ENSURING HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT (HSE)COMPLIANCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The purpose of this paper is to introduce the
foundations on which appropriate health and safety
management systems may be built. Occupational (work-
related) health and safety is relevant to all
branches of industry, business and commerce including
traditional industries, information technology
companies, the National Health Service, care homes,
schools, universities, leisure facilities and
offices. It is particularly important for the
construction industry.
1.2 In United Kingdom for example, construction is a
large industry which accounts for 10% of the gross
domestic product. It employs 2.2m people and produces
activity worth over £90 billion each year. The
construction industry has a world reputation for the
quality of its work but it remains one of the most
dangerous in Britain. In 2004/05, the fatal injury
rate (per 100 000 workers) was 3.4 while the
industrial average was 0.8.
1.3 Before a detailed discussion of health and safety
issues can take place, some basic occupational health
and safety definitions are required:
Health – the protection of the bodies and minds of
people from illness resulting from the materials,
processes or procedures used in the workplace.
Safety – the protection of people from physical
injury.
Welfare – the provision of facilities to maintain the
health and well-being of individuals at the
workplace. Welfare facilities include washing and
sanitation arrangements, the provision of drinking
water, heating, lighting, accommodation for clothing,
seating (when required by the work activity), eating
and rest rooms. First aid arrangements are also
considered as welfare facilities.
Occupational or work-related ill-health – is
concerned with those illnesses or physical and mental
disorders that are either caused or triggered by
workplace activities. Such conditions may be induced
by the particular work activity of the individual or
by activities of others in the workplace. The time
interval between exposure and the onset of the
illness may be short (e.g. asthma attacks) or long
(e.g. deafness or cancer).
Environmental protection – arrangements to cover
those activities in the workplace which affect the
environment (in the form of flora, fauna, water, air
and soil) and, possibly, the health and safety of
employees and others. Such activities include waste
and effluent disposal and atmospheric pollution.
Accident – defined by the Health and Safety Executive
as ‘any unplanned event that results in injury or ill
health of people, or damage or loss to property,
plant, materials or the environment or a loss of a
business opportunity’.
Near miss – is any incident that could have resultedin an accident.
2.0 ORGANISATIONAL HSE REQUIREMENT
2.1 Occupational health and safety affects all
aspects of work. In a low hazard organization, health
and safety may be supervised by a single competent
manager. In a high hazard construction site or
manufacturing plant, many different specialists, such
as engineers (electrical, mechanical and civil),
lawyers, medical doctors and nurses, trainers, work
planners and supervisors, may be required to assist
the professional health and safety practitioner in
ensuring that there are satisfactory health and
safety standards within the organization.
2.2 The government or construction client who
commissions the work is a very important agent in the
drive for improved health and safety standards. He
should insist on good evidence of the health and
safety record and performance of a contractor at the
tendering stage and ensure that health and safety
standards are being met on site. He should also
require that all the people working on the site are
properly trained for their particular job.
2.3 There are many obstacles to the achievement of
good standards. The pressure of performance targets,
financial constraints and the complexity of the
organization are typical examples of such obstacles.
However, there are some powerful incentives for
organizations to strive for high health and safety
standards. These incentives are moral, legal and
economic.
3.0 OBJECTIVES AND BENEFITS OF HSE COMPLIANCE
3.1 The objective is to ensure that the risks to
health and safety of workers are properly controlled.
In terms of corporate responsibility, it is working
to encourage organizations to:
Improve health and safety management systems to
reduce injuries and ill health;
Demonstrate the importance of health and safety
issues at top management level;
Report publicly on health and safety issues
within their organization, including their
performance against targets.
3.2 The benefits of effective management of health
and safety:
Is vital to employee well-being;
Has a role to play in enhancing the reputation of
businesses and helping them achieve high-
performance teams;
Is financially beneficial to business.
3.3 Effective health and safety performance comes
from the top; members of the top management have both
collective and individual responsibility for health
and safety. They need to examine their own
behaviours, both individually and collectively,
against the guidance given, and, where they see that
they fall short of the standards it sets, to then
change what they do to become more effective leaders
in health and safety.
3.4 Why top management members need to act:
Protecting the health and safety of employees or
members of the public who may be affected by
their activities is an essential part of risk
management and must be led by the management.
Failure to include health and safety as a key
business risk in top management decisions can
have catastrophic results.
Many high-profile safety cases over the years
have been rooted in failures of leadership.
Health and safety law places duties on
organizations and employers, and top management
can be personally be liable when these duties are
breached. Members of the top management have both
collective and individual responsibility for
health and safety.
4.0 CONSTRUCTION BEST PRACTICES: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
4.1 Safety is implicit in best practice – and best
practice results in both time and cost benefits.
There is no bad safety –only bad safety management.
Safety management is a vital part of best practice
and through it both client and contractor benefit.
4.2 The key elements of a health and safety
programme are:
utilising the most stringent of governmental,
international and local requirements
involving senior level management
providing an on-site safety manager, certified in
the relevant Country
involving local health and safety personnel.
4.3 While the project is in preparation, the
following should be considered:
Contractor prequalification, including a
background check and insurance review
Pre-employment procedures, including drug and
alcohol screening and site safety orientation,
plus specific task orientation with a middle
management foreman
Employee training, including a suitable duration
of class time
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation/first aid emergency
procedures
The presentation of a job hazard analysis. This
allows the workers to organise their tasks
effectively by identifying hazards and preparing
a plan to control them
All protection and working in confined spaces –
the areas of most concern.
The beginning of the construction phase triggers
daily activities such as:
A crew safety meeting
Communication of health and safety information
among employees
Supervisor safety meetings, which devolve
accountability to front line supervisors.
4.4 Emergency plans must be established with
strategies in place for:
heavy lift activities
scaffold tagging, grounding [earthing]
barrier identification and tagging
100 per cent fall protection
hazardous materials labelling
hearing conservation and protection
respirator systems.
5.0 IMPLEMENTING GOOD PRACTICE CONTRACTOR HEALTH AND
SAFETY IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES.
5.1 The key issues are:
Communication – the need to be able to speak and
listen to local people in their own language, not
via interpreters
The local availability of suitably safe and
reliable equipment. In some cases, stopping work
due to refusal to accept substandard equipment,
though unpalatable, may be the best long term
solution
Community and/or government expectations for
infrastructure development and education or
training as part of the contract, with the
consequent widening of the extent of health and
safety issues to be managed, and the competent
resources required
The flawed assumption that health and safety
standards always need to be raised in the local
workforce.
5.2 For both clients and contractors, good practice
solutions include:
The use of a core, highly skilled, management
team which is familiar with, or can become
familiar with, local culture and expectations
Supplementing this with skilled local people,
training them elsewhere if necessary to ensure
that good practices are more readily transferred
The setting of high personal standards by
management team members, showing that all members
of the workforce are valued, and sharing a vision
for national and/or local development including
continuous health and safety improvement
Providing brief, practical and relevant training
related to daily hazards, rather than long
courses
Making sure that the local workforce feels
valued, for example by providing family welfare
facilities6.0 SAFETY IN FMW
6.1 The Safety & Security Management Division was
created by the present Head of Civil Service of the
Federation, Alhaji Goni Aji, OON, when he was the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry in 2011. The
Division is gradually ensuring that the Ministry is HSE
Compliant through its activities. Some of the
activities are:
a)Formation of Safety Marshalls for the Ministry: ASafety Marshal is a Federal Ministry of Works staffspecifically trained on Health & Safety and saddledwith the responsibility of ensuring the safety andsecurity of staff of the Ministry during emergency.
b)Conduction of quarterly drills for the SafetyMarshalls.
c)Conduction of evacuation drill for the Ministry.The Purpose of the Drills is to familiarize theoccupants of the building with the signals,evacuation routine, lock-down procedures and exits,so that in case of an emergency there shall be nohesitation or confusion in leaving the building.
d)Provision of insurance cover for the Ministry’sassets.
e)Conduction of regular fire risk assessment for theMinistry in conjunction with the Federal FireService.
f)Presently working with the major contractors towardensuring timely release of earth moving equipmentfor the opening of access ways during any nationalemergency like air mishap, flooding, etc as theMinistry is the lead agency for public works.
g)Regular release of safety and security tips to allstaff during festive periods.
h)Preparation of travel advisory and security surveyfor the Ministry’s staff participating in majorconferences outside Abuja.
i)Regular release of newspaper reviews on safety andsecurity issues in order to improve the safety andsecurity consciousness of staff especially in thelight of the present security challenges facing thecountry.
6.2 As HSE compliance requires top management
commitment, it is good to place on record that the
present Permanent Secretary has been very supportive of
the activities of the Safety & Security Management
Division by giving timely approvals and release of
funds for our programmes. We know that he will also
support us in our plans to commence the inspection of
project sites as HSE Compliance is one of the
conditions stated in the Ministry’s tender document to
be fulfilled by contractors before winning a contract.
7.0 CONCLUSION
7.1 It’s now generally recognised that health and
safety management should embrace – in a holistic way
– the interactions between the working environment,
equipment, systems and procedures, and the people in
the organisation. Effective risk management depends
partly on the behaviour of individuals in an
organisation.
7.2 A significant number of accidents can be traced
to unsafe behaviours. Poorly designed equipment or
operations, poor systems and poor working conditions
can all encourage unsafe behaviours, but these
behaviours are not inevitable. An organisation’s
attitudes and values regarding safe working are
important factors that influence its approach to work
and ultimately its health and safety performance. Put
another way, it’s not enough to provide safe
equipment, systems and procedures if the culture
doesn’t encourage healthy and safe working.
8.0 PRAYERS
The Conference is called upon to note the immense
benefit of implementing HSE Compliance to government,
the companies and the host community and approve as
follows:
1.The setting of up of Safety & Security Management
Division in all Ministries of Works in the
federation for the implementation of health and
safety programmes.
2.That all staff of the Ministries undergoes basic
health and safety courses.
3. That provision is made in all contracts as part
of Project Administration for ensuring HSE
compliance and to foster safety audits, impromptu
visits to ascertain unsafe acts and unsafe
conditions existing on sites in all projects.
4. Enough resources and time allocated for training
and competence development for the staff of
Safety & Security Management Division.
THANK YOU.
The Director
Central Workshop & Equipment
Federal Ministry of Works HQ
Abuja.
Sir
Re: DEPLOYMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND SAFETY
MARSHALLS TO THE MINISTRY.
Following the flag off of the “NEW
CENTENARY, CLEANER ENVIRONMENT” campaign by the
Government and the subsequent deployment of two
Specially Trained officers of the Environment Ethics
and Safety Corps saddled with responsibilities of
help raising the standard and sustainability of
environmental ethics, sanitation and hygiene in the
workplace through behavioural modification strategies
which would be of an immense importance and cannot be
overemphasised thereby helping to conserve the
environment in line with best practices, thereby
synergising and integrating them into MDA’s safety
Marshall activities is vital and a welcome idea
geared at contributing to Mr President’s
transformation Agenda in becoming among the top 20
economies in line with Vision 20- 2020, Hence the
need to support these activities as it relates
directly to health and wellbeing of the citizens in
the country is encouraged.
2. To this end, the following Environmental Ethics
and Safety Marshalls deployed to the Ministry namely
are:
i. Francis Okereke .O
ii. Isaac Janet
3. Apparently, to enable the deployed personnel
perform their duties effectively, it was extensively
debated that they will need to have some incentives
or welfare facility such that to enable them cater
for their transportation an feeding, and recommended
allowances further encouraging them to be dedicated
to providing services to the Federal Ministry of
Works and align with us.
4. For these reasons stated above it was proposed
that an allowance of N20, 000: 00 each was estimated,
thereby summing up to N40, 000:00(Forty thousand
naira only) proposed, or as deemed fit by management
to cater for their basic transportation for all and
sundry to support the workers upkeep enabling the
program to emerge successful.
5. Kindly accept the assurances of the Deputy
Director S&SM.
THANK YOU
.
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF WORKS
CENTRAL WORKSHOP AND EQUIPMENT DEPARTMENT
SAFETY & SECURITY MGT. DIVISION
17th April 2014
To: Honourable Minister
Permanent Secretary
All Directors
All Federal Controllers of Works
All Participants
CONFERENCE OF DIRECTORS OF ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENTS IN THE FEDERATION HOLDING IN
YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE FROM 21 ST – 25 TH APRIL 2014.
ADVANCED SURVEY AND TRAVEL ADVISORY.
The Safety & Security Management Division of
the Central Workshop and Equipment Department will
with delight welcome you to the aforementioned
Conference taking place in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State -
…………………………
S&SM are committed to continue working tirelessly to
ensure your health and safety throughout the
conference. We seek your continuous support and
cooperation during your stay.
THREAT OVERVIEW
Currently threat levels in Yenagoa are low.
Most Incidences reported recently are theft, armed
robbery, and kidnapping though few and mostly not
within the State Capital. Though events in Yenagoa
had been held, success stories had been attributed to
those events as they were concluded hitch freely.
On this regard we are optimistic and strongly
anticipate the overall success of the Conference.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Considering the manifestations of high levels
of Insecurity evident in most
Parts of the Country, the following pro-active
measures were put in place so as to ensure the safety
and security of participants at the conference.
Adequate provision of security operatives at
venues of the conference, lodges and strategic
security deployments wherever necessary.
Participants are advised to avoid disclosing
information of any kind to a strange or
unfamiliar persons
Ensure you carry along your valuables which
cannot be declared to the Hotel Mgt. i.e. don’t
leave valuables in the Hotel.
Desist from staying out late at night, late
nights can be volatile
Avoid travelling at night else whenever you have
to.
EMERGENCY HELPLINES
Director CW&E(FMW)……………………………08033331511
Director E&ESL(FMW)…………………………...080
LOC CHAIRMAN…………………………………08033102523
Federal Controller of works……………………….080
DDS&SM………………………………………….08063417490
DSS Control number……………………………...07038590975
Police Control number…………………………….08037104989
TRAVELLING BY AIR
Those travelling from Abuja/Lagos-Porthacourt from
20st & 21nd April 2014, Departures are:
Arik AIR Ovaland AIR
Sunday
Monday
Those travelling from Porthacourt to Abuja /Lagos on
25th & 26th April 2014, Departures are:
Arik AIR Ovaland AIR
Friday
Saturday
TRAVELLING BY ROAD
For those intending to travel by road it is advised
to start journeys very early in the morning so as to
avoid travelling at Night.
The Abuja-Lokoja-Okene-Auchi road is under
construction with heavy traffic to and from the
Southern part of the country. Heavy duty vehicles and
equipment ply the roads posing great hazard to road
users. Road accidents and robbery incidents were
recorded mostly at Nights.
Major Routes leading to Yenagoa are as follows:
I. Abuja-Lokoja-Okene-Auchi-Ugheli-Yenagoa.
II. Lagos-Ore-Ugheli-Yenagoa.
III. Ibadan-Akure-Ugheli-Yenagoa.
IV. Those from Eastern part will come through Owerri
V. Those from the North Eastern part shall Navigate
Lafia-Benue-Enugu-Owerri-Yenagoa.
NOTE: Those moving by road are advised to take off on
Sunday 20thApril 2014.
ROUTE INFORMATION
The road from the Onitsha to Owerri is a dualised
way, free from heavy traffic, with trailers and heavy
duty vehicles with commercial motorcyclist plying the
routes.
The road from shaganmu-Ore-Ugheli is characterised by
heavy traffic also plying the route. Lagos-shaganmu
overhead bridge traffic could be very tight and pose
serious traffic troubles.
CONFERENCE VENUE
The conference venue is Matho Crystal Hotel Ltd,
Osaje Hall Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The Hall is fully
conditioned and fortified with safety equipment and
adequate exits.
Welfare facilities, male and female restrooms, with
the Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, within the city
to enable cater for emergencies.
Adequate security has been deployed within and around
the venue and within the city to enable a hitch free
and safe event.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATION
Matho Crystal Hotel has been chosen as the major to
accommodate the dignitaries at the conference. Other
hotels recommended for your stay within the city of
Yenagoa. They are attached as annex 1.
SAFETY & SECURITY MGT. DIVISION WISHES YOU A SAFE & SECURE
CONFERENCE IN YENAGOA.
Engr F.O. Ebuzoeme
DD/S&SM Div.
Top Related