CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (COSH) - NOTES
IMPORTANT LAWS/ORDERS/DECREES
OSH LEGISLATION HISTORY
1. PD 442 – Labor Code of the Philippines (1974)
2. Occupational Safety and Health Standards (1978)
3. Department Order No. 13 (1998)
Guidelines Governing OSH in the
Construction Industry
4. Department Order No. 198-18 (2018)
Implementing Rules and Regulations of
Republic Act No 11058 - An Act
Strengthening Compliance with
Occupational Safety and Health
Importance of Occupational Safety & Health
What is Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)?
Occupational safety and health is a discipline
with a broad scope involving three major fields:
Occupational Safety
Deals with understanding the causes of accidents
at work and ways to prevent unsafe act and
unsafe conditions in any workplace.
Safety at work discusses concepts on good
housekeeping, proper materials handling and
storage, machine safety, electrical safety, fire
prevention and control, safety inspection, and
accident investigation.
Occupational Health
A broad concept which explains how the
different hazards and risks at work may cause an
illness and emphasizes that health programs are
essential in controlling work related and/or
occupational diseases.
Industrial Hygiene
Discusses the identification, evaluation, and
control of physical, chemical, biological and
ergonomic hazards.
CONSTRUCTION SITE PREMISES
SIGNS OF POOR HOUSEKEEPING
1. cluttered and poorly arranged areas
2. untidy or dangerous storage of materials
3. presence of items no longer needed or in excess
4. dusty, dirty floors and work surfaces
5. tools and equipment left in work areas
6. no waste bins and containers
7. presence of spills and leaks
Disadvantages of Poor Housekeeping
• Low Morale
• Low Productivity
• Fire
The 5S of Good Housekeeping
• Seiri (Sort/eliminate)
• Seiton (Systematize/organize)
• Seiso (Sweep/clean/polish)
• Seiketsu (Sanitize/standardize)
• Shitsuke (Self-discipline/ training
Factors that Contribute to the Occurrence of Accidents in
the Construction Industry
a) Fall from heights is the predominant causes of
accidents
b) Lack of supervision for workers working at
heights
c) Workers lack awareness on OSH
d) Workers have limited trainings
e) Due to lack of training, workers
i. build improper temporary structures
ii. tolerate improperly guarded floors
iii. work with unstable/unsecured/
scaffolds
iv. use defective equipment
f) Accident reports lack relevant information
g) Proper investigations are hardly conducted
RECOMMENDATIONS
Policy Makers and Enforcers
• Strict enforcement of DO 13
• Strict implementation of reporting mechanism
and revision of report form
• Continuous development of Construction Safety
Training
• Research on KAP
Employers and Construction Companies
• Compliance to DO 13
• Provision of adequate trainings and information
• Supervision on works at heights
• Provision of adequate access and egress in
construction sites
• Conduct of accident investigation3) Employees
and Workers
CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (COSH) - NOTES
• Comply with OSH rules and policies
• Take initiative in learning OSH
• Demand for approved type PPE
• Observe proper hand signals
• Report any hazard found
Leading causes of fatalities in construction
1.Falls from Heights
a.Temporary structures
b.Excavation
c.Roof
d.Moving vehicle and equipment
2.Excavation and Trench Work
a.Cave-in
b.Falling of persons, materials and equipment
c.Asphyxiation
3.Construction Machineries and Equipment
a.Power tools
b.Woodworking machines
c.Heavy machines
4.Cranes and Elevators
a.Overloading
b.Lifting and carrying of loads
c.Erection and dismantling
5.Electrical Accidents
a.Electrical Shock and Burns
Scaffold and Ladder Safety
SCAFFOLD means any temporary elevated platform
(made of timber, metal or bamboo) and its supporting
structure (including points of anchorage) used for
supporting employees or materials or both in the course
of any construction works, including maintenance and
demolition works.
Functions
1. As a working platform
2. As a platform and walking passage
Supported Scaffolds are platforms supported by legs,
outrigger, beams, brackets, poles, uprights, posts,
frames, or similar rigid support.
Frame/Fabricated Scaffolds - the most common
type of scaffold because they are versatile,
economical, and easy to use.
Mobile Scaffold -a type of supported scaffold set
on wheels or casters.
Tube and coupler scaffolds - they are built from
tubing connected by coupling devices.
Suspended Scaffolds contains one or more platforms
suspended by ropes or other non-rigid means from an
overhead structure.
Two-point adjustable suspension scaffolds also
known as swing- stage scaffolds, are perhaps the
most common type of suspended scaffold.
Single-point Adjustable - consists of a platform
suspended by one rope from an overhead
support and equipped with means to permit the
movement of the platform to desired work
levels.
Definition of Terms
(For More Terminologies, Read DO 13 and DO 198-18)
Severity Rate (SR) –the total number of days lost or
charged per million-employee hours of exposure.
Frequency Rate (FR) –the total number of disabling
injuries per million employee-hours of exposure.
Incidence Rate (IR) –refers to cases of occupational
injuries with workdays lost per 1,000 workers.
Average Workdays Lost –refer to workdays lost for every
case of occupational injury resulting to temporary
incapacity.
Exposure is the total number of hours worked by all
employees in each establishment including employees of
operating production, maintenance, transportation,
electrical, administrative, sales and other departments.
Disabling injuries -work injuries, which result in death,
permanent total disability, permanent partial disability or
temporary total disability.
Non-disabling injuries (Medical Treatment) -injuries
which do not result into disabling injuries but required
first aid or medical attention of any kind.
Occupational accident–this is an unexpected and
unplanned occurrence, including acts of violence arising
out of or in connection with work which resulted in one
CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (COSH) - NOTES

or more workers incurring a personal injury, disease or

death. It may have occurred outside the usual
workplace/premises of the establishment while the
worker was on business on behalf of his/her employer
,i.e., in another establishment or while on travel,
transport or in road traffic.
WHITE,BLACK,or a combination of these, are the basic
colors for the designation of traffic and housekeeping
marking.

Occupational injury –this is the case of an injury that

resulted from a work-related event or a single
instantaneous exposure in the work environment
(occupational accident). Where more than one person is
injured in a single accident, each case of occupational
injury should be counted separately.

Temporary incapacity–this is a case where an injured

person was absent from work for at least one day,
excluding the day of the accident, YELLOW-CAUTION.
•For marking physical hazards, such as striking, against
Construction safety signage: stumbling falling, tripping and “caught in between.”

–Areas where there is potential risk from falling objects

–Tripping or slipping hazards
–Periodic update of man-hours lost Standard Color of
Signs For Safety:
RED–Fire protection
•To call attention to fire protection equipment apparatus
and facilities

ORANGE –WARNING
•To designate dangerous parts of machines energized
equipment. Electrical hazards. (Yellow-Gold)

GREEN–Designating Safety, First Aid

CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (COSH) - NOTES

BLUE –NOTICE WHY ISA JHA IMPORTANT?

•To designate caution, limited to warning against • Once you know what the hazards are, you can
starting use of or the movement of equipment, which is reduce or eliminate them before anyone gets
under repair. hurt.
• The JHA can also be used to investigate
accidents and
• To train workers how to do their jobs safely.
PROCEDURES
1. Identify basic steps of a job
2. Determine associated hazards
3. Make recommendations to control the hazards

PURPLE –Radiation
•To designate hazards. Yellow is used in combination
with purple for markers, such as tags, labels, signs.

JOB HAZARD ANALYSIS

A job hazard analysis (JHA), also called a job safety

analysis (JSA), is a technique to identify the dangers of
specific tasks in order to reduce the risk of injury to
workers.

HAZARD VS RISK
Hazard – is material/behavior/circumstance that has the
potential to cause harm.
Risk – is the likelihood of a certain hazard to cause harm