Investigation at site of collapsed factory structure
The five essential elements to good
management of OSH on construction sites are
derived from the lessons learnt from previous
accidents and good management practices of
construction projects. Managing site safety should
be a shared responsibility among all employers in
the project’s supply chain, especially the client,
the designer and the contractor. Every employer
in each phase of a construction project — from
conception, design, procurement, construction,
start up, future maintenance to the use of the
building, including demolition — is recommended
to take responsibility for every risk he creates.
The proceeding paragraphs briefly explain these
five important elements.
1. Principles of risk management and
prevention
These set out the principles which all employers
should use in their approach to identify the practical
measures they should take to control the risks in a
particular project. A risk management process is a
systematic way of making a workplace as safe as
possible and it should also be used as part of the
design process. It involves hazard identification,
risk assessment, risk control and the review of
control measures. Part of the risk assessment is to
determine who will be affected by the work activity.
Person at risk should also include workers who
are not directly involved with the work activity, but
workers that possibly move around the site.
General guidance on the risk management
process is available in the Guidelines for Hazard
Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control
(HIRARC) 2008 by the Department of Occupational
Safety and Health (DOSH) and industry specific
guidance can be sought from the Handbook on
Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk
Control (HIRARC) 2015 by the Master Builders
Association Malaysia (MBAM). It is noteworthy
that OSH risk management should be an active
process, and not be treated merely superficially as
a paper exercise to comply with the law.
The principles of prevention can be
summarised as:
(a) avoid risks where possible;
(b) evaluate those risks that cannot be
avoided; and
(c) put in place proportionate measures that
control them at source.
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