Posts Tagged ‘Safety’

Emergency Plan & Safety Programs a Must Say New York Construction Accident Lawyers

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Emergency Plan & Safety Programs a Must Say New York Construction Accident Lawyers

Construction accidents are bound to occur due to dangerous work conditions, hazardous materials, risky maneuvers, and severe weather elements. The basic nature of construction work involves working with machinery, equipment, and materials provide a basic threat to the safety of any individual working on site. The fact of the matter is that tools are sharp and construction sites are full of dangers lurking at every corner. Construction workers are human, and human are full of error despite what some may say. It is inevitable that injury is going to happen; therefore the best plan to attack and take care of this situation is to have an emergency plan in place. An emergency plan will provide the construction site with detailed instruction on what to do in case of emergency. Having an emergency plan of action will also provide those to where the nearest hospital and heart pumping machined is. This plan will also help to aid other construction workers to help the one who is injured by providing them with certain scenarios on what to do when immediate attention is needed. Upon creation of the plan, start of a new project, or upon a new hire, a training program providing detailed information about the emergency plan will be executed.

As well as an emergency plan all employees should go through a safety programs that hits and touches basis on all the up to date safety standards and regulatory measures that should be complied with at a construction site. This way an individual construction worker will be able to see if their management and construction company are following all standards and regulations. There will be a contact number to the state compliance board so that anyone can anonymously inform the right people that all regulatory measure will be complied with. Along with these weekly meetings will be enforced so that anyone can bring up any concerns that they have with the way that things are being operated. If these measures of safety are implemented on construction sites nationwide, the number if construction site accidents will decrease.

If you are currently working at a construction site where these types of measures are not being implemented, try talking to your employer. If your employer is a little wary talk to them about the advantages of this system showing them that in the long run it will save them money and obtain a better reputation. Companies who value the safety of their employees have far better reputations because there are fewer accidents. If you have in fact been injured while working at a construction site, contact New York Construction Accident Lawyers. New York construction lawyers have the experience in dealing with large insurance companies, conglomerates, and the government. They are ready and willing to discuss your case with you to determine how you should proceed with your case. Don’t let your injury caused by the negligence of your construction company take over your life causing high medical expenses, a loss of wages, and pain and suffering to occur.

Paul Justice gives advice to clients who are looking for attorneys to handle injury related cases such as construction accidents and medical malpractice. To know more about the services of Bronx construction accident lawyer, New York Construction Accident Lawyers and construction accident attorney New Jersey

visit www.nbrconstructionlawyer.com

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Pedestrian And Public Safety At Construction Sites

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Pedestrian And Public Safety At Construction Sites

Construction sites require a rigorous amount of care and vigilance from workers in terms of health and safety. Many accidents and even some fatalities happen to workers each year which could have been avoided through proper application and awareness of on-site safety procedures.

Pedestrian and public safety is just as vital. Many construction sites are within close proximity to areas where the public operate, requiring rules and safety procedures which are equally as vital as for the construction workers on site.

Some of the hazardous elements for pedestrians on construction sites are construction cranes carrying heavy loads, uneven surfaces, falling objects, collapses, heavy machinery and hazardous substances. Every piece of machinery and equipment used on a construction site has specific instructions regarding set up and maintenance, not only for the safety of the people working on the construction site but also the public. When equipment is used and maintained properly, workers and the public will benefit from greater safety.

Public awareness
Pedestrians should always exercise caution when in the vicinity of construction sites; however the first step towards construction safety of pedestrians should be making the public aware of danger.

All sites should display clear signs which are visible to pedestrians, indicating that construction is in progress along the perimeter of the site and at any entrance to the site. At entrances to sites, a sign should also be displayed indicating that the area after the entrance is a hard hat area, requiring the use of a safety construction hat at all times.

Common sense can save lives and if pedestrians are aware of danger, common sense will generally keep most of the public out of harms way.

Fencing off the perimeter
Fencing off a construction site is vital to public safety, and keeping all work inside the perimeter is equally as important.

If hazards are kept inside a fenced location, pedestrians should remain safe. When cranes are lifting heavy materials to deposit on the site, the cranes should not move the material over any space that is not cordoned off. If a crane needs to move a load out of the site regularly, the areas directly below where the crane will be moving its load should be blocked to the public in case anything falls from the crane.

Falling Objects
An object as small as a billiard ball can kill a person instantly when dropped from the immense height of a crane. The same applies for objects falling from the sides of buildings or any type of scaffolding. Whilst the public should be reasonably far from any high scaffolding and danger areas due to those areas being blocked off, construction workers are still required to keep tools on their belts and refrain from leaving any objects close to the edges of buildings or lying on scaffolding walkways.

Public convenience and safety
There are instances when carrying out construction work in very public areas cannot be avoided. Some areas cannot be cordoned off, such as freeways.

In such instances, it is usual practice for the construction company working on the site in question to contact the local council to organise a closure of the busy area at a time when the number of pedestrians and members of the public is less. For example, work carried out on closed train tracks and freeways during the night allows for heavy duty construction to take place without worry of hazard to the public and will not cause problems with traffic congestion and train schedules.

Uneven surfaces
Another element hazardous to members of the public from construction work is uneven and dangerous surfaces and terrain. When work is carried out on the ground, the safety of the public is threatened by the uneven and collapsible terrain. To avoid pedestrians being unable to access the areas needed and causing inconvenience, and to provide safe passage through the dangerous situations on the ground, scaffolding should be erected over the ground for the public to walk on.

Access scaffolding will allow the public to walk across areas which have very uneven surfaces and holes without the risk of injury or death through falling.

Construction safety is crucial in completing a successful project and should always take the safety of the public into account as much as the safety of construction workers by using strict rules and enforcing compliance from construction workers and the public, injuries and fatalities can be avoided to a great extent. Construction work is an incredibly important part of the evolution of the world and its infrastructure, yet is a very dangerous enterprise, making public and pedestrian safety in and around construction sites extremely important at all times.

Cape Formwork Contractors (CFC) are a scaffolding and formwork company in Cape Town who use workers fully trained in construction safety, making use of safety features such as access scaffolding, adhering strictly to the OHS Act & SANS 10085 and are fully invested in keeping the public safe from harm during construction operations.

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Construction Health and Safety

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Construction Health and Safety

On the 6th of April 2007 the government introduced The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations which are designed to improve the general safety of construction sites and cut down on the number of accidents experienced during construction projects.

This new set of regulations will replace two predecessors – The CMD Regulations 1994 and The Construction (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996. Any outdated regulations were updated before the two sets were consolidated into a single new set of rules and guidelines.

Despite advances in construction and communication technology construction sites are still considered to be unnecessarily dangerous working environments, with around one third of all workplace fatalities occurring in construction and many thousands of injured occurring during construction projects each year.  These injuries and deaths have a wide reaching significant impact with colleagues, family, friends and of course the unfortunate individual, not to mention the possible legal implications for the construction company involved.  

The primary aim of the new regulations is to build construction health and safety into every stage of building projects from start to finish. The regulations apply to everyone involved with a construction project and stipulate that each must take account of health and safety. This starts with the Client who commissions the construction works and includes Designers, Principle Contractors, Contractors and Construction Workers.

Another aim of the new regulations is the discouragement and removal of all unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy which are since as a major contributing factor in construction injuries and fatalities. By eliminating hazards at the earliest stages of design and focussing effort where it will be most effective the new regulations should allow for more attention to be paid to important on site issues.

Whilst these benefits of the new CDM regulations clearly apply to construction companies, construction workers and other related professions, many of them also impact directly on clients who either do their own small scale construction and maintenance work or contract it out to others.  If a person believes the new regulations do not affect them because they are not involved in the construction industry then they are probably wrong. For example, if the person has responsibility for any property that requires occasional maintenance work then, as the Client, they are required to comply with some very specific duties.

Within the new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations a domestic client is defined as anyone who lives, or will live in the premises where the construction work is carried out. Although a domestic client does not have construction health and safety duties under the CDM Regulations 2007 anyone employed by them on a construction project will.  

Other roles also have defined duties under the new CDM regulations, for example:

Designers – this includes any person responsible for any part of the design work such as Architects, Project Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Engineers, Interior Designers or anyone else who is traditionally employed on the design stage of a construction project as a “contractor”. Principal Contractor – this is the key duty holder responsible for including health and safety compliance in the overall planning, effective management and coordination of the construction phase. Contractor – this includes any person who carries out or manages construction work as part of their business activities.

If a person is in doubt about the specific implications of the new CDM Regulations on their own construction project and require guidance about their own responsibilities, it would be advisable to employ the services of professional construction health and safety consultants.

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