering works, construction
activities, deferent insurance covers are available.
• Owing the huge monetary and other losses in case of accidents/ loss
of lives in construction industry, any uninsured activity or job may
culminate into job termination.

62. Following are some relevant schemes or engineering project works.
• Contractors All risk insurance (CAR policies)
• Machinery breakdown insurance
• Loss of profit insurance following machinery breakdown
• Contractor’s plant and machinery insurance.
Contractors all risk insurance (CAR policy)
This is a comprehensive insurance cover and provides adequate
protection against loss of damages in respect of contract works, as
well as third party claims towards property damage or badly injuries
workman/general public.

63. The following items get covered in a CAR policy under normal
circumstances.
• Fire accidents, lighting and explosives
• Theft, burglary(illegal entry of a building with intent to commit a
crime).
• Bad workmanship, unintentional negligence, human errors
• Natural calamities (flood, earthquakes etc.) if specifically provide
in the insurance terms.
Unless otherwise specified, the following are not included in the
CAR policies.
• Loss or damage due to war or war like operations, strike riots.
• Loss or damage due to willful negligence.
• Losses due to nuclear reactions, radiations, radioactive
contaminators

64. Machinery breakdown insurance
• Normally this type of insurance covers installed working in fixed
premises.
• In special cases the insurance cover can be extended to include
equipment’s in transit and damages to third parties as well as
personal injuries arising out of breakdown of insured machinery.
Loss of profit insurance
• Often due to non- operations often due to malfunctioning of some
mall control parts, the functioning of the entire machinery comes to
stand still.

65. • In such cases, this policy covers consequential losses suffered by
the machine user.
• Sometimes machine repair may take a long time; in such cases
Machinery breakdown insurance policy above covers machine
repairs cost and this policy entitles him or consequential losses/
profit losses.
Contractor’s plant and machinery insurance (CPM Policy)
• CPM is a special insurance policy cover due to non-production of
plant and machinery not attributable to engineering reasons but to
other factors such as riots, strikes, malicious damages, breakdown
due to excess running’s etc.

66. MORALS
 Morals are the guiding principles that every citizen should hold.
 It is the foundational concepts defined at both at individual and
societal level.
 At the most basic level, morals are the knowledge of difference
between the right and wrong.
Moral reasons include,
• Respecting others and ourselves
• Respecting rights of others
• Keeping promises
• Avoiding unnecessary problems to others and avoiding cheating
and dishonesty,
• Showing gratitude to others and encourage them to work.

67. VALUES
 The word value is derived from French word “valoir” which means
worth, merit, usefulness or importance of a thing.
 Values are individual in nature.
 Values are comprised of personal concepts of responsibility,
entitlement and respect.
 Values are shaped by personal experience, may change over the span
of a lifetime and may be influenced by lessons learned.
 Values may vary according to an individual’s cultural, ethnic and/or
faith-based background. Integrity is one such value.

68. Characteristics of Values
1. Values represent an individual‘s highest priorities and
deeply held driving forces
2. Values are the hub of personality and it has a powerful
force of affecting behavior
3. Value varies according to time
4. Many values are relatively constant and durable
5. It contains a judgment element
6. Everyone does not hold the same values
7. Values are distinctly different from comforts. Comforts
bring in short term gains and long term pains whereas
values bring in short term pains and long term gains.

69. ETHICS
• Ethics is the study of the characteristics of morals.
• Ethics is defined as “a system of moral principles, by which human
actions and proposals may be judged good or bad, or right or
wrong.
• Ethics is used in determining what is right in a given situation and
then following through with actions to implement what is right.
There are three primary ethical directives:
1. loyalty
2. honesty
3. responsibility.

70. • We will be called upon to be loyal to friends, family, organization,
profession, and being loyal to one may mean being disloyal to
another.
• Honesty is telling the truth as you see it but it’s really much more. It
does involve not lying but also giving a true and complete
representation of one’s self, our actions and our views.
• Responsibility requires taking ownership of the consequences of
our actions and insuring no harm comes to someone because of
those consequences.
• Construction companies must gain and keep loyal customers

71. • Their ability to acquire and maintain customers is directly related to
how those customers see the company’s ethical standards from both
management and employees
• A company’s reputation for unethical behavior will affect its ability
to draw top notch employees.
• Ethics is treating everyone in a “fair” and “reasonable” manner and
both are subject to wide interpretation.

72. Moral Ethics
Refers only to personal
behavior.
Involves defining, analyzing,
evaluating and resolving
moral problems and
developing moral criteria to
guide human behavior
Refers to any aspect of
human action . .
Critical reflection on what
one does and why one does
it
Social conventions about
right or wrong conduct
Refers only to professional
behavior

73. INTEGRITY
 one of the major challenges in our construction business is to
complete any project we do on time and within budget.
 It requires a lot of morale and high productivity from our work
crews.
 In todays market it always seems that companies want the job done
better, faster and with better materials at lesser cost.
 The principles of integrity apply in all aspects of our lives;
personal, professional and economically.
 In the construction sphere, the principles of integrity are no
different. We should apply them in our daily work lives.

74.  In construction business, we should all feel a moral and ethical
responsibility to protect the lives of our workers and to construct a
project safely.
 Integrity is about doing your best with honesty, consideration and
with much ethical responsibility towards the work you do and the
people you influence.
 The key element of integrity is leadership. For construction this
means hardhat professionals we should find solutions to ourselves
without reliance on government for relief.

75.  Also of critical importance to integrity is building an ethical culture
within an organization.
 What should be taken into account when giving code of ethics
training to new employees/recruits is that , as with anything else in
life, how you act is about desire for change in your life.
 Hence everyone should understand that all it takes to be more
ethical in life is that you making a conscious decision to change the
way you live your life- that will be the first step in opening doors for
making a difference in other peoples lives through your actions.

76. TRUSTWORTHINESS
 Trustworthiness is a human quality and virtue. Trustworthiness:
enable others to believe in us and to rely on us without reservation
or fear.
 The values or qualities help us develop trustworthiness: honesty,
integrity, reliability, and loyalty.
 Integrity and trustworthiness are important concepts in the social
sciences, because each is said to enable and enhance cooperation
 There are different ways to build honesty, these are:
A. Truthfulness
B. Sincerity
C. Candor

77. ENGINEERING ETHICS
 Engineering ethics is the study of moral issues and decisions
confronting individuals and organizations involved in engineering.
 Engineering ethics is the study of related questions about moral
ideals, character, policies and relationships of people and
organizations involved in technological activity.
 Engineering ethics is comprised of some sets of beliefs, moral
principles and rules that determine what is right and what is
wrong or what is good and what is bad in the engineering
profession, which are commonly applied to all engineers.

78. Two important ethical codes that engineer must be aware of are
1. The national society of professional engineers (NSPE) code of
ethics
2. The American society of civil engineers (ASCE) code of ethics
 These codes are sets of rules that clearly lay out the ways that
professional engineers must conduct themselves in the workplace.
 If an engineer is found violating one of these codes, they may lose
their license and could possibly face legal charges.

79. Why Study Engineering Ethics?
 Engineering ethics is not only teaching moral behavior in
knowing about immoral and amoral in a set of beliefs, but also
increasing the ability of engineers and other professionals to face
boldly with the moral problems arising from technological
advancements, change and other related activities.
Study of ethics helps engineers develop a moral autonomy:
 Ability to think critically and independently about moral issue
 Ability to apply this moral thinking to situations that arise in the
course of professional engineering practice

80.  Ethical problems in engineering are often complex and involve
conflicting ethical principles.
 Engineers must be able to intelligently resolve these conflicts and
reach a defensible decision.
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
 The right to engage in the activities of professional societies
 The right to form and express one’s professional judgment freely
 The right to talk publicly about one’s work within bounds set by
confidentiality obligation

81.  The right to protect the clients and the public from the
dangers that might arise from one’s work
 The right to professional recognition of one’s services.
 The right to refuse to carry out illegal and unethical
activity.

82. EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
• The employee will not be deprived of any enjoyment of reasonable
privacy in his/her workplace.
• No personal information about employees will be collected or kept
other than what is necessary to manage the organization efficiently
and to meet the legal requirements.
• There should be no discrimination against an employee for
criticizing ethical, moral or legal policies and practices of the
organization.
• No employee who alleges her/his rights have been violated will be
discharged or penalized without a fair hearing by the employer
organization.

83. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
 Information considered desirable to be kept secret.
 Any information that the employer or client would like to have kept
secret in order to compete effectively against business rivals.
 This information includes how business is run, its products, and
suppliers, which directly affects the ability of the company to
compete in the market place.
 Helps the competitor to gain advantage or catch up

84. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION
 It is information such as financial data, test results or trade secrets
that is viewed as the holders property and that they wish to keep
from becoming public knowledge.
 Information that a company owns or proprietors.
 This is primarily used in legal sense also called Trade Secret.
 A trade secret can be virtually any type of information that has not
become public and which an employer has taken steps to keep
secret.

85.  For information to be considered proprietary, it should not readily
available in public sources, it should provide some sort of
competitive advantage, and the company should take al reasonable
steps to maintain its confidentiality.
 More companies are now appointing information managers to
assume responsibility for keeping such information safe and secure.
 This can be issue on construction projects, where members of the
project team or client may learn information that one party wishes
to stay confidential.

86.  As a result, organizations or employees with access to such
information may be required to non disclosure agreements or
confidentiality agreements that can limit the use of ideas and
information for a specific purpose for a certain period of time.
 They may protect information recorded in a certain form, perhaps
marked as confidential, or they may protect information shared
under certain circumstances, such as in presentations or meetings or
during the course of consultancy.
 They can be used to prevent commercially sensitive information
from being shared or to prevent parties from communicating certain
information to press or other third parties.

87. Non disclosure agreements can cover information such as:-
 Intellectual property
 Commercial or trading information
 Technical drawings or designs
 Business plans
 Customer and potential customer lists
 Mathematical and chemical formulae
 Trade secrets which could include programmers or processes
 Personal information about individuals involved in a project

88. CONFLICT OF INTEREST CONFIDENTIALITY
 Confidential information is a information deemed desirable to keep
secret.
 Engineers are required to keep confidential certain information
belonging to their employer or client. Such information, if released,
might allow other companies or organizations to gain an unfair
competitive advantage.
 A “conflict of interest” is a situation in which a person, such as a
public official, an employee or a professional, has a private or
personal interest sufficient to appear to influence the objective
exercise or his or her official duties.

89.  Employees are not allowed to engage, either within or outside
working hours, in any other gainful employment or conduct
any form of business activity, either personally or through the
agency of another, unless prior approval is obtained from the
Managing Director and HR Department.
 A COI is a situation in which a person organization is involved in
multiple interests, financial or otherwise in situations where
serving one the interests could involve working against one of the
other interests.
 It is a set of circumstances that creates a risk that professional
judgment or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly
influenced by a secondary interest.

90. GIFT AND BRIBE
• ‘If you think that your offer of acceptance of a particular gift
would have grave or merely embarrassing consequences for
your company if made public, then the gift should be
considered a bribe’.
• Bribe can be said to be a substantial amount of money or
goods offered beyond a stated business contract with the aim
of winning an advantage in gaining or keeping the contract.
Here ‘substantial’ means that which is sufficient to distort the
judgment of a typical person.
When does a gift become a bribe?
• Something offered or given to someone in a position of trust in
order to induce him/her to act dishonestly

91. PRICE FIXING
 An act was passed, which forbade (prevented) companies from
jointly setting prices in ways that restrain free competition and
trade.
 Unfortunately, many senior people, well respected and positioned
were of the opinion that ‘price fixing’ was good for their
organizations and the public.
 An acceptable mechanism for price fixing must be found by the
engineer with the help of the economist, scientist, lawyer and
politician which could protect the environment through self-
correcting procedures.

92. WHISTLE BLOWING
 Construction Industry employees are often required to report
improper, unsafe or illegal construction activities.
 Whistle blowing is an act of conveying information about a
significant moral problem by a present or former employee, outside
approved channels (or against strong pressure) to someone, in a
position to take action on the problem.
 The features of Whistle blowing are:
Act of disclosure, Topic, Agent and Recipient

93. • Act of Disclosure: Intentionally conveying information
outside approved organizational channels when the person is
under pressure not to do so from higher-ups.
• Topic: The information is believed to concern a significant
moral problem for the organization.
• Agent: The person disclosing the information is an employee
or former employee.
• Recipient: The information is conveyed to a person or
organization who can act on it.

94. Types of Whistle Blowing
 External Whistle blowing: The act of passing on information
outside the organization.
 Internal Whistle blowing: The act of passing on information to
someone within the organization but outside the approved channels.
 Either type is likely to be considered as disloyalty, but the second
one is often seen as less serious than the latter.
 From corporations’ point of view both are serious because it leads
to distrust, disharmony, and inability of the employees to work
together.

95. • Open Whistle blowing: Individuals openly revealing
their identity as they convey the information.
• Anonymous Whistle blowing: Individual conveying the
information conceals his/her identity.
END OF MODULE 3