Page 60 - OHS, July/August 2021

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY
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“The thought of someone simply being chained to a desk or staring at a monitor for 30 minutes on a particular topic, and that information being something that they will immediately take onto the job, is fairy dust,” Sizemore said.
Therefore, there has to be a means to justify that individual’s competence in the task for which they are training. This can take the form of a simple question and answer session from the supervisor. “It doesn’t have to be an inquisition. It’s saying, ‘Since you now know how to inspect a grinder before you use it, or since you learned what personal protective equipment you need to have on to use this tool, show me before you start to do it.’”
Root Causes, Connected Workers and Technology
Fortunately, a plethora of new technologies have become available to help increase safety on construction sites. Many firms are adopting wearables—garments or other objects containing electronic sensors that can be worn just like any other typical work garb, such as safety vests, gloves or protective eyewear.
Research provides compelling evidence that wearables can make a difference. A 2019 study looking into their effectiveness evaluated251NIOSHFatalityAssessmentandControlEvaluation (FACE) reports2 and concluded that the active hazard in 73 of them (29 percent) could have been prevented with a wearable device. The report also looked at 29 cases from 2018 in the OSHA archives and revealed that wearables could have played a role in preventing one-third of them.
While wearables help to mitigate immediate dangers to construction workers, various forms of health and safety software systems are helping to create a safer future. The representative for the oil and gas provider said his company is utilizing Root Cause Analysis (RCA) software to better understand its health and safety risks. RCA analyzes incidents to discover root causes and address the source of the problem to prevent their re-occurrence.
“We knew what the problems were, but having a system showed us that trend and demonstrated it. It brings a lot of value,” the representative said. “It makes sure that people are aware of the problem and brings it more to the forefront.”
Although the stereotypical construction scene is a picture of hustle and bustle with many workers carrying out their responsibilities within close proximity of one another, the reality is that many building tasks are performed by lone workers in remote locations. Traditionally, a fall or other mishap in these situations could easily turn deadly with no one around to help a laborer in distress.
A wide range of connected worker technology has become available in recent years to help mitigate this risk by maintaining a line of communication between lone workers and their construction teams. ABC’s Sizemore noted that new technologies can be confusing and intimidating for contractors and management in smaller construction firms. Others simply don’t have a lot of time to research their benefits and move toward a purchase and implementation.
“Whether it be drones, or tracking, or tracing, those are
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steel-toed boots, a hard hat and safety glasses?”
If it’s in place at those corporate office heights, a culture of
safety will conceivably cascade through lower management ranks and onto the actual construction sites.
While the commonly cited OSHA standards are not likely to be reduced in frequency any time soon, Sizemore does expect to see a growing emphasis on substance abuse policies.
“As an industry, we cannot allow substances to take over,” Sizemore said. “If your son or daughter is rigging the load below a tower crane, and that operator happens to be under the influence of an illegal substance as they’re pulling the levers and lifting that load, you’d want to know that that operator is in 100-percent tip- top capacity to do their job.”
In the United Kingdom, many observers expect the tragic Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 to continue to have an effect on future regulation directions set by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the U.K. government agency that oversees workplace health and safety.
“This will include improvements in building standards, governance, fire safety provisions and maintenance and more. The impacts of this will be very far-reaching,” says the head of health and safety at a U.K.-based manufacturer of clay- and concrete-based building materials.
Training is Key
The social distancing requirements necessitated by the pandemic have made in-person training considerably more difficult, if not impossible, for many construction companies. And even if some traditionally face-to-face training exercises can conceivably be ported over to computers into a virtual alternative, that option is not a practical one for many firms.
“Any courses that require a practical element have been a challenge if close contact working is required,” admits the health and safety professional at the U.K. company. “Several courses have been put off until face-to-face becomes viable again. The main reason is that the thought of a two-week health and safety course being delivered virtually is mind-numbing to most people.”
Training to maintain continuous professional development, which is normally practice-based on a site across multiple companies, such as that for the company’s quarry managers, has also been affected, he added. “It has been difficult to come up with alternative ways of learning for this type of information.”
Some shorter courses, he said, have been delivered online with some success. “That’s something that we would not have considered before the pandemic.”
For global construction companies, training is a complicated affair even without a pandemic.
“We are a very high-turnover industry, with a lot of market volatility,”saidarepresentativeofaglobalproviderofengineering and construction solutions to the oil and gas industry. “So, with that comes a lot of challenges in training our workforce. We have people that are working all over the world, and our workforce is diverse. We’ve got people from all cultures and backgrounds, so
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56 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY/AUGUST 2021
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