Health And Safety Flashcards
What is the HSE?
Health and safety executive
The national independent watchdog for work related health, safety, and illness
It acts in the public interest to reduce work related death and serious injuries across the U.K.’s workplaces
How does the HSE improve safety?
- ensures risks in the changing workplace are properly controlled
- helps businesses adapt to change in occupational health and safety law
How long should health and safety data be kept?
Health and safety data should be technically kept forever due to information such as asbestos exposure which could be required to monitor long-term illnesses
40 years for COSHH
What is a construction phase health and safety plan?
A plan developed during the construction phase by a contractor, to demonstrate how the building will be built from a safety perspective
What are the key principles of COSHH?
- The control of substances hazardous to health
- requires employers to prevent or reduce workers exposure to substances such as chemicals, dust, fumes, gases
What is corporate manslaughter?
An organisation can be guilty of corporate manslaughter if the activities of that company cause a persons death, and if this amounts to breach of relevant duty of care owed by the organisation
What is the biggest cause of long-term health issues in the construction industry?
Breathing in hazardous dust and fumes
Which type of accident kills the most construction workers?
Falls from height
What is the minimum height of the main guard rail on scaffolding?
950mm
What is the Beaufort scale? What does it measure?
Wind speed
What is the considerate constructors scheme?
A non-for-profit independent organisation to improve the image of the industry
Aim to promote best practices in terms of site operations, delivery standards, and insures construction benefits the surrounding neighbourhood and community
What are the main assessment categories within the considerate constructors scheme?
Care about appearance
Respect the community
Protect the environment
Care about safety
Value their workforce
When are visitors or workers most likely to have an accident on a construction site?
When they first start on that site; they are unfamiliar with the site
When you last visited a construction site, what considerations did you give to your own health and safety?
- Wearing PPE
- Attending site inductions
- Adhering to contractors site rules
- Reporting any issues to site management
You are going to complete a site valuation on your own.
What do you do before leaving the office?
- inform my manager where I’m going, who am I meeting, and suggest a time I would be due back in the office
- Ensure I have contacted the site manager to make them aware of my visit, and check I have the correct PPE to visit that site
What health and safety hazards have come across on your projects?
- Impact of site traffic
- Poor lighting
- Slips, trips & falls
- working at height
- noise
What legislation are you aware of with regards to health and safety?
- Health and safety at work act
- Management of health and safety at work regulations 1999
- COSHH regulation
- RIDDOR
What is the health and safety at work act 1974?
- The main legislation for health and safety in UK workplaces
- Outlines responsibilities of employers and employees to ensure working environments are safe
- Covers all workplaces; not just construction
- Insure employer must do everything within reason to provide a safe and healthy workplace
What is RIDDOR?
- The reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations (2013)
- Ensure employers correctly report and record injuries and incidents that happen at the workplace
- The regulation is important as employees responsible for negligence and bad practice
- Helps the HSE identify where and how risks are arising, so they can prevent similar occurrences happening
What would you do if you found an injured person on site?
- Raise the alarm and call for help
- Help if possible, but do not put myself in danger
What risks could be presented within our work environment in the office?
- Manual lifting
- Slips, trips and falls
- Burns, e.g. coffee machine
What risks could be presented within our work environment on site?
- Slips, trips and falls
- Asbestos
- Manual lifting
- Moving machinery
- Noise
- Working at height
Can you name some of the health and safety issues associated with an enclosed site?
- slips, trips and falls over stored materials
- Tight delivery entrances
- Equipment and machinery moving in close proximity
What is a prohibition notice and what happens if one gets served to the site?
- a prohibition notice is served to sites to tell the contractor to stop an activity for safety reason
- The site should not resume activity until action has been taken to remove or control the risk
What is a CSCS card?
- construction skills certification scheme
- Provide proof the individuals working on construction sites are qualified and trained to work there
- Improves standards of safety on UK construction sites
What kind of PPE would you require for site?
- Hardhat
- High vis vest
- Steel cap boots
- Safety glasses
- Gloves
- Chinstrap
How are risks recorded and controlled on site?
Through a risk assessment and method statement
What is the health and safety file?
- A document that covers all relevant health and safety for a project, from construction, use, cleaning, maintenance, and demolition
- It is required as part of the CDM regulations, and should be collated by the principal designer
- Also required under the management of health and safety at work regulations 1999
What should be included in the health and safety file?
- project description and overview
- Hazard still on site, e.g. asbestos
- Structural information, e.g. safe working loads
- Safe operation and maintenance
- Safe removal and demolition
- Location of services
- As built drawings and specifications
When is the employer required to have written a health and safety policy in the UK?
When they employ more than five people
When is a project notifiable?
- Last more than 30 days
- More than 20 people on site at any one time
- Exceeds 500 person days
Who issues the F10?
The clients responsibility, but can be delegated to the principal designer or health and safety advisor
What does RAMS stand for?
Risk assessment and method statement
What is a method statement?
- Details the way works should be completed
- Outlines the hazards and includes a step-by-step guide on how to execute tasks safely
What is meant by risk assessment?
- Identify hazards
- Measure the risk
- details the risk can be reduced
What is the hierarchy of health and safety risk control?
Most effective -
Elimination
Substitution
Engineering
Administration
PPE
- Least effective
What are the three most common types of asbestos?
- Crocidolite - straight blue fibres
- Amosite - brown asbestos
- Chrysolite - long curly fibres, usually white
What do you do if you find asbestos on site?
- Stop working immediately and ensure the area is safe
- Report to the site manager
- Asbestos will then need to be tested by a competent person
Which regulations are applicable to asbestos?
- asbestos prohibition 1999
- Control of asbestos regulation 2012
What are the different types of asbestos survey?
- Asbestos refurbishment and demolition survey
- Asbestos management survey
What is an asbestos management plan?
- details how asbestos should be managed
- Details how to ensure people remain safe from asbestos exposure
What should an asbestos management plan include?
- Who is responsible for managing asbestos
- The asbestos register, identifying the location and type of asbestos
- A plan of action, what is happening with the asbestos
- Register of decisions made to manage, remove or encapsulate the asbestos
Where is asbestos commonly found?
- Floor and ceiling tiles
- Artex or screed
- Insulated boards
- Insulation
What are the main health conditions associated with asbestos?
- Asbestosis
- Lung cancer
- Mesothelioma
Are you aware of any policies with regards to practising surveying safely?
- The RICS surveying safely guidance
Can you summarise the RICS surveying safely guidance?
- Outlines personal responsibilities for RICS members
- How to assess risks and hazards
- Covers guidance on what members should consider when working in various environments
- How to ensure health and safety is managed during site visits
- Covers the concept of the “safe person”
Can you please elaborate on the concept of the “safe person” in the RICS surveying safety guidance note?
- each individual assumes responsibility for their own, their colleagues’, and others’ health and safety while at work
What is preconstruction information?
- information forms part of tender documentation
- makes contractors aware of the potential health and safety requirements for projects
What might be included in the preconstruction information?
- environmental risks
- Existing site risks
- Significant design and construction hazards
- Health and safety
- Any survey information
What are the CDM regulations?
- Construction (design and management) regulations 2015
- The regulations ensure clients, designers and contractors all consider health and safety throughout projects
- duties on clients, contractors and designers to plan, manage and coordinate health and safety throughout projects for a safe delivery
What are the key roles under the CDM?
- Client
- Principal designer(s)
- Principal contractor(s)
What is the role of the principal designer?
- To influence how health and safety is managed throughout the project
- Ensures they make design decisions that have a significant influence for on-site workers
- Allows them to plan, manage and monitor health and safety in the preconstruction phase
- Enables them to consider health and safety to eliminate risks
- Allows them to liaise with the principal contractor to inform them of risks that need to be controlled during construction
When does the principal designer get involved?
They would usually get involved from the start of the preconstruction phase through to completion
The principal designer role may change throughout the RIBA Plan of Work
What is the role of the principal contractor?
- managers health and safety during construction
- Ensures, they taken into account health and safety risks to everyone that may be affected by their work, including the public public
- Ensures all workers have completed site inductions
- Ensures they prepare and develop a construction phase plan
- Ensures they take necessary steps to secure the site to unauthorised personnel
What is the role of the client under CDM?
- makes suitable arrangements for managing their project
- Provides preconstruction information
- Ensures principal contractor has prepared construction phase plan
- Ensures principal designer prepares health and safety file
What is the purpose of a site induction?
- Tell new workers and visitors about safety rules and controls
- Inform new workers and visitors about hazards they may be exposed to
- Inform about key members of the team, for example, first aider, site manager
- Shows new personnel where everything is, for example toilets and cabins
What happens if a member of the public was hurt from construction activities?
- The accident needs to get reported to the HSE by the responsible person
Who is the responsible person in the HSE?
A competent individual that ensures health and safety regulations are adhered to
A competent person is someone who has the necessary training and expertise to allow them to carry out the role effectively
What year is the Health and Safety at Work Act?
1974
What provisions are available in buildings for fire safety?
- fire alarms and beacons
- fire execution plans
- fire extinguishers and blankets
- fire escapes
How did the coronavirus pandemic affect health and safety on sites?
- one way systems round site
- sanitiser and face masks
- limited persons on site where possible
- adhering to social distancing
Did the coronavirus affect any of your projects?
- There were a few claims for delays due to the lockdown but once safe working measures were put in place the delays were reduced