INGENIEUR
OSHCIM Guidelines recommend employers,
namely designers and contractors, to take into
account these principles in carrying out their
duties. Applying these principles at the planning
and design stages will enable the client, the
designer and the contractor to actively manage
the risk, and integrate control measures in the
design process to avoid or, if this is not practicable,
minimise risks to safety and health throughout the
life of the structure being designed.
Site safety can be affected by the design
safety. Design safety should be part of a wider
set of design objectives, including practicability,
aesthetics, cost and functionality. Sometimes,
these competing objectives need to be balanced
in a manner that does not compromise the safety
and health of those who work on or use the
product over its life. For example, closer attention
should be given to the design and selection of
tools, equipment and materials that, as far as
practicable, avoid or minimise the risks to safety
and health. Safety and health, above all others,
especially cost of the project, should be the
overriding consideration.
2. Appointing the right organisations and
people at the right time
Appointing the right organisations and individuals
to complete a particular project is fundamental
to its success, including safety and health
performance. In fact, the performance of any
construction project is a function of every
employer, organisation and individual that make
up its construction team. Therefore, it is imperative
that any employer who appoints another employer
should ensure those appointed are competent,
and vice versa, any employer should not accept the
appointment unless he is competent. Similarly,
any employer should not instruct his workers to
carry out or manage, design or work unless they
are competent.
Appointing designers and contractors
Any employer, such as the client, responsible for
appointing designers or contractors to work on a
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project should ensure that those appointed have
the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out
the work in a way that ensures safety and health.
If those appointed are an organisation, they
should also have the appropriate organisational
capability. Those making the appointments should
establish that those they appoint have these
qualities before appointing them. Similarly, any
designers or contractors seeking appointment as
individuals should ensure they have the necessary
skills, knowledge and experience.
Key persons in a construction project should
be appointed at the right time. For example, the
client should appoint designers and contractors
as soon as practicable and before the start of
the construction phase, so they have sufficient
time to carry out their tasks to plan and manage
the pre-construction and construction phases
respectively.
Contractors appointing anyone for work on a
construction site
When contractors appoint sub-contractors to
carry out work on a construction site, they should
make sure that those they appoint have, or are in
the process of gaining, the right skills, knowledge,
training and experience. Not everyone will have
these qualities and, if they do not, appointments
should be made on the basis that they are
capable of gaining them. Specifically, the
Factories and Machinery (Building Operations
and Works of Engineering Construction) (Safety)
Regulations or BOWECS require the contractor or
the employer to appoint Professional Engineer to
design several plants used during construction,
namely:
1. formwork and falsework structures 4 for
beams, floors and roofs (refer reg. 30(4));
2. catch platforms during demolition work
(refer reg. 43(2));
3. chutes exceeding 12 metres in height (refer
reg. 47(5));
4. runways and ramps for vehicles (refer reg.
58);
5. metal tube scaffold exceeding 40 metres
in height and other scaffold exceeding 15
metres in height (refer reg. 75(1));
where the floor to ceiling height exceeds 9.14 metres or where the formwork deck is supported by shores constructed in two
or more tiers, or where the dead, live and impact loads on the formwork exceed 732.2 kgf per square metre.
VOL
2018
VOL 76
55 OCTOBER-DECEMBER
JUNE 2013