Hazard Reduction and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Construction Sites

This report focuses on hazard reduction and risk assessment at a construction site, specifically for Acme General Contractors Inc. It identifies key hazards in interior work and roofing, including fall risks, electrical hazards, fire risks, airborne fibers, and hand-arm vibration syndrome. A risk assessment matrix is used to evaluate the frequency and severity of these hazards, prioritizing control needs based on the level of risk. The report then outlines various control methods, such as estimation, personal protective equipment (PPE), substitution, elimination, and administrative controls, to mitigate each identified hazard. Furthermore, it discusses risk reduction strategies, fall protection measures, and the application of prevention through design (PtD) principles to ensure worker safety and reduce occupational hazards. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of hazard assessment for cost-efficiency and the reduction of hazard occurrences.

Hazard Reduction

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
The key hazards involved in interior work and roofing .............................................................1
Risk assessment ..........................................................................................................................2
Prioritizing control needs ...........................................................................................................3
Control methods .........................................................................................................................3
Risk reduction ...........................................................................................................................4
Fall protection and associated recommendations .......................................................................5
Prevention through design (PtD).................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Hazard reduction and assessment is defined as the technique to assess and minimize the
hazardous risk so that life and property related damages can be avoided (Zhang, Boukamp &
Teizer, 2015). The report will analyse the vulnerabilities and hazards at construction site of
Acme general contractors Inc. and will provide the suitable prevention strategies on the basis of
risk assessment.
The key hazards involved in interior work and roofing
ACTIVITY HAZARDS DESCRIPTION
Roofing  Fall risk During roofing process fall
through roof opening or slope
as well as fall of objects are
quite common hazards at
construction site Arnold, A.
(2016)..
 Electrical hazards The electrical lines as well as
the defective operation of
power tools used in roofing
can cause severe electrical
hazards.
 Risk related to harmful
and hot substances
In built up roofing process hot
material such as asphalt is
used. The mishandling of such
harmful substances can cause
burning as well as other skin
allergies (Zhou, Goh & Li,
2015).
Interior work  Fire risk The use of power tools or the
accidental fire from the
inflammable or chemical
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compounds can cause sever
damages and significant losses
to property and life can be
caused.
 Airborne fibres The dust, chemicals and toxic
material can affect the quality
of air can cause various
respiratory diseases.
 Hand arm vibration
syndrome (HAVS)
While working for long term
in interior sites prolong use of
hand tools can cause pain in
joints. It causes permanent
damage.
Risk assessment
(Source: The Hazard Risk Assessment Matrix, 2017)
Hazard Hazard
category
Frequency Risk assessment
factor
Explanation
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 Fall risk A 1 1A Unacceptable
hazard
 Electrical
hazards
C 1 1C Unacceptable
hazard
 Risk related to
harmful and
hot substances
E 2 2E Low
 Fire risk B 1 1B Unacceptable
hazard
 Airborne
fibres
B 4 4B Medium
 Hand arm
vibration
syndrome
(HAVS)
D 2 2D High
Prioritizing control needs
From the above risk assessment matrix it is clear that the hazards such as fall risk,
electrical and fire hazards have severe impact and thus these are completely unacceptable. Hence
suitable control measures must be taken to avoid these risks (Zhou, Goh & Li, 2015). On the
other hand risks related to harmful substances are low because they can be easily avoided by
suitable precautions and careful approach. Thus the hazards which are unacceptable must be
control at first priority. However the risk which are ranked lower in the assessment can be
controlled at last because they occur rarely.
Control methods
For controlling the hazards following methods can be used.
Hazard Control method Explanation
Fall risk Estimation The workers at site must ensure that fall
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risks must be eliminated. The open holes
must be covered and equipments must be
handled carefully so that this type of risk
can be eliminated (Simeonov, 2016).
Electrical hazards Personal protective
equipment (PPE)
The people must wear protective covering
such as leather shoes or gloves while
working with power tools (Gurcanli, Bilir
& Sevim, 2015). Similarly for prevention
from electrical lines individuals must
remain careful during work.
Risk related to
harmful and hot
substances
Substitution This type of hazard can easily be replaced.
The harmful and hot substances must be
transferred with care so that accidental
damages are not caused (Arnold, 2016).
Fire risk Elimination These risks can cause significant damage
thus construction sites must ensure that this
type of damages are avoided (Malekitabar
& et.al., 2016). The flammable materials
must be kept safely and there must be
suitable arrangements like fire
extinguishers so that intensity of damage is
minimum.
Airborne fibres Administrative control If the interior environment consist of
harmful gases then workers must ensure
that they wear the protective mask so that
this hazard can be eliminated and
controlled (Roccaro and Vagliasindi,
2018).
Hand arm vibration
syndrome (HAVS)
Administrative control It is caused by the improper work
technique thus the self control and
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management can eliminate this hazard
(Wang, Dai and Ning, 2015).
Risk reduction
Hazard Risk
assessment
before
applying
control
method
Risk reduction after application of control methods
Hazard
category
Frequency Risk
assessment
factor
(Reduced
risk )
Risk reduction
Fall risk 1A 2 C 2C Medium
Electrical
hazards
1C 4 A 4A Minor
Risk related
to harmful
and hot
substances
2E 2 E 2E Low
Fire risk 1B 4 D 4D Low
Airborne
fibres
4B 1 E 1E Low
Hand arm
vibration
syndrome
(HAVS)
2D 4 B 4B Minor
Fall protection and associated recommendations
During roofing the occurrence of fall related hazards is quite common. Thus several
protections can be used. The ladder must be place securely and properly so that falling due to
improper balance on ladder can be avoided. The open roof holes and skylights must be covered
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properly so that accidental fall through these holes can be eliminated. Another vital cause of fall
is from the edges of roof (Zhou, Goh & Li, 2015). Workers are usually not aware with the edge
and experience this type of fall. Thus it is essential that employees must be attentive and proper
training must be given to them so that the falls due to careless approach can be avoided. The
attentive nature will also eliminate the fall of materials and equipments.
Prevention through design (PtD)
PtD approach ensures that during designing process appropriate care must be taken so
that health and safety of workers can be assured and occupational hazards can be reduced. The
design of construction site must assure that fall risks do not occur. The causes and occurrence
probability of each of the hazard is analysed and evaluated so that its cause can be addressed at
the designing level (Gurcanli, Bilir & Sevim, 2015). For instance the fall from edge of roof can
be reduced if the roof is designed with less sloppy edges. The use of better insulation and high
quality wires can reduce the severity of fire hazards.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above analysis that Acme general must assess the hazards
and their implications so that safe and effective building design can be provided. The hazard
reduction analysis will help organisation to make its construction more cost efficient and
probability of hazard occurrence will be reduced.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arnold, A. (2016). An assessment of the asphalt shingle roofing process for residential
buildings. Procedia Engineering. 145. pp.760-765.
Gurcanli, G. E., Bilir, S., & Sevim, M. (2015). Activity based risk assessment and safety cost
estimation for residential building construction projects. Safety science. 80. 1-12.
Malekitabar, H., & et.al., (2016). Construction safety risk drivers: A BIM approach.Safety
Science. 82. 445-455.
Roccaro, P. and Vagliasindi, F.G. (2018). Indoor release of asbestiform fibers from naturally
contaminated water and related health risk. Chemosphere. 202. pp.76-84.
Simeonov, P. (2016). Fall Risk Associated with Restricted and Elevated Support Surfaces. Fall
Prevention and Protection: Principles, Guidelines, and Practices, p.119.
Sousa, V., Almeida, N. M., & Dias, L. A. (2015). Risk-based management of occupational safety
and health in the construction industry–Part 2: Quantitative model. Safety science. 74.
184-194.
Wang, D., Dai, F. & Ning, X. (2015). Risk assessment of work-related musculoskeletal disorders
in construction: State-of-the-art review. Journal of Construction Engineering and
management. 141(6). p.04015008.
Zhang, S., Boukamp, F., & Teizer, J. (2015). Ontology-based semantic modeling of construction
safety knowledge: Towards automated safety planning for job hazard analysis
(JHA).Automation in Construction. 52. 29-41.
Zhou, Z., Goh, Y. M., & Li, Q. (2015). Overview and analysis of safety management studies in
the construction industry.Safety science. 72. 337-350.
Online
The Hazard Risk Assessment Matrix, 2017. [Online]. Accessed through
<https://www.smsenergetics.com/risk-assessment-matrix/>
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