Health and Safety Plans: They can actually save lives!

Discussion in 'Principle Contractors in terms of OHS Plan' started by Neil Enslin, Mar 17, 2015.

  1. Neil Enslin

    Neil Enslin Moderator

    Introduction
    In essence, a person does not have to exert much effort to die in construction, as the construction process and its activities entail exposure to hazards and risks. However, it is not inherently dangerous as strategies, systems, procedures, and protocol can eliminate, or at the very least, mitigate, accidents (failures of management). Health & Safety (H&S) plans are an integral part of the aforementioned.
    Furthermore, H&S plans are a hallmark of better practice H&S prior to the promulgation of the 2003 Construction Regulations and the revised version in 2014.

    Planning

    Planning is one of the five functions of management work, the others being: organising, leading, controlling, and coordinating. Then, planning is a hallmark of the built environment and relevant to all built environment disciplines. In terms of construction, the maxim ‘construction is 80% planning and 20% execution’ is an understatement. Furthermore, ‘H&S does not happen by chance, it must be planned’. Plan your work – work your plan!

    However, there are many facets to ‘planning for construction H&S’. Completeness of design facilitates construction planning for H&S. Then, design hazard identification and risk assessments (HIRAs), a form of planning, are required to mitigate the use of hazardous materials and undertaking of hazardous processes. Such design HIRAs are a prerequisite for preparing H&S Specifications, which should include residual hazards and risks – ie those remaining after conducting HIRAs. Designers may also need to prepare ‘design and construction’ method statements that inform (among other reasons) with respect to temporary works and related interventions to assure the integrity of temporary works and the related permanent structures.

    In terms of the 2014 Construction Regulations, clients are required to provide designers with an H&S specification based upon a baseline risk assessment (BRA), which should also include their requirements. Designers in turn are required to provide clients with a ‘designer’ report. Although the 2014 Construction Regulations do not require the ‘designer’ H&S specification to be amended based on the designers’ reports, theoretically it should be, prior to providing the principal contractor (PC) with a PC H&S Specification. PCs’ and contractors’ H&S Plans should respond to such H&S Specifications and should reflect in the tender documentation (eg in the form of budgeting). However, adequate financial and other resource budgeting is not facilitated by the competitive tendering system, the obvious solution being the inclusion of comprehensive H&S preliminaries.

    Construction planning for H&S commences during the pre-tender stage, followed by the pre-contract stage, which provides the foundation for construction stage planning for construction H&S. Pre-tender and pre-contract HIRAs, pre-tender H&S Plans (not required in terms of the Construction Regulations), programmes, site layouts, generic method statements, and temporary works designs are obvious focus areas for integrating construction H&S into the future construction process. Following adjustments during the pre-contract phase, the aforementioned need to translate into daily actions such as HIRAs, focused planning of construction activities, and coordination.

    Conclusion
    H&S Plans are intended to be a working document and a guide (plan) to prevent accidents (failures of management). They are not intended to be voluminous, but concise and specific – a plan of action (POA). They are also not intended to be the product of ‘copy and paste’. Furthermore, and regrettably, many H&S Specifications are a regurgitation of the Construction Regulations and do not schedule client requirements, residual risk, and ‘design and construction’ method statements. The aforementioned do not promote the development of appropriate H&S Plans. H&S Plans are ultimately an integral part of Construction Management.

    Professor John Smallwood
    Department of Construction Management,
    Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)



    Sources: http://www.tobuild.co.za/viewonline...and-safety-plans-they-can-actually-save-lives
     
  2. Change Agent

    Change Agent Guest

    Once again I find one person sharing my views.
    I do however wish to add a comment on the effectiveness of the H&S Plan. If the Client's H&S Specification does not "specify" the plan will not have any effect.
    As to the process, and the "no-requirement" of the Construction Regulations, one need to look at the CHS Agent Scope of Services. This document refers to two "draft" documents; the BRA and the H&S Specification. The "draft" is then updated for inclusion in the tender once the Design Development (Stage 3) is completed.
    Whenever a change in design, or scope or works program occurs, the PC RA and H&S PLAN needs to be reviewed and updated. Some of these "updates" may also contain a cost component, which should be added into the contract price.

    Judging from feedback of the 500 odd engineers, CM's and PM's attending the various courses I have presented on this topic in the last 12 months, very few "clients", which includes government departments, local authorities and even large corporate companies, have actually made any effort to include H&S in the P&G's of the tenders. None so far as included the H&S Specification in the contract data, and the bulk still only issue the specification "after the contract".
    Some large corporations, even multi-national companies, still issue documents under the 2003 regulations.

    Our biggest challenge in H&S is not the profession. It is the clients and their low level of compliance that obstructs others from doing what they are legally required to do.
     
  3. Neels Nortje

    Neels Nortje Moderator

    "Our biggest challenge in H&S is not the profession."

    What profession are you referring to?

    Regards
     
  4. Change Agent

    Change Agent Guest

    The H&S Profession?
    I thought this would be obvious.