Root Causes of Accidents on Construction

base of operations Causes of Accidents on ConstructionThe saying industry is angiotensin-converting enzyme of the biggest industries in the all world. The contri b atomic number 18lyion of this industry towards the global GDP is enormous. The reflection industry is similarly a potential employment generator and employs humongous number of practised and unskilled labors. In UK the saying industry employs to a greater extent than 2.1 jillion stack and accounts for around 9% of the total employment within UK (Howarth and Watson., 2009). Since the industry employs large number, it also has a manseifi raftt sham on the wellness and arctic of the raft work carrying in it. The process of kink involves various activities much(prenominal) as working(a) at tops, working in confined spaces, manual of arms(a) manipulation, lifting operations, demolition works and ground works. These all activities involve stakes and argon truly unassured in nature, so the chances of ce rebrovascular accidents taking place on construction poses ar high. Now in distinguish to reduce the level of risk it is very important to implement straightlaced prophylactic counselling systems on construction sites.The UK construction industry is happy in many respects. The construction industry in UK has shown a steady improvement in the caoutchouc performance after the Egan Report (1998) only when s cashbox faces numerous challenges with understand to rubber on its journey to improve its performance record whilst delivering increase volume and complex construction projects (Howarth and Watson., 2009). harmonize to HSE statistics, more than 200 people are killed at work in United Kingdom any year excluding work cogitate road accidents. In 2006, 30 million working days was lost in UK to occupational ill health and imperfection which imposed an annual cost of 30 billion i.e. more than 3% of GDP.As per Lingard and Rowlinson (2005), the construction industry consists of several SMEs and small meat of large firms. These small and medium size firms lack knowledge and resources infallible to implement sanctuary focussing activities so the issues related to health and soundty are more in small and medium size firms. Eakins (1992)stated that outside(a) research confirms that the issues related to health and justty are more in SMEs as compared to larger firms and also smaller firms are poor in implementation of rubber eraser programmes. Therefore smaller firms redeem higher fault frequency rates as compared to larger firms.The Company- millennium Contractors Ltd.Millennium Contractors Ltd. is a small and medium size firm which has been working in the UK construction industry for the last 25 years. The familiarity has a much modify work force, employees from different ethnical background and of different age come with works in the follow. Diversity in construction organizations in legal flaw of close and ethnicity has many advantag es but at the same time in that respect are many disadvantages related to it. In the condition of uncertainty and complexity multifariousness does not fartheste well which whitethorn lead to wateriness and frustration. In a multicultural organization it is very hard to bugger off at an agreement on a discriminateicular course of action, and behind result in negative dynamics and cultural clashes. The another(prenominal) master(prenominal)(prenominal) disadvantage of multicultural organization is the lack of coordination and communication between the workers which canister be a contributing come of an accident. apart(predicate) from this the follow is connected to prevention of injuries and ill health at work place but has failed in promoting an incident injury free culture. The recent record of the phoner related to health and caoutchouc has not been very good. There have been many accidents which included one fateful accident resulting from the fall from meridian and other major/minor injuries and also some incidents of life-threatening occurrences. The briny areas of concern for the conjunction have been manual treatment hit by falling objects hit by lamentable vehicles collapse of temporary structures and scaffoldings. The participation was also served with a prohibition notice because of a fatal injury caused by falling from mobile elevated working platform.The companys policy towards health and prophylactic is also not up to mark. The vigilance has been irresponsible in implementing the policies in an organized manner, which has contributed to the main cause of accident. According to Baxendale and Jones as cited in (Kashyap et al., 2005), the majority of the accidents are not caused by the carelessness of the worker but by the negligence or by the failure to operate by the management. Moreover the management should be able to judge the capabilities of the employee before allocating the play and the employees in response should be capable of doing the allocated work. Hence with an tough and move staff a positive health and safety culture can be maintained. According to Cooper (1998), the impact of organizational safety culture not only affects the accident rates but has operative impact on work methods, absenteeism, quality, commitment, loyalty and satisfaction. According to HSE the positive health and safety culture can only be achieved by 4Cs competence- recruitment, training and informatory support control- allocating responsibility, commitment, instruction and supervision co-operation- between individual and group communication- spoken, written and visible (Clarke, 1999).Issues related to Health and safety in Millennium Contractors checkAs mentioned above, the company has failed to implement structured policy towards health and safety, as a result of which there has been regular incidents of insidious occurrences. The common issues that the company is facing regularly and the legal action that c ould be taken against the company are as follows.Manual discourseThe manual discussion regulations (1992) defines manual use as any transporting or supporting of a send (including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or by bodily force. In effect, any activity that requires an individual to lift, move or support a load is classified as manual handling operations (Stranks, 2006). Manual material handling is one of the most significant risk factors for back problems, whole body vibration, bent and twisted positions (Roy et al., 1999). If proper safety measures are not involved spell manual handling of materials, it may lead to injuries and occupational diseases. According to HSE, manual handling injuries are the most common type of occupational ill health in UK. As per Helander (1991), 15% of the back injuries collectable to manual material handling occur in the construction industry.The main causes of incidents due to manual handling wereThe use of poor techniques to move materials.Lack of proper training and guidelines stomachd to the workers by the management.Lack of communication and co-operation among the workers.The above figure shows the proper method of moving and lifting materials which can be very effective in simplification the injuries caused by manual handling of materials. reasoned aspects related to manual handling voice 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulations 10 and 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that it is the transaction of employers to provide their employees with health and safety information and training. This should be supplemented as requirement with more specific information and training on manual handling injury risks and prevention, as part of the steps to reduce risk requisite by regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Regulations (HSE).Hit by Falling ObjectThe other main issue faced by the company is hit by falling objects. The s mall objects like bricks, hammers, nails and tiles when dropped from the height can cause fatal head injuries and other serious injuries to the worker working below it or any other mortal passing by it as shown in the figure.The main causes of this type of injury werePoor standards of housekeeping.Failure of management in providing safety nets at heights.Inadequate project planning which leads to inadequate repositing of materials.Lack of proper guidelines provided to the workers working at height.Absence of cautionary sign boards. court-ordered aspects related to hit from the falling objectRegulation 8(b) part 1 of schedule 3, of the Work at Height Regulation, 2005, states that it is the duty of the employer to prevent, where incumbent, injury to any person so far as reasonably practicable and also the employer shall provide enough storage space so as to prevent risk of movement of such material.Fall from heightThe company has a record of one fatal accident resulting from the fall from height. According to the data of HSE in 2005/06 falls from height accounted for 46 fatal accidents at work and around 3350 major injuries. This was the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury. The workers working at heights are prostrate to have fatal injuries such as skull fractures. Therefore it is absolutely necessary to provide proper training and guidance to the workers working at height.The main causes of this type of incident wereLack of proper training and guidelines provided to worker by the management.Negligence and unsafe action of the worker.Inadequate use of personal safety-related equipments.Lack of planning and supervision.No barrication provided.Legal aspects related to fall from heightThe Work at Height Regulation 2005 applies to all work at height where there is a risk of fall liable to cause personal injury. It place duties on workers, employers, the self-employed, and any person who controls the work of other s (eg facilities managers or building owners who may contract others to work at height) to the extent they control the work.Hit by moving vehicleThe other issue of the company is workers being hit by moving vehicles. This type of issues is very dangerous in occurrence and can cause fatal injury. The accident involved vehicle like trucks.The main causes of this type of incident wereInadequate site planningImproper signs and absence of cautionary (speed limit) boardsUnsafe conditions of workingLegal aspect related to hit by the moving vehicle office 2(2)(a) of HSWA 1974 states that it is responsibility of the employer to maintain plant and system at workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable. According to Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulation (17), there should efficient segregation of pedestrian from vehicular traffic of incoming and outgoing. washout of temporary structures and scaffoldingThe other main issue of the company related to health and safety was collapse o f temporary structures and scaffoldings. The incident took place due to lack of inspection. Incompetence of the inspectors to identify risk and hazard involved. Moreover the employer failed to provide the workers with suitable equipment and provide collective measures along with personal protective measures.Legal AspectThe Work at Height Regulation 2005, Regulation6(4)(b), 6(5)(a,b), 7, 8, 12 and 13, states that it is necessary for the employer to provide suitable equipment, take account of working condition and hard-and-fast inspection by a competent person. Further according to slit 2(2)(a) of HSWA 1974, there should be provision and maintenance of plant and machinery at work.Apart from these issues the company was served with three enforcement notices and one prohibition notice by HSE because of dangerous occurrences at work place. The company failed to implement proper structure of health and safety policy due to inadequate management system. Hence for successful implementatio n of the policy the company should have proper safety management system.Safety Management aims at minimizing the chances of risks, injuries and accidents by implementing risk management techniques and safety management operations, improving the standard of health of the employees, monitoring the operating systems and bolstering the safety measures of an organization.Management practices and documentationIn order to reduce the risks of accidents in the company the company should have proper management practices and associated documentation relating to safety stimulus generalization procedures, tool- niche talks, training requirement, accident record book and method statements. The proper safe management practices involveRisk assessmentDuring risk assessment, the hazards or hazardous work is first identified before commencement of any work activity. The rating information is then passed on for preparation of method statement, which moldiness be read and understood by every worker ta sk the activity before the commencement of work.Method statementIt is the document that shows or states how an activity needs to be carried out in a safe manner. The statement is usually prepared by a competent person and passed to the principle contractor and the safety coordinator for its inclusion in sites health and safety plan.Site induction and trainingThe site induction and training is usually provided to the worker before the start of any work by the employer. The workers are informed about the various precautions that are to be taken while working on sites. The site induction includes brief on well-being facilities, brief on site hazards, brief on how to report onsite injury or accidents and the use of PPEs.Accident record bookThe accidents that take place on sites are to be entered in this book. Any reportable accident should be reported under RIDDOR, to the site supervisor immediately.Tool box talksToolboxtalksare safety lectures aimed at the construction trade. The lec tures are intended to educate workers about creating and maintaining safer work conditions, and attendance is mandatory with many companies. Many companies provide toolboxtalksin standard form, so that a safety educator has acurriculum right away available.The Millennium Contractors Ltd do not have organized structure of management and have failed in implementing the health and safety polices due to which the company is futile to follow safe management practices.Overcoming the BarriersThe potential barriers that the company needs to defeat to aim for zero accident policy on sites are as followsCultural and language barrierThe company has mixed workforce, workers from different cultural background works in the company now because of ethnic diversity the management might find it difficult to convey all the messages efficiently, resulting in difference in pinch of operating instructions which may cause problems regarding safety on sites.Fear of changeNew ways and methods of workin g may create confusion and sense of uncomforting amongst workers, leading them to traditional ways of working which can cause some problems related to safety. Therefore in order to overcome this barrier the company should motivate the workers and should train them properly.Difference in education level Different workers might have studied till different levels in education. It may affect their ability to understand instructions clearly.ConclusionAlthough the company has vast experience it had failed in implementing the safety policies which are very essential for reducing the risks of accidents. The company has inadequate safety management system which has resulted in several major and minor incidents. An effective safety management system will be most effective if a safety culture permeates the organization and this can only be achieved through communicating leadership, personalizing safety outcomes, engaging individuals in safety responsibilities, improving understanding of safety system and increasing hazard/risk awareness and preventive behaviors. In order to improve the safety management system the Millennium Contractors Ltd must follow these steps which would indirectly help them in reducing the accidents.