Key Elements Of OHS Essay For Demolition Project.

You are required to draft a report for senior management that details the key elements associated with the development of the OHS plan for the demolition project.

Risk assessment for chemical and physical hazards

The risk assessment carried out includes potential chemical hazards. The assessment must establish the primary chemical hazard which might be associated with the demolition including petroleum hydrocarbons, soil gases, asbestos, and heavy metals. Another risk assessment which must be carried out includes physical hazards such as operating machinery, abrasions and cuts, UV exposure, and traffic (Tompa et al. 2016, p. 921). The risk assessment should establish that heavy equipment and plants operating within the locale could present risks of physical injuries. Similarly, it should be established that the manual works associated with the site work could result in the risk of abrasions and cut (Ahuja et al. 2016, p. 166) to employees working in the vicinity, and the direct repercussions of an abrasion or cut, example, injury could leads to a rise to the probability of exposure to a contaminant via wounds and also diseases like tetanus (Claxton 2017, p. 89). Correspondingly, the risk assessment should establish that site workers might experience heat stress as a result of a mishmash of simultaneous use of personal protection equipment and elevated ambient temperatures Bhuvaneswari et al. 2017, p. 96). Such risks could lead to heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat rash, and heat stroke. There was also a likelihood of noise during the demolition work especially from operating machinery. Lastly, manual handling of objectives was also assessed and found to be another hazard which could lead to injuries.

When working in vicinity with already identified contaminated substances, the workers should exercise great care to make sure that the contaminations are not introduced to them through dermal contact, inhalation, or ingestion. The workers should follow the decontamination requirement and personal protective equipment (PPE) to control the risk imposed by chemical hazards (Tappura & Kivistö-Rahnasto 2017, p. 61). Additionally, the workers ought to be cognizant of their position in relation to the operating machineries. They should not walk to the side or behind operating machinery without the operators’ knowledge. Workers ought to stay no less than 2 meters from the operational locale of heavy machinery and ought not to stand directly under any load machinery such as excavators (Ilbahar et al. 2017, p. 125). The personnel should also put on personal protective equipment to shun indirect or direct injuries. Besides, some of the measures to protect UV exposure and heat stress wearing of sunglasses, hard hats, and high protection sunscreens (Díaz Fuentes et al 2016, p. 448). When handling or lifting hefty objects, the personnel should use correct lifting mechanisms such as bending the knees or seek help from the other workers or seek mechanical aid. Lastly, the primary measures to avoid exposure to noise include wearing of earmuffs or earplugs. This would ease conversation and prevents problems associated with the eardrum.

Stakeholder responsibilities

All the employees including contractors, subcontractors, and principal contractor who would work on the demolition or need frequent access to the site are required to undertake site induction and training comprising environmental requirement. The employees ought to demonstrate an understanding and comprehension of possible environmental issues or problems and the appropriate measures or approaches that would be implemented or executed to protect the local community as well as the environment. Firstly, the awareness induction should be designed to present the details of the content of the demolition and the workers responsibilities in the demolition job. Secondly, the induction should explain the purpose and objective of the work of demolition contractor (Zare Mehrjerdi & Haqiqat, 2015, p. 231). The site workers should pen their signatures in the induction register acknowledging understanding and receipt of the demolition. The induction and training sessions must be recorded or documented in the induction registers for references purposes. Additionally, during the induction and training, the principal contractor and demolition contractors managing the demolition job must offer their management plans for the site’s particular tasks which should followed and adhered to during the work period. The workers would trained how to manage some of the specific tools which would be used in the process and how to operate in the site to avoid injuries.

During the demolition work, daily toolbox meetings would be held to discuss the progress of the work and report environmental risks or hazards. The principal contractor conducts daily meetings with the workers and assessors to identify and discuss the daily potential hazards as well as site conditions. The meeting would also involve the review of management procedures so that they can reflect the demolition process (Mohammadfam et al. 2017, p. 160). The planned meetings will outline particular environmental needs as well as activities being carried out at the site every day. The meetings would also involve discussions on whether the demolition is being carried in accordance with the action plan, if not the personnel would discuss what can be done to ensure the demolition follows the outlined procedure. Furthermore, the meetings would report on the risks or hazards involved during the work and how to minimize the hazards. The minutes of issues discussed in the planned meetings ought to be maintained for future review or audit.

First, the management of Occupational Health and Safety would require understanding of responsibilities. The principal contractor should write a safety and health policy that evidently highlights a commitment to health and safety (de FariaNogueira et al. 2015, p. 123). The policy should be kept simple and should include the specific responsibilities delegated to workers, supervisors, and managers. The policy should be supported by an action plan which aims at consistently improving safety and health. Secondly, it is important to consult workers for effective management and successful demolition. The workers must be consulted in decisions which might impact their safety and health (MA 2016, p. 137). The workers are the best individuals to notify the managers on the risks or hazards involved in the sites and the improvement needed to accomplish a safe workplace. Thirdly, it is important to keep records such as control processes, records of risk assessment and hazard identification regarding safety and health activities. Subsequently, it is also vital to monitor, review, and improve the operation. The principal contractor should evaluate the execution of procedures and policies and the effectiveness of the interventions (Martinov-Bennie et al. 2014, p. 342). Lastly, to effectively manage a demolition, it is significant to manage injuries and incidents. It is important to organize plans of managing emergencies before they occur.

Induction and training for employees

An Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) program relies on effective leadership, commitment as well as worker participation. First, this plan is effective because it takes into consideration all aspects of social, mental, and physical safety and health in the working site. It helps companies to prevent hazards and injuries in the workplace environment (Sinelnikov, Inouye & Kerper 2015, p. 242). Remarkably, a well-maintained occupational health and safety saves money, for example, which have been used for an employee’s treatment. Occupational health and safety also positively impacts a company’s productivity and reputation.

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) also has several strengths. First, it saves time through the allowance of safety and health matters to be quickly handled via an existing procedure (Potter et al. 2017, p. 100). It also formally guides the future actions of employees and ensures safe systems of works are communicated and recorded. Lastly, it also ensures that an organization manages its workers more effectively through defining unacceptable and acceptable behaviors in the workplace. On the other hand, some of the weaknesses of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) include requirement of training, education, and awareness which might be relatively expensive for many organizations. Secondly, the plan requires corporate commitment and leadership mindset which may not be exhibited by many managers. Many organizations also view Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) to be at cross-purpose with profit enhancement and productivity.

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