1. Give the stages of a general approach to risk assessment.

The general approach to risk assessment may include the following.

 Identification of risks
 Assessing risks
 Finding responses
 Implementing risks response plan
 Monitoring risks response plan

1. Why is it important for the contractors (Niche Homes in this case) to develop and
maintain emergency procedures?

Things can still go wrong even if controls have been applied, for this reason emergency
procedure for any foreseeable incidents must be in place. The Niche Homes contractor did not
follow regulation 30 of CDM to develop a plan for emergency. It is important for contractor to
develop emergency procedure not only to safeguard public from foreseeable incidents and harm
but also comply with rules in addition it is vital for contractors to avoid damage to human life,
property and loss of money.

1. Why is it important for students to be made aware of the emergency procedures?

It is important for students to be aware of emergency procedures since they live in the
premise. An incident can happen either that is fire, threat of bomb, gas leakage, or any
other emergency. In such cases it is important for students to act safely in emergency and
use the recommended procedures of emergency in the event of emergency. Knowing and
applying emergency procedure saves student’s live and the life of other fellow students.
 1. Why would it be important to have both visual and audible alarms in student
accommodation?

Emergency alarms needs to be both visual and audible, in case a human has some sort of
audible impairment he/she wouldn’t notice the sound of alarm and it is therefore
important to have visual displays that indicate the emergency within the building and that
its occupant safely exit the building.

1. What should be considered when identifying how many emergency exits there
should be?

The consideration should be given to the building size and its population. If the building
size is large, then many emergencies exit according to the building code must be provided.
If the population size is large, then two or more escape routes based on calculation is to be
provided. Also, two escape routes maybe provided for every building if one gets blocked
the other maybe operational to be used.

1. Why should emergency escape routes be marked?

Marking escape routes helps building occupants find the routes and its direction in the event of
emergency and building exit. If such marking is not provided, in the event of emergency the
building occupants may be stranded and clueless as in where to move and exit the building. In
such event the building occupants is likely to be harmed by incident.
 1. Demolition using hand tools can be efficient, requiring far less set-up time. Outline
the precautions that should have been in place during this work

Answer 1:

This worker should have followed the following precautions

 Since the worker was walking on the roof, there should have been body
harness tied to scaffold.
 For roof work, crawling boards may be required which should span the
purlins (horizontal timbers resting on the principal rafters, which support the
common or subsidiary rafters or boards on which the roof is laid).
 Harnesses and/or edge protection are needed if recovery of materials is
involved, e.g. slates, tiles.
 Strict observation of access/egress should be followed during the demolition
phase.
 A safe place of work must be provided, e.g. not the top of an unprotected
wall.

2. List the main hazards relating to demolition and deconstruction work.

Answer 2

 Premature collapse
 Falls and falling materials
 Plant and vehicles overturning
 Manual handline
 Dust & Fumes
 Noise & Vibration
 Existence of services
 Hazardous substances
 Dilapidation

3. There should have been a pre-demolition investigation and survey carried out prior
to the demolition of the building, to collect all relevant safety, health and
environmental information relevant to the site, to establish a safe system of work
 and a demolition plan.  Outline the issues the investigation and survey should have
considered.

Answer 3

 The type of structure and the method of construction

 The condition of the building and its structural system
 The dilapidation of the building
 The presence of hazardous material
 Identification of services if any
 Waste management
 Safe access in or around demolition site
 Establishment of site safety following demolition

4. A method statement should have been in place for this demolition project. This
would have determined the control measures required to ensure safe working. 
Outline what should have been included in the demolition method statement.

For this project the method statement should have included:

 The requirements for any protective equipment

 Selection and justification of the method of demolition
 Hazards associated with method selected
 Controls for the associated method

Question Related to Forum 6

Speaking after the hearing the HSE inspector said: “There were inadequate control measures in
place to segregate vehicles and pedestrians at the site and a lack of proper planning in terms of
construction workers’ access and egress to areas of the site.”

Question : Describe the controls that should be put in place on this site (if they are not
already) to manage vehicle movements and prevent incidents like this occurring in the
future.

Answer

At the HSE officer must have identified all the risks and provided necessary precautions
and must have been implemented. To that end, vehicle moments pose great risks to
workplace and is a big hazard.

Effective control measures to separate/segregate vehicles and pedestrians at site are as

follows:

 Vehicle barriers or the use of clear surface markings to show the separate routes.
These are particularly required outside exits from buildings where there is a risk of
pedestrians walking directly onto a road.

 Separate access for pedestrians such as a raised or railed-off footpath should be

considered where vehicles pass through doorways, under narrow bridges or
through narrow tunnels.

To manage vehicle movement and prevent incidents following measures should be in

place.

 Reversing

A control hierarchy for reversing could be followed:

Eliminate/reduce reversing by use of one-way systems and turning areas.

Ensure adequate visibility (good layout, good lighting, high-visibility clothing).

Use safe systems of work, a banksman for reversing and difficult manoeuvring, and
mirrors.
 Use warning devices (audible and visible).

Use traffic/warning lights at heavily used junctions, at blind exits, bends or designated
pedestrian crossings.

 Vehicle Parking

Sufficient and suitable parking areas should be provided for all vehicles using the site -
including employees’ and visitors’ private vehicles.

 Signs and Markings

Surface markings and road signs should be used to control vehicle movements.

 Signalling - Use of Banksman

Where vehicles are required to reverse, or operate in confined spaces such as loading bays,
the use of a person (banksman) to direct vehicle movements may be required. There are
standard hand and directional signals used for this,

 Loading and Unloading

Many accidents occur during loading and unloading activities. These can be reduced by
well-designed work areas and safe systems of work.

Working At Height Questions

1. Identify examples of work at height activities involving a risk of injury.

A few examples of work at height activities that involves risks of injury include;

 Working in vertical distance

 Working on fragile roofs
 Working on unprotected edges
 Poorly maintained access equipment
 Working at adverse weather condition in a flatforms
 Working on all types of roofs such as sloped, flat etc
 Falling materials from height
 Working at tunnels

2. Identify the main risks associated with work at height.

Main Risks are as follows.

Vertical distance: The vertical distance a person or object can fall will have a direct bearing
on the severity of injury or damage it can cause.

Roofs: Many accidents can occur during small jobs and maintenance work.

Sloping roofs: Falls from the edge of sloping roofs generally cause serious injury even
when the eaves are low as on a bungalow.

Flat Roofs: Work on flat roofs can lead to falls for example from a completed roof, roof
under construction, through openings and through fragile materials.

Deterioration of materials: Unsound materials pose hazards in two ways. Materials

breaking when a person puts their weight on it and the danger of materials breaking off
and falling to hit people or structures at lower levels.

Unprotected edges. The risks of falls or falling objects is greatly increased. This applies to
roofs, walkways, scaffolding and access platforms.
Unstable or poorly maintained access equipment: This includes scaffolding, towers,
platforms, and ladders. There are inherent risks with using such equipment but these are
compounded if the equipment is unstable, unsecured and not properly maintained.

Weather conditions: Rain or freezing conditions can increase the risk of slipping, high
winds can make access equipment unstable and blow loos materials off

Falling materials: Objects falling can cause considerable damage to both people and
other materials. This could be loose structural materials, tiles, bricks and timber, waste
materials, equipment or tools which are dropped.

3. Outline the risk prevention hierarchy as set out in the Work at Height (WAH)
Regulations 2005.  

 Avoid work at height

 Use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where work at height
cannot be avoided
 Use work equipment or other measures to minimize the distance and consequences
of a fall where the risk of a fall cannot be eliminated.

4. Describe two methods of avoiding working at height.   

Assembling components which can then be lifted into place is one way - using long-handled or
telescopic tools (e.g. for cleaning windows) offers an alternative. Prefabrication or ground-level
fabrication offers a way of reducing work at height e.g. assembly of roof trusses.

5. Identify the key hazards associated with the use of scaffolds.  

 Falls from the work platform

 Objects falling from the platform
 Collapse of the structures
6. Describe a boatswain’s chair and how it is used.  
A boatswain’s chair can be used for light, short-term work where there is no other practical
means of access. The chair consists of a seat, a suspension point and means for carrying
tools. The user should be attached to the chair by a harness to prevent falls. Control of
descent is by the user, based on the same techniques as abseiling, although there should
not be a single suspension point.

Chapter 8 – Musculoskeletal disorders

1. Discuss manual handling solutions the company might use to reduce the risk of
manual handling injuries to these individuals.

First of all the company should abide by the following regulations.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended).

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER).

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (Regulation 9 - Duties of Designers).

Secondly the company has to introduce the control measures for the following hazards
with manual handling.
  Failing to use a proper technique for lifting and/or moving an object or load.
 Moving loads which are too heavy.
 Failing to grip an object or load in a safe manner.
 Not wearing appropriate PPE.

Harms from the above hazards could result in:

 Back injuries
 Muscular problems
 Hernias
 Cuts abrasions and bruising
 Bone injuries
 Work- Related upper limb disorders

The control procedures for above problems has to be analyzed through TILE and effective
approved that conforms to regulations should be in placed.

Tasks

Individual

Load

Environment.

Element 9
 1. Identify the type of guard that should be put in place to ensure this sort of incident
does not occur again and outline how the guard works and its limitations.  

Answer 1: Based on the scenario explained, the company should have used adjustable guarding
system. Adjustable guards are guarding systems which require manual adjustment to give
protection. They are used on woodworking machinery, milling machines, lathes, drills and
grinders. Where it is impracticable to prevent access to the dangerous parts because they are
unavoidably exposed during use, e.g. the cutters on milling machines and the cutters of some
woodworking machines, the use of an adjustable guard may be permissible in conjunction with
other closely supervised conditions, e.g. a sound floor, good lighting and adequate training of the
operator.

An adjustable guard provides an opening to the machinery through which material can be fed,
the whole guard or part of it being capable of adjustment in order that the opening can be varied
in height and width to suit the dimension of the work in hand. It is essential in such cases that the
adjustment is carefully carried out by a suitably trained person. Regular maintenance of the
fixing arrangements is necessary to ensure that the adjustable element of the guard remains
firmly in place once positioned. The guard should be so designed that the adjustable parts cannot
easily become detached and mislaid

Limitation of Adjustable Guards.

Easily defeated

2. Explain the extent of information, instruction, training and supervision that might be
required to operate equipment such as a band saw.

The use of that equipment must be restricted to persons given the task of using it.

Any repairs, modifications, maintenance or servicing carried out on that equipment must be
undertaken only by competent and trained people who have been specifically designated to
perform the work.

Care must be taken regarding the use of that equipment in certain environments, e.g. confined
spaces.

All users of work equipment must be provided with adequate health and safety information,
either in writing or verbally, including information regarding specific risks associated with the
use of that equipment.
Written information:

Relates primarily to manufacturers’ manuals, warning labels, information sheets, etc. Will
normally only be required for more complex machinery.

Must be easily accessible.

Must be in a form which employees will be able to readily understand.

All persons who use work equipment should receive training on the equipment they are expected
to use and be aware of the health and safety implications, potential risks and precautions:

Young persons (those under the age of 18) should be given special consideration due to their
inexperience and immaturity, and be closely supervised by a competent person.

Managers, supervisors and maintenance staff must also receive adequate training in relation to
health and safety, the use of the equipment and risks entailed in its use.

Electricity 10

1. Describe the factors that would have influenced the severity of injury to the
workers.

Answer 1. In the above case the use of protective systems could have influenced the severity of
injuries. These are as follows.

Fuses - a weak link in the circuit.

Circuit breaker - a mechanical switch which automatically opens when the circuit is overloaded

Earthing - a low resistance path to earth for fault current.

Isolation - cutting the power.

Reduced low voltage - so that less current flows during an electric shock accident. Residual
Current Devices (RCDs) - sensitive and fast-acting trips.

Double insulation - separating people from the conductors using two layers of insulation.
 2. Under health and safety legislation, both workers should have been competent.
Give the definition of an ‘electrically competent person’.  

Answer 2.

According to the MHSWR 1999 the competent person is defined as.

A person is accepted as electrically competent person where he/she has sufficient training,
knowledge, experience, and other qualities. A competent person should be able to produce
evidence.

3. Explain what should have occurred before the employees started work on this
system.  

Answer 1. First of all, the a competent person should have been assigned to this task. A
competent person might have followed following steps.

1. Identify hazards, such as the load on the system, contact with live cables, burns,
electrocution, shocks, arcing and more
2. The competent person might have used proper testing equipment that has the
capacity to check the electricity in the cable.
3. The competent person might have found out from the service provider to know the
details of safe protective system and could have found through visual inspection
4. The competent person might have identified fuses, circuit breaker, RCDs, Isolation,
earthing and double isolation and could have benefited from their use.

Element 11
Introduction:

There are many reasons why fires start during construction activities. Some of the more
common ones are:

 Hot work - many construction tasks involve the use of propane torches and tar-boilers.   

 Electricity - faulty wiring, overloaded conductors and misused equipment are common.

 Smoking - especially carelessly discarded smoking materials and ….

 Deliberate ignition (arson).

Questions: 

1. Give the definition of arson as set out in criminal law.

2. Give reasons why persons might set a fire on a construction site.

Answer 1: Arson is defined as:” The act of intentionally or recklessly setting fire to another’s
property or to one’s property for some improper reason”.

Answer 2: Some possible causes are as follows.

 The location of the site in relation to other premises, schools, etc. or in an inner-city
location which makes it venerable
 The site is unsecured, without adequate perimeter fencing
 The site does not have security officer in attendance or doing patrols
 There is little or no security lighting
 Flammable or combustible materials are stored in unsecured areas close to the perimeter
of the site
 Former employees may have a grudge against the contractor or site management
 Attacks may be made by opportunists’ vandals, especially children during school
holidays