SBEC2742-01 Construction Safety

Tony Wong Jing Ham A21BE0343

Unsafe Behavior and Accidents on Construction Sites
are Caused by Several Factors
By Tony Wong Jing Ham

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Construction industry refers to the industrial branch of

manufacturing and trade related to building, repairing,
renovating, and maintaining infrastructures. Construction
industry is very important to the development of the
economy of a country. Therefore, when a country
develops, there is an increasing demand for construction
operations. As the demand for construction increases, the
construction industry is ranked as one of the most
dangerous industries in the world because it involves a
variety of tasks with distinctive characteristics and a high
frequency of execution.

2.0 Accident at Construction Site

Accident is something bad that happens that is not
expected or intended and that often damages something or
injures someone. Accident not only affects people's
production and life activities smoothly, but often may also
cause other serious
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consequences in the form of injuries, property damage or
environmental pollution. Accidents may have in a
construction site include the damage of equipment and
machine. Fortunately, over the years, accidents in the
workplace have decreased substantially. Unfortunately,
there are many workplace accidents that continue to occur
every day. The causes of workplace deaths in the
construction industry, which is commonly called the
“Fatal Four” by OSHA.
2.1 Falls
Approximately 36.5% of all deaths in the workplace
occurred due to employees falling. These employees
include those who have fallen off ladders, rooftops,
scaffolding, massive skyscraper construction sites, etc.
because sufficient fall protection was not used, as well as
those who have fallen due to exposed sides or holes,
incorrectly built walking, or working surfaces, and more.
To prevent fall hazard, employers must set up the work
place to prevent employees from falling off of overhead
platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in the floor
and walls. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided
at six feet in the construction industry. In addition, OSHA
requires that fall protection be provided when working
over dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of
the fall distance. For example, employers must provide
guardrails and toe boards regardless of height due to avoid
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workers fall into or onto hazardous devices or equipment.
Lastly, the workers must always be careful when working
in a high workplace or condition.
2.2 Struck by an Object
Struck by an object are produced by forcible contact
or impact between the injured person and an object or
piece of equipment. Being struck by an object contributed
to 10.1% of site mortality. Struck by hazards include
struck against an object, struck by an object, caught in an
object or equipment, and caught in collapsing material
Objects that fall, roll, fly, slide, slip and swing can do
serious damage to a person. The rigging was loose and
had moved from its original location, which is why the
object fell, and this is because the personnel neglected to
do regular and frequent maintenance. If the rigging was
damaged, it can fall at any time and result in an accident
at the construction site. To prevent struck by hazards,
workers should inspect tools, cranes, hoists to see that all
are in good condition and use toeboards, screens, debris
nets, and guardrails on scaffolds to prevent tools/other
items.
2.3 Electrocutions
Electrocution results when a person is exposed to a
lethal amount of electrical energy. Electrocution was the
cause of death for 8.6% of workers. Construction sites
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present a range of electrocution hazards for workers,
including exposed wire, damp conditions with exposed
outlets, etc. These are brought on by lightning strikes,
poor maintenance of extension cables and power tools,
contact with overhead power lines, or electrified
conductors or circuit components in electrical panels and
equipment panels. The risk of electrocution must be
reduced or eliminated through a variety of strategies, but,
contact with electrical voltages and the currents they can
produce must be avoided. Safety measures including
exercising caution around live wires, de-energizing
machinery before inspection and repair, keeping tools and
equipment in good condition, and wearing the necessary
PPE are all crucial.
2.4 Caught-in or Caught-between
About 2.5% of fatalities were caused by workers
getting entangled in or between machines, tools, or other
equipment. They also include workers getting caught in
moving or rotating machinery, falling buildings or
materials, or trench or excavation collapses. Caught in
hazard include being pulled into or caught in machinery
and equipment such as strangulation as the result of
clothing caught in running machinery and equipment and
being compressed or crushed between rolling, sliding, or
shifting objects such as semi-trailers and a dock wall, or
between a truck frame and a hydraulic bed that is lowering.
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To avoid this hazard, workers cannot remove a safety
guard when a tool is being used. Hazardous moving parts
of power tools and equipment need to be safeguarded. For
example, belts, gears, shafts, pulleys, sprockets, spindles,
drums, fly wheels, chains, or other reciprocating, rotating,
or moving parts of equipment must be guarded if such
parts are exposed to contact by workers. In addition, to
avoid workers getting caught in moving or rotating
machinery, worker be sure to avoid wearing loose
clothing or jewelry that can be caught in moving parts.
3.0 Unsafe Behaviors at Construction Site
Unsafe behavior refers to dangerous acts that often
result in injuries and can be identified with common sense
and experience. There have a report used to identify the
risks that were present on the construction site and to think
through a plan for reducing the likelihood that an accident
would occur, it is HIRARC (Hazard Identification, Risk
Assessment and Risk Control). Besides that, the reason
for the increase in accidents is that there is little attempt
to identify the factors that influence someone to act in an
unsafe manner.
3.1 Individual characteristics
Individual characteristics one of the most important
factors influencing unsafe behaviors and accidents. The
elements have included are attitude and motivation, age
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and experience, drug abuse, unintended acts, intended acts,
competency and ability, and psychological distress. These
factors were the main factor for a people to carry out the
unsafe behavior. This is because these factors can cause
workers to make some unsafe act such as, improper use or
no use at all the provided personal protection equipment
[PPE] and taking shortcuts that can immediately cause of
construction accidents. PPE is very important to the
workers because these items are required to avoid
contamination, injury, or harm to workers. Besides that,
the worker’s unintended acts also can cause the unsafe
behaviors and accidents in construction site. For example,
the workers are trying to multitask. Jobsite cellphones use
or partaking in horseplay can distract worker from the
potentially dangerous task worker are completing and
cause injury. Other than that, there are some heavy
equipment in construction site such excavator, dozer,
compactor and other needed an experienced workers to
operate it. If inexperienced workers operate this heavy
equipment, they can lose control of the equipment and
injure others.
3.2 Site Condition
Site condition become the one of the factors that
influence unsafe behavior and accident is because mostly
the construction sites carry out at an outdoor condition and
the workers need to face the unpredictable weather
changes. Themes such as unsafe condition, hazardous
operation, unsafe equipment, and bad weather had
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moderate evidence of positive association with unsafe
behaviors and accidents. Due to elements like working
outdoors, working at heights, operating intricate site
plants, and using equipment, along with workers' attitudes
and behaviors regarding safety, construction-related tasks
are frequently dangerous. Besides that, the weather was
another factor that could cause workers to have accident
on the construction site. The workers may get heatstroke
if the weather is too hot and if the workers still conducting
the construction works during heavy rain, there were a
risk of struck by lightning. Other than that, when worker
working at height and facing high winds there is a high
risk of workers falling from heights.
3.3 Society
Society includes societal culture, race or ethnicity,
education and knowledge, economy, social support, social
challenges, and business climate. Several studies
highlighted the role of social factors on unsafe behaviors
and accidents. Examples include national culture, local
worker and cultural and language problems, social
support, race or ethnicity. In a market-oriented society,
stakeholders in the construction industry, especially those
at the lower end of the supply chain, are usually focused
on completing projects with minimal time and cost, so
those issues are not focused on and safety is regarded as a
secondary concern. Pressures from the social, economic,
or political climate or environmental conditions can
directly influence the workers distract from their work,
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potentially leading to accidents. Then, as a project is being
conceptualized, the client is being influenced by a variety
of distal elements, such as political, social, and economic
influences. Many of the restrictions that the project
management, design team, and subcontractors must work
unsafely under will be provided by the customer response.
Through improper construction planning or inadequate
construction control measures, which result in improper
site circumstances, improper worker behavior, or
improper construction operations, this can increase the
risks of accidents happen.
3.4 Project Management
Safety leadership, management commitment and
support, management style, safety communication,
competency, and review and feedback are themes under
the project management and there had high evidence of
negative association with unsafe behaviors and accidents.
Several studies revealed that management commitment
played a significant role in safety performance and
accident reduction. A communication before a
construction project started is very important because The
workers can violate the safety works process and perform
an unsafe act if the toolbox meeting was not conducted
prior to carrying out the construction works because they
were unclear about the safety works procedures. A
toolbox meeting can cover topics including how to handle
chemical risks, what can't be done when carrying out work
at heights, frequent risky behaviors that shouldn't be
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practiced, and more. This can serve as a reminder to the
workers, and over time, it will ingrain in their minds so
that they will always be aware of what can be done and
what cannot be done. During the toolbox meeting, the
workers can ask any question that they were not clear and
get the clear answer on the questions that have been ask.
It helps to decrease the risks of accidents happen.
3.5 Contractor
Contractor size interaction, incentives,
competency, subcontractor climate, and subcontractor
rate, had moderate evidence of association with unsafe
behaviors and accidents. Among all such themes,
contractor size had significant negative association with
accidents. Unsafe behaviors were negatively associated
with employer size. For example, large companies use
pools of subcontractors and there is a tendency for
contract tenders to be based on price, with little margin for
occupational health and safety investments.
Subcontractors typically take responsibility for their own
workload. Nevertheless, the primary contractor is charged
right away with the accident when a safety violation
happens during their job. General contractors have been
the subject of numerous studies involving the construction
sector. Therefore, it is important to comprehend how risky
actions and accidents on construction sites are affected by
subcontractors
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Ways to Prevent Building Construction Site Accident
Accident as an unexpected and unwanted event
that could happen in the construction site because of the
unsafe act and unsafe behavior that carried out by the
workers on the construction site. Construction site
accidents result in thousands of deaths and injuries each
year. It can also cause no injuries and fatal but damage of
tools, equipment, machinery, or vehicle on the
construction site. Regardless of the kind of outcome cause
by the accidents, it will surely give a negative impact to
the construction site and the company. While it may be
impossible to control all conditions at a construction site,
owners, operators, and employees can take some ways to
prevent accidents at building construction sites.
Firstly, the workers need always utilize safety
gear. This is because construction site accidents occur
even though safety measures are in place, it is important
to wear safety gear (personal protection equipment). PPE
helps protect employees from hazardous elements present
at the construction site, ranging from falling debris to wet
floors and everything in between To provide a head
protection, workers need always to wear a safety helmet.
Safety helmet safeguard construction workers from
falling objects and help avoid head injuries. They provide
protection against electric shocks in addition to head
trauma. Check hard helmets frequently for damage and
replace any that have dents or cracks. Then, Protecting
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workers from loud noises on the construction site is also
essential. Plain cotton is not a suitable form of protection,
according to OSHA. Earmuffs and earplugs are effective
forms of hearing protection. As we know, construction
workers are under constant threat to pick up physical
injuries from falling objects or flying particles. Therefore,
a safety glasses is necessary because it can prevent
particulates or chemicals from striking the workers eyes.
PPE plays an instrumental role in keeping construction
workers safe on the job site. To maintain control over
worker safety, supervisors should routinely inspect PPE.
Additionally, the state of tools and equipment should be
regularly assessed, and any broken equipment should be
fixed right away or replaced with a new one.
Equipment accidents are common on
construction sites. So, the equipment maintenance is
required to prevent building construction site accident.
In the first, clean to inspect is very important. When
equipment gets cleaned, the worker must thoroughly
examine the machine. Ideally, during cleaning and
inspection, the worker will follow a checklist to verify that
they have looked over all necessary components to see if
the device requires service. Before returning to the jobsite,
the equipment should receive quick repairs or part
replacements for anything that seems out of the ordinary.
Then, the company must train their workers the right way
to use the equipment. Improper use of heavy equipment
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can put it under excessive strain, leading to premature
wear. Prevent accidents and equipment breakdowns and
never let untrained workers operate the machine. In
addition, operators need to be trained to recognize
potential machine problems when they arise. Workers
need to take equipment away from the job site for
emergency repairs to avoid more serious accidents or
damage.
Warning sign also can used to prevent accident
may happen in construction workplace. Warning sign is a
necessary item that needed for a construction project
because without it, project cannot be approved. The main
purpose to have warning sign in workplace is preventing
injuries and fatalities. Types of construction site signage
include obligations, prohibitions, warning, danger, safety
and instructions. The obligations signs describe actions
which must take place in specific areas of your site such
as mandatory headgear, mandatory high-visibility vest,
mandatory hearing protection and mandatory eye
protection. Prohibition signs describe actions that must
not take place in specific areas of the site, or on the site.
These signs translate as ‘do not’ or ‘stop if you are’ and
are usually red against a white background. Warning or
caution signs are yellow and black and refer to non-life-
threatening risks. These hazards could result in minor to
moderate injuries if not avoided. Danger signs are red,
black and white and warn of significant hazards which are
likely to be life-threatening or lead to serious injury.
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Safety instruction sign are green and white signs provide
safety-related instructions or procedures that maximize
protection around the site. They might be related to
emergency exits or first aid kits, instructions in case of
emergency or injury, or procedures for handling materials
and machinery, amongst other things.
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Conclusion
Each year, accidents at construction sites cause hundreds
of fatalities and injuries. Owners, operators, and workers
can take precautions to avoid accidents at building
construction sites even if it may be impossible to manage
all site conditions. Some unsafe behaviors and unsafe
conditions can be eliminated by acting, but some cannot.
The only way is to control the risk and hazard and always
alert to the accident. Now the demand of construction
activities gradual increase due to development of
economy, at the same time the occurrence of accidents
will also increase. Therefore, all parties need to work
towards the same goal, which is to make construction sites
safer and where the safety and health of workers can be
assured.
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References
Dennis. K. Neitzel. (May 2019). OSHA’s “Fatal Four” –
Leading Causes of Fatalities in the Workplace.
https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2019/05/oshas-
fatal-four-leading-causes-of-fatalities-in-the-
workplace/
Javaheri, Yahoudai. (February 2020). Ten Safety
Measures to Prevent Accidents at Building
Construction Sites. https://jnylaw.com/ten-safety-
measures-to-prevent-accidents-at-building-
construction-sites/