NEBOSH – Construction

Bruno Porter

02/07/23 1
Introduction

Construction
Demolition
Maintenance including Asbestos
Confined Spaces
Contractors

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Specific Law
 The Construction (Design & Management)
Regulations 1994 (CDM)
 The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare)
Regulations 1996 (CHSW) [See sheet]
 The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997
 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
 The Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974

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Construction Hazards
 Gravity – again!
 Exposed conditions – difficult to do any work!
 Unknown contractors
 Risk tolerant workforce

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Construction Hazards
 Ladders - Checklist in notes
 Consider ladder aides:-
Increase basal ‘area’
Increase support at top
Increase friction
 Other engineering aides
Hooks, eyes and ledges
 Hierarchy of control will reduce their use
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Construction Hazards
 Roofwork
Beware ‘short duration’
Sloping roofs
Flat roofs
Fragile roofs and fragile areas in load bearing roofs

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Construction Hazards
 Scaffolding
Providing safe working platform
Handrail at least 910mm
No gap greater than 470mm
Toeboard at least 150mm
 Elements removed
 Footing unsound, or made unsound

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Construction Hazards
 Scaffolding
Definitions in notes
Putlogs – only one set of uprights (standards) –
prone to falling outwards
Independent scaffold – must be tied into structure or
self supporting
Towers, independent or system built

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Construction Hazards
 Scaffolding - collapses
Lack of ties into structure, or they had been removed
Lack of bracing – parallelogram
Overload

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Construction Hazards
 Suspended access systems
Cradles / working platforms
Bosun’s chair
Absailing

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Demolition Hazards
 Type of contractors
 Type of workers
 Type of operations

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Demolition Hazards
 Characterised by:-
lack of planning
minimal capital investment
disinterested clients
 Must consider mechanical means first
 Hand demolition generally only ‘soft strip’
 Recycling / land fill tas has helped

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Excavations
 Gravity and friction
 All ground it ‘good ground’ – to the worker
 All ground can be ‘bad ground’ - add water
 Support sides or remove sides – angle of repose

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Excavations
 From what depth? – crushed by trunk or above
 Don’t forget falls from height
 Other services / disturbance
 Other buildings or trenches

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Excavations – Types of Support
 ‘No’ support, benching and battering
 Sheet piles
 ‘Hit and miss’
 Trench / drag boxes
 Trench boxes
 Proprietary systems

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Confined Spaces
 Definition in notes
 Can be anywhere – not just holes / tanks
 Excavations
 ‘reasonably foreseeable specified risk’
 Plan - assessment

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Confined Spaces
 Other Hazards
Emergency procedures
Lighting
Safe places of work
Communication
Lone working
Environmental stressors
The work in progress

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Confined Spaces
 Risk assessment
 Work prohibited (as per COSHH)
 Then hierarchy based
 Proper emergency plans – own (not 999)
 Training is essential

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Contractors
 Anyone engaged in work on your behalf
 Perception of ‘no control’
 Octel case
 Issues are:
specification
competence
control

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Contractors
 How far do I go?
 SFARP
 Method Statement
 You are paying the bill

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CDM - The Duty Holders
 Client
 Designer
 Planning Supervisor
 Principal Contractor
 Subcontractor

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Basics of CDM
 Client
 Design
 Planning
 Managing
 Competency

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CDM - Some terms
 Existing Information
 Designer Risk Assessments
 Pre-tender Health and Safety Plan
 Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan
 Construction Phase
 As Built Information
 Health and Safety File

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Clients' Duties
 The Client has duties and responsibilities
 Duty to appoint competent Designers
 Duty to appoint competent contractors
 Duty to allocate sufficient time and resource for
the construction

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Designers' Duties
 To tell the client of CDM
 Have adequate regard for the need to:
 Avoid foreseeable risks in construction. maintenance, cleaning and
use
 Combat risks to workers at source, both for construction phase and
during use
 To give priority to measures that protect all workers not just
individuals
 Include information on the building process, materials used etc. for
the builder
 Co-operate with Planning Supervisor and other Designers

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Planning Supervisor - Role &
Duties
 To collate and check* the design elements
 Put together the Pre-tender Health & Safety Plan
 Advise client as to competency of others
 Advise client that Construction Phase H & S
Plan is adequately developed to start work
 Review significant / fundamental changes in
design
 Collate as built drawings and prepare H & S File

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Contractors' CDM Duties
 Prepare Construction Phase Health & Safety Plan
 Check competency of Subcontractors
 Request and critically review method statements*
 Develop the plan, add & remove method statements as
necessary
 Pass 'as built' information to the planning supervisor

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Subcontractors' Duties
 Check their subbies competence!

 Produce method statements

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Problems with CDM / CHSW
 Application vs. Notification
 Designers' Duties
 Clients' Duties
 Fear - paperwork
 Confidence vs. back covering
 No CDM no safety

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Maintenance
 Interaction with others
Plant
Services
Workforce
 ‘Hidden hazards’
 Control essential (permits, etc.)
 See ‘contractors’

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Asbestos – an Overview
Types:
Chrysotile (white)
Crocidolite (blue)
Amosite (brown)
Others:
Anthophyllite (similar to amosite)
Tremolite
Actinolite

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ASBESTOS - History

Finland (strengthener for clay pots)

Romans (cloths and shrouds)
1878 - first mining operations
1880 - imported into England
1891 - Royal Navy’s first use
ASBESTOS - Uses
Asbestos cement building products
Lagging
Friction materials (clutch and brake linings)
Reinforcements
Joints
Felts
Paper
Underseals
Adhesives
ASBESTOS - Uses (cont’d)
Battery boxes
Floor tiles
Fillers
Fire resistant / mill boards
Pressure piping
Packings
Filter pads
Mastics
Coatings (paint and artex)
ASBESTOS - Health Effects
Asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs)
Lung cancer
Mesothelioma (cancer of the pleura and
peritoneum)

Other:
Cancer of the larynx
Cancer of the gastro-intestinal tract
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK - History
1931 Asbestos Industry Regulations (made
under S79, 1901 Factory & Workshop Act)
1969 Asbestos Regulations (made under the
1961 Factories Act)
1983 Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations (as
amended) (made under the 1974 Health &
Safety at Work etc Act)
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK - History

1987 Control of Asbestos at Work

Regulations (as amended) (made under
the 1974 Health & Safety at Work etc Act)
2002 ….. Control of Asbestos at Work
Regulations …..?
CONTROL OF ASBESTOS AT WORK
REGULATIONS 1987 (as amended)

Regulation 4: identification of type of asbestos

Regulation 5: assessment of work and plans of work
Regulation 6: notification of work with asbestos
Regulation 7: information, instruction and training
Regulation 8: prevention or reduction of exposure to asbestos
Regulation 9: use of control measures
Regulation 10: maintenance of control measures
CONTROL OF ASBESTOS AT WORK
REGULATIONS 1987 - cont’d

Regulation 11: provision and cleaning of protective clothing

Regulation 12: duty to prevent or reduce the spread of
asbestos
Regulation 13: cleanliness of premises or plant
Regulation 14: designated areas
Regulation 15: air monitoring
Regulation 16: health records and medical surveillance
Regulation 17: washing and changing facilities
Regulation 18: storage, distribution and labelling of raw
asbestos and asbestos waste
IMPROVEMENT NOTICES

Lead 4 Asbestos 26
IR 49 Noise 164
MH 126 COSHH 1077
DSE 14 Towers 4
Workplace 1438 Time 10
DEFERRED PROHIBITION NOTICES

Lead 0 Asbestos 8 IR 0

Noise 0 MH 0 COSHH 55

DSE 0 Towers 0 Workplace 4

Time 0
IMMEDIATE PROHIBITION NOTICES

Lead 1 Asbestos 228 IR 16

Noise 4 MH 4 COSHH 227

DSE 0 Towers 0 Workplace 59

Time 0
INFORMATIONS LAID

Lead 4 Asbestos 72 IR 23

Noise 0 MH 7 COSHH 29

DSE 0 Towers 5 Workplace 44

Time 0
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK - HSE
KEY NATIONAL OBJECTIVE 2001/2002
Objectives:
i) To give priority to:
work where uncontrolled dry stripping is planned
(presumption of enforcement action);
new licence holders whose work has not been
previously inspected;
priority visits to those who have been sent warning
letter by ALU;
those whose licences are set to expire within next 4
- 6 months (if not visited during previous 12);
OBJECTIVES 2001 / 2002
those where local knowledge suggest they are not
performing to standard, but who have not had letter
from ALU;
ii) Ensure employees who have to wear RPE
have been face-fit tested;
iii) Reduce the unjustified use of power tools;
iv) Reduce unjustified work in hot environments.
ASBESTOS - the Problem

Between the 1950s and the 1970s, asbestos

was used extensively in the UK as a building
material
Over 1.5 million premises contain asbestos
Thousand of tonnes of asbestos still remain in
buildings
Over 3,000 people die each year from
asbestos-related diseases
ASBESTOS - the Problem (cont’d)
25% of people who are now dying from
asbestos-related diseases once worked in trades
associated with construction and building
maintenance (Peto et al, 1995)
Asbestos regulations were aimed at asbestos
removers and those working in asbestos
factories
We need to ensure that all people who could
come into contact with asbestos accidentally are
properly covered
HSC / HSE PROPOSALS
A new regulation in the Control of Asbestos at
Work Regulations 1987 (which would become
the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations
2001)
A duty to manage the risks from asbestos
A new Approved Code of Practice to back up
the regulation and provide guidance to owners
of workplace buildings
WHAT WILL THE NEW REGULATION
REQUIRE?
 Take reasonable steps to identify asbestos materials
in a building - either do a full survey, assume all
unknown materials contain asbestos, or conclude
that they can’t contain asbestos (needs evidence);
 Record the location and type of asbestos materials
identified;
 Assess the condition of these materials;
 Assess the risk they present;
WHAT WILL THE NEW REGULATION
REQUIRE? (cont’d)

 Prepare a written action plan (to leave the

asbestos in place, to repair it or to remove it);
 Inform others of the location and condition of
the asbestos-containing materials;
 Carry out regular checks of the condition of
all asbestos-containing materials in buildings;
 Review and revise the plan as necessary.
 THE NEW DUTY
Who has the New Duty?
The person or body having control over the
situation giving rise to the risk in:

 The workplace; and

 The common areas of rented housing

Extended to all social rented housing?

WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?

 Leave the asbestos in place and introduce a

management system (if the asbestos is in
good condition, unlikely to be damaged
accidentally and there are no plans for a
major refit or refurbishment);
 Seal it or enclose it (if the condition of the
asbestos is not too bad);
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS? (cont’d)

 Remove it using licensed contractors where

necessary (if the asbestos is damaged, if it is
in poor condition, or if major work is planned
on the premises).
THE HEALTH & SAFETY (ENFORCING
AUTHORITY) REGULATIONS 1998

 Schedule 2 lists activities allocated to HSE for

enforcement, regardless of the main activity;
 This includes construction work in a
“physically segregated area”;
 Almost all asbestos removal works fall to HSE
to enforce, regardless of type of premises;
THE HEALTH & SAFETY (ENFORCING
AUTHORITY) REGULATIONS 1998
(cont’d)

 Proposed amendment will pass more work to

LA Inspectors relating to asbestos removal in
premises where they are the enforcers, eg
offices, shops, community centres,churches,
etc.