Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Construction Safety Orientation

Orientation to Occupational Health and Safety



Why Health & Safety is important
• Workplaces can be dangerous places
• Injuries happen in all kinds of workplaces
• Injuries can be very costly



Why workers and students get hurt
• No training in area
• No experience in area
• Do not know their legal rights
• Afraid to ask questions
• Trying to balance several responsibilities
• Distracted by other or even internally



Costs of injury or illness
• May miss a special event and family function
• Hard to see someone you love in pain
• Loss of productivity
• Impact on co-workers, friends, family
You have rights and responsibilities for workplace health and safety

• When you start a new job or a new skill do you know what your role is in the company or school’s health and safety program?
• Are you familiar with the types of hazards you may encounter?
Here’s the risk
• A significant number of workplace injuries occur in the first few days of employment or after a change in duties
• Getting oriented when you start a new job with a new employer or even with the same employer helps you prevent being injured


What is OHS orientation?
• Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) orientation involves getting employees and others familiar with the workplace’s health and safety program and the hazards people may be exposed to
• Orientation ensures that individuals are familiar with the company’s, school or teacher’s expectations for health and safety, the role that the individuals have in the health and safety program and the hazards of the particular worksite


Who needs to be orientated?
• Circumstances vary from workplace to workplace, but OHS orientation could be given to:
– New hires, temporary, seasonal or full-time returning employees
– Students
– Outside contractors
– Visitors and others
• Orientation may also be needed for employees that are assigned new or unfamiliar work, and/or equipment





Who is responsible for orientation?

• The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers, teachers and supervisors train workers or students to know the hazards in their workplace and the procedures for doing the job
• Beyond this legal requirement, many people have a role to play in making sure that individuals are properly prepared for entry into the workplace

Who is responsible for orientation?

• Different people could be responsible for different parts of an orientation program

• For example:
– the Health and Safety coordinator
– Supervisor
– Teacher/Instructor


What topics are usually covered
in OHS Orientation?

• Health and safety policies
• Roles and responsibilities
• Safe work procedures
• Work refusal procedures
• Accident/incident/hazard reporting
• Specific hazard information





What topics are usually covered
in OHS Orientation?

• Emergency procedures
• Discipline policy
• Personal protective equipment

Here’s what you need to know whenever you start a new job
• Hazards
– every workplace has hazards
– there are different types and you need to be aware of the ones in your workplace
• Learn how to protect yourself
-there are a few key parts of your workplace’s or schools health and safety program you should know about that will help protect you

Rights & Responsibilities

• Worker Rights
– You have the right to
• Know about hazards in your workplace or school
• Participate in keeping the workplace or school healthy and safe
• Refuse unsafe work

Rights & Responsibilities

• Worker Responsibilities
– Always practice safe work procedures
– Report unsafe conditions as quickly as possible to your supervisor or employer
– Properly wear any protective equipment the job requires
– Do not do anything on the job that will endanger yourself or others


Rights & Responsibilities

Employers must
-Take every reasonable precaution to protect a student or worker’s health and safety
– Make sure necessary safety equipment is provided, used properly and maintained
– Inform workers and supervisors of any hazards and how to handle them
– Ensure that safe procedures are followed in the workplace
– Provide information, instruction and competent supervision to protect the health and safety of workers

Rights & Responsibilities

• Supervisors or teachers must
– Take every reasonable precaution to protect a worker’s health and safety
– Inform workers of job hazards and ensure they are trained to do their jobs safely
– Ensure that workers work safely and use the equipment and protective devices properly where required

Why is the Safety, Housekeeping Improvement Program important?

• Work to solve occupational health and safety issues before someone is injured or made ill
• Conduct regular inspections of the workplace and report the findings to the committee
• Make recommendations to management and workers on how to make the workplace safer
• Investigate serious accidents

Hazards

A workplace hazard is any condition, practice, behaviour, or a combination of these that can cause injury or illness to a person or damage to property

Types of Hazards
• Biological
• Chemical
• Ergonomic
• Physical
• Psychosocial

Hazards
• Biological
– Blood and/or body fluids
– Insect bites
– Bird or animal droppings
• Chemical
– Paints, acids and solvents
– vapours and fumes
– Flammable materials

Hazards
• Ergonomic
– Poor lighting
– Constant lifting
– Poor workstation design and chairs
• Physical
– Unguarded machines
– Ladders / scaffolds
– Constant loud noises
– Long exposure to heat or cold

Hazards
• Psychosocial
– Stress from work
– Threat of violence at home or work
– Personality conflicts at home or work


Hazard Control

• Hazards should be eliminated or at least controlled to minimize exposure to risk
• Here are a variety of ways to control hazards:
– Substitution with a less hazardous material, process or equipment
– Re-engineering equipment or a work process
– Installing physical barriers like machine guarding
– Personal protective equipment (PPE)
– Ventilation

Learn how to protect yourself

• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
– You are responsible for properly wearing any special protective equipment that your job requires
– Using it will help protect you from injury and illness
– Be sure it fits right and meets approved standards

Learn how to protect yourself
• Here are some examples.
– Hard hats to protect your head
– Hair nets to keep your hair from becoming caught in machine parts
– Non-slip safety boots
– Gloves to protect your hands
– Hearing protection to block out dangerous levels of noise
– Safety glasses or goggles to protect your eyes

Learn how to protect yourself

• Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs)
– Knowing the SOPs for equipment you use will help you do your job properly and safely
– By following SOPs you will use your equipment the way it was intended



Learn how to protect yourself

• Emergency Procedures
– Every workplace should have emergency procedures and plans
– Get to know the emergency procedures at your workplace

Learn how to protect yourself
• First Aid
– First aid training should be given to all workers
– Certified first aiders should be present at all work places
– Emergency numbers should be known by all workers

Learn how to protect yourself
• Reporting an injury
– If you do get injured or feel ill, advise your supervisor
– If you receive first aid, it should be recorded in the company’s first aid record

Excavation and Instaling Support for Excavations 3







Excavation and Instaling Support for Excavations 2







Excavation and Instaling Support for Excavations 1


Black River Vocational Training Centre

Black River Vocational Training Centre
General Construction Department
Carry out concrete work
Information Sheet


Preparing and mixing concrete

Concrete can be considered a mixture of water cement (cement paste) and aggregates (fine and coarse) in a definite proportion which undergoes a process of hydration which allows the mixture to become solid taking a rock like form. Concrete since its use in the early days of the Egyptian has been used for several application in the building and construction industry. Every where the work carried out with the use of concrete is evident as seen in our: bridges, airplane run ways, pairs, some road ways houses side walks and the list goes on.

The question might be asked how is concrete mixed and placed to form the various products built with concrete. Concrete is mixed using one of two means. Firstly concrete is mixed manually (by hand). The process involved in mixing concrete by hand is rather simple and straight forward and follows the following listed steps below in the flow chart.
Procedure for Mixing concrete by Hand
Step 1
Make concrete bed
Step 2
Place fine aggregate on concrete bed
Step 3
Add cement and blend with aggregate
Step 4
Add coarse aggregate
Step 5
Add water and combine all dry ingredients using a shovel
Step 6
Mix ingredient until the desired concrete
is achieved





The steps above shows the Procedure for mixing concrete by hand
Where there is a high demand for concrete in a relatively short period of time it should be noted that concrete con be mixed using machine. When concrete however is mixed with machine the process is altered as the sequence of operations alters significantly from that mixing done with the hand. The procedure for mixing concrete by mechanically is as follows:

Steps in mixing Concrete With Machines
Add ½ the required water in mixer
Add ½ coarse aggregate required
Add ½ cement
Add all fine aggregate
Add remainder of coarse aggregate
Add remainder of cement and water until desired mix is achieved


N.B. It should be noted that the mixer must be thoroughly clean within 30 min after use



Types of concrete

Concrete can be produced of several different types. These types are as follows:

Premix / ready mixed: this form of concrete is where concrete has been mixed offsite generally in a very controlled environment and then transported to site in specially designed trucks with rotating buckets. This form of concrete generally used with pumps which have the ability to concrete up tubes near 100 feet without segregation. This form of concrete is generally of high standard as the condition used for mixing is generally more through than on site mixing.


In-situ cast concrete: this form of concrete is mixed and placed on site using either mechanical or manual means. This is most advantageous as alterations can be made to the amount of concrete being used and concrete is conveniently mixed close to where it will be used. This type of concrete is however limited as large amounts concrete generally take a lot of time and or man power to be mixed.


Pre-cast concrete: this form of concrete is basically concrete that has been mixed and formed into structure and then placed into potion as a unit on site. This form concrete is very useful when constructing several units with similar type members in each unit.






Terms and definitions

Like most trades concrete operators have some basic terminologies within their trade which are listed below

Aggregates A hard rock like mass of sand, grvel or crushed rock. These generally come in two form fine (will pass through a number 4 sieve) and coarse aggregate that is larger than ¼ in 6mm)

Air-entraining Material added to concrete allow small air pockets to be embedded in concrete to prevent cracking due to freezing of concrete which result in the expansion and contraction of concrete

Bleeding This is the condition in freshly placed concrete where the water rises to the top of the surfaces

Cement A material which is one of the active ingredients in concrete which is used as the binding agent for aggregate.

Cement Paste The active part of wet concrete and generally denotes the strength of the concrete. This paste is formed when water and cement interacts in a concrete mix

Compressive Strength This is the ability of concrete to resist land load being imposed against the surface of concrete or the ability of concrete to resist crushing loads.

Tensile strength The ability of concrete to resist being pulled apart or twist. Concrete in general has low tensile strength hence steel reinforcement is used to improve on the strength of the concrete

Consistency This is the degree to which concrete ingredients have been combined together in an even proportion and is generally determined by the wetness or dry ness of concrete mix

Cubic This is the unit measure for concrete. This is generally determined by length of concrete multiplied by width of concrete multiplied by the thickness of the concrete

Water-tightness This is the ability of concrete to resist the passage of water through its membranes

Cement ratio This is the comparison of the amount of cement in a given concrete mix to amount of water in the mix. It used be noted that less water in the mix the greater the strength of the concrete within the allowed limits for mixing of concrete.

Slump A test administered on wet concrete to determine the workability (stiffness) or plasticity of the wet concrete

Hydration A chemical process which allows the concrete mix to loose water and become solid.

Admixture Mixtures added to concrete to add to the qualities of the concrete.

Accelerator A admixture that reduces the setting time for concrete.

Retardant A admixture which facilitate the extension of the setting time of concrete


Placing of concrete

Concrete placement is both a skill and an art the concrete work must me meticulous in his approach towards finishing the concrete surface as there is room for creativity in his approach towards his finish.

Septic Tank Construction