A construction site can be a risky place. We are aware of the common hazards that we see daily but what about the dangers you can’t see? We’re talking about respirable crystalline silica dust (RCS).
There are serious health and safety concerns emerging from the exposure of silica dust for those who work in the construction industry, so we want our tradies to be aware of this threat so they can protect themselves and their workmates on-site.
RCS is found in products such as stone, brick, rock, concrete, asphalt, and mortar – common materials used in the engineering of kitchen, bathroom, and laundry stone benchtops. These materials are cut, ground, sanded, and polished, and through these methods, fine dust is released, known as RCS.
This dust is extremely harmful when inhaled, and high exposure can result in significant health risks, including Accelerated Silicosis – an aggressive respiratory disease that scars the lungs and causes progressive respiratory failure. This disease is dangerous amongst the construction industry, as workers could be exposed to silica dust inhalation on-site, without being aware of it.
It is important to understand the risks associated with exposure to high levels of RCS so that employers can make necessary efforts to protect their workers. WorkSafe New Zealand has outlined several measures that employers can take to minimise exposure, and ultimately mitigate risk:
Using alternative materials that contain a lower silica content.
Isolate work areas that are likely to produce RCS exposure with physical barriers or computer numerical control (CNC) machines to contain the dust
Using dust collecting tools with an H-class HEPA filter.
Wet cutting to prevent dust from becoming airborne.
Regular cleaning practices such as low-pressure water cleaning, wet-wiping, and using an H-class HEPA-filtered vacuum are essential.
Using appropriate respirators at all times that are fit-tested to each worker and cleaned after use. Wearing disposable coveralls or other protective clothing is crucial to ensure that the worker does not take these contaminants home with them.
Employers should ensure that workers who may have been exposed to silica dust inhalation are health monitored. These workers should be tested in order to identify any changes in their health status due to exposure to hazardous contaminants.
The majority of confirmed silicosis cases report having no symptoms. Therefore it is crucial that your workers are educated on both the health and safety risks of RCS, and the measures that can be taken to prevent it.
No one knows the hazards of the job better than your workers. Let’s make sure they are aware of this safety concern, so we can get them home safely at the end of each day.
Want to know more? Get in touch with our friendly team at HazardCo today.
Any airborne contaminants are a cause for concern, but one of the main offenders in the dust world is wood dust.
Workplace dust is unavoidable on-site. Whether your cutting, sawing, sanding, or drilling, many day-to-day tasks produce both fine and large dust particles which, when inhaled, can be harmful to your body.
What’s the damage?
Our bodies are able to filter out any large particles that may enter our respiratory system, however the smaller particles can go deep into our lungs which overtime can lead to damage and scarring of lung tissue.
This damage reduces the lungs ability to take in oxygen, which means over a period of time, it’s going to make it harder to breathe and can cause problems such as asthma and lung cancer. It’s not just the wood that’s the issue either… glue, resin and other treatments on the wood are also harmful and increase the risk even more.
As well as our breathing, dust can also cause issues with our eyes, causing irritation and damage, and our skin, which can lead to irritation and dermatitis.
That’s why it’s important that you cover your bases, which we’ve outlined below.
Controlling wood dust in the workplace
Education is key when it comes to making sure your workers understand the risks of wood dust. To ensure you and your team are up to speed, we recommend regular training, which can be done at your weekly toolbox talks.
Whenever there are multiple businesses on-site at once it can be a bit confusing who is responsible for what. Here’s how to work with other businesses.
The simple rule of thumb is each business must do what they can, within reason, to keep everyone safe. This relates to their own team, other workers or anyone that steps on-site. The best way to do this, work together and communicate.
On-site it is everyone’s responsibility to manage health and safety. Businesses must work together to keep all workers on-site safe. Chances are there will be overlapping health and safety activities and obligations when multiple companies are working together.
In this case, it’s critical everyone follows the 3C’s – consult, cooperate and coordinate.
By following the 3C’s businesses are ensuring that everyone is aware of any overlapping duties, so roles can be clearly defined and work isn’t impacted.
Communication is key. Worksites are busy places. With contractors and subcontractors coming and going, there are a lot of moving parts. To maintain a safe working environment for all, communication must be prioritised.
As a PCBU, if a new team comes onto site, make sure to run them through a full induction.
If it arises there may be an overlap in responsibilities, seek them out straight away and follow the 3 C’s.
When there is an overlap, why is this communication important? Two reasons.
Firstly, it allows both parties to clearly define roles and responsibilities and establish an action plan for how health and safety will be managed.
Secondly, they may recognise risks that you may not and vice versa. Working together can increase the scope of the hazards recognised – ultimately making site safer!
Gaps can occur when businesses:
When there are overlapping duties on-site, how do you determine the extent of your duty? You will need to consider the extent to which you can influence or control the risk in question.
This can be determined by considering the following:
Ultimately, the more influence and control you have over the site or workers, the more control you have over the risk – the more responsibility you have.
Working with other businesses is a natural part of residential construction. Everyone on-site has a duty to open up the lines of communication and look out for each other.
If you have any questions please get in touch with the HazardCo team today.
Mobile & tower scaffolding units are a common sight on most construction sites. Commonly used by tradies from all walks of life, they do help us with those hard to reach areas.
But with that, like anything on-site, they do come with a certain level of risk. Whether this be falling over, equipment, tools or people falling off, or even rolling away because the breaks aren’t on, these are all real threats.
Being a mobile unit means tipping over or swaying is a huge risk. The issues and potential consequences that present itself if a unit falls over can be devastating, for your team, your business and clients.
Falling over is a risk that presents itself in several circumstances, including:
While the risk of falling is a major risk, you can reduce the risk by:
Like anything that requires working at heights, mobile and towered scaffolding units come with their own unique risks. To avoid these risks becoming an issue on-site make sure you put all precautions in place. Talk to the manufacturer, have it erected by a qualified and trusted supplier, and work on and around the unit safely. This way, the site is safer for all.
If you have any questions reach out to the HazardCo team today.
Heights are not for everyone. Some people love being high above the ground, others it’s their worst fear. For some, heights are part of the job. Working on a roof or on a multi-story building is just another day at the office. But with greater heights, comes greater risk of injury or things falling. Due to these increased risks, it is critical all your corners are covered – literally – because without edge protection, you’re putting everyone in danger.
Here’s what you need to know:
Edge protection is a protective measure that helps prevent people, tools, and materials from falling. This includes:
Whenever your site involves working above the ground or on elevated surfaces.
Edge protection is required on all exposed edges of a roof, including the perimeter of buildings, skylights or other fragile roof materials, and any openings in the roof – this also includes openings and edges of floor areas, such as balconies.
Edge protection comes in a series of forms including:
Like anything, failing to plan is planning to fail. And, edge protection is no different.
If you know your site will require edge protection at some stage in the project, make sure to build it into your initial planning and considerations. Don’t wait until a few weeks before you need it, to start designing a plan.
Consider what the potential risks are, how they will impact your team, people on-site and the general public, and how it will be installed and taken down.
With proper and thorough planning you decrease the risk of anyone getting hurt or damaging property as a result of working at heights.
Get your edge protection sorted as early as possible on a job. Make sure you have a clear timeline in place for when you’ll require edge protection on-site.
And, keep everyone on-site in the loop. Let your team and other contractors know when edge protection is being installed, how long it’ll be on-site for and then when it is scheduled to come down.
There’s no use having edge protection if it isn’t doing the job. So, ensure edge protection is:
Keeping your team safe should be a top priority on any construction site – and edge protection is a huge part of that. If you’re still unsure how best to move forward and protect your team, you can get in touch with the HazardCo team today.
On pretty much every kiwi building site, you’ll see scaffolding. But, how many of us really know the correct rules and regulations around fixed scaffolding?
Below we outline the key aspects and what you should look for when using scaffolding on your current, or next, site.
Scaffolding – by definition – is a temporary platform that is used to elevate, offer support, and provide materials during a construction process for building, repairing or cleaning of a structure.
Let’s break it down:
Scaffolding can be a tricky subject, and because of this, there are many areas that we get asked to advise on. Below we outline some of the most important aspects of working with or around scaffolding.
All scaffolds must be checked by a competent person before handover. This involves tagging the scaffolding. All scaffolds, regardless of height, must have a tag clearly displaying important safety information at access points. Included on the tag:
Depending on the height of the scaffolding there are varying regulations and qualifications that determine who can construct scaffolding.
For scaffolding up to 5 metres a competent person – someone who has the knowledge and skills to carry out a particular task must erect the scaffolding. Skills and knowledge may be acquired through training, qualification, or experience.
For greater than 5 metres the person who erects the scaffold must hold the appropriate class of certificate of competence (COC) for that type of scaffolding.
Access to working platforms must be adequate and safe for the working conditions and type of work to be carried out. Plan for the number of people using a scaffold and the weight and size of materials on the platform.
Other points to consider:
Once you’re up and working on the scaffolding be aware of the following rules around the distance between you and the surface you’re working on:
Non-proprietary platforms must have a minimum bay width of 675mm wide. All platforms must allow 450mm of clear access past stacked material and obstructions.
Guardrails must be between 900 and 1100mm high with a mid-rail located halfway between the work platform and the top rail. Toeboards are also to be fitted to prevent materials falling from the platform.
Following the correct guidelines and having adequate health and safety measures in place is critical when you’re working with scaffolding. Whether you’re organising scaffolding for a site, constructing the scaffolding or working on it, the key is to take your time and be careful.
If you have any further questions regarding scaffolding, we’re always here to lend a hand. Get in touch.
‘If you cannot describe what you are doing as a process, you do not know what you are doing.’ – Edward Deming
Process has everything to do with health and safety at work, the building blocks you put in place to ensure you and your team are safe, everyday.
Health and safety is not about stopping any and all activities that may lead to harm, the work needs to get done. What you need to do is manage risk and establish processes to get safety to a state where reckless action is eliminated and hazards are meticulously monitored.
Before you start a task on any site, you need to identify any hazards that need to be controlled. The Risk Assessment feature on the HazardCo app empowers everyone to document these risks in real time, including any risks that pop up as the project progresses.
Look at it this way, a safe site is a happy site. That begins with knowing what a safe site looks like. Not sure? The Site Review feature on the HazardCo app is here to help! It helps you carry out a thorough health and safety review of your site, capturing site activity with photos and comments, as well as what you should be looking for.
Both features are quick and easy to use, and slide right into your back pocket.
Treating risks as a priority, always. And it’s not about mountains of paperwork, read our previous blog post on how to plan, do, check and act to understand more on managing change on-site.
Good health and safety is due diligence and a commitment to it. Most essentially, this needs to have the support of top management, with worker involvement embedded in your company health and safety strategy. Strong communication and transparent leadership that empowers everyone.
Establish a shared awareness of and a common purpose to keep one another safe and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can get team members to act, assess and review consistently.
It isn’t an end goal, it’s a mindset.
Risks change. Workers change. Environments change. Any processes surrounding health and safety in the workplace are continual, with room for improvement at an almost constant rate. So don’t think of it as a box to tick, but a way of thinking.
#SortYourSafety today.
Explosive. Flammable. Oxidising. Toxic. Corrosive.
When you put it like that, hazardous substances sort of sound worthy of a certificate, don’t they?
So it’s hardly a surprise that from 1 December 2019, if you store class 6 and 8 substances over certain thresholds you are now required to have a Location Compliance Certificate.
A certificate to keep hazardous substances in check. Protecting everyone on site from harm caused by toxic and corrosive materials. A location compliance certificate is issued for 1 year and is required in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017.
If you are working with any big, bad substances on site, it’s vital you check whether you do.
To see whether a hazardous substance location exists for the substances at your site you can use this handy hazardous substances calculator. This will give you a pretty good idea of what’s what.
You’ll need to find yourself a compliance certifier who is authorised for locations and the hazardous classifications of your substances.
You can track one down by searching the compliance certifier register. Simple as.
Another step towards a safer working day on site, get your certificate sorted for a compliant Kiwi workforce you can stay proud of.
Here at HazardCo, our aim is that every worker on a construction site comes home healthy and safe at the end of every day.
That’s why we’re constantly on the button. Listening to you, listening to what’s going on out there on-site: your pain points, your concerns, your needs. Because who knows better about life on-site than the people out there on the ground doing the work?
Recently, we’ve heard a lot from our customers surrounding improvement notices – primarily around health monitoring and asbestos.
Let’s take a closer look:
In short, an improvement notice will require changes to be made to improve a risky situation (as identified by the regulator) within a certain time period.
In accordance with the requirements outlined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, enforcement measures give a WorkSafe inspector power to issue improvement notices if they reasonably believe a person –
WorkSafe has recently identified a lack of knowledge and planning around the subject. Notably, the vagueness around procedures in place to identify asbestos materials, and more pressingly, creating plans of action in working safely with asbestos and how to have it removed.
Needless to say, this stuff is important and could and will save lives, so managers and workers need to get on board – sharpish.
A selection of our customers have been issued improvement notices by WorkSafe regulators. Off the back of this, they’ve had to develop a safe and effective method for determining the presence of asbestos before commencement of any demolition or renovation work.
And that’s where we come in.
After following the guidance from our Advisory team and using HazardCo tools, WorkSafe were happy with the development of many of our customer’s procedures, agreeing that the improvement notice had been met and they wouldn’t be taking the matter any further.
But this isn’t just about WorkSafe. It’s about our customers feeling they are informed enough to get on with their workday safely. With knowledge, comes a better and safer way of working – and this knowledge is what anyone working in hazardous situations deserves.
With HazardCo as a tool of empowerment, resource and dedicated support, our customers have the information they need to keep their workers safe and to be fully compliant with ease.
Embedding positive health and safety practices around the country, we collaborate to educate – giving workers the power to be the best at their job they can. And what could be a better improvement than that?
