An Introduction to construction Safety

By Faizan Shafique
“No work is so important that it needs to be
done without due consideration of safety”
 What is Safety?

 Safety is the prevention from accidents.

 Safety is the control of recognized hazards to

attain an acceptable level of Risk.
 What are accidents?

 An accident is an unfortunate mishap;

especially one causing damage or injury

 So, an incident becomes an accident in the

absence of appropriate safety
 Effects of Accidents

• Injury (disability, pain, suffering)

• Damage (equipment, building)
• Loss (life, earning, output, time)
• Emotion (following injury, pain, death)
 THE THREE E’s OF SAFETY
Making design
ENGINEERING improvements to
processes

Ensure that employees

EDUCATION know how and why to
work safely.

Make sure that

ENFORCEMENT employees abide by
policies, rules and
regulations
 Planning for Safety
High Conceptual
Design
Detailed
Engineering
Ability to Procurement
Influence
Safety Construction
Start-up
Low

Project Schedule
1
Szymberski (1987)
 Safety and Health Professionals
• An important member of the safety and health team is the
safety and health professional (Safety manager or Safety
engineer).
• Companies that are large enough sometimes employ a safety
and health manager at an appropriate level in the corporate
hierarchy.
• Duties include:
–Hazard analysis - Record keeping
–Accident reporting - Training
–Standards-compliance - Emergency Planning
Why Construction is Dangerous?

• Construction sites are ever-changing environments.

• Construction workers are constantly faced with new

situations that may be potentially hazardous.

• Workers work with potentially dangerous tools and

equipment amidst a clutter of building materials.
Staying safe is only being human . . . Take care
Construction Safety in Pakistan

Faizan Shafique
 Conclusions of Research by Farooqi, Arif and
Rafeeqi
NED University (2008)
The top three safety non-performance practices at building
construction work sites are:

• 1. Ear defenders not worn (while using noisy equipment)

• 2. Protective footwear not worn
• 3. Face masks not worn (in dusty conditions)
 Conclusions of Research by Farooqi, Arif and
Rafeeqi
NED University (2008)
Most of the safety non-performance issues belong to
self protection category. This shows that the site
workers themselves are either unaware of the
importance of personnel safety practices or they do
not want to wear protective gears and kits as they
consider it as a hindrance in their work productivity.
Also, it was observed that the site management
seemed non-interested in emphasizing the need of
personnel safety practices among their workers.
 Conclusions of Research by Farooqi, Arif and
Rafeeqi
NED University (2008)
Most of the companies lie in the range of extremely unsafe to
moderately unsafe (about 58%). This shows that the overall
level of the industry as regard to site safety needs drastic
improvement. Safety seems to be on the less priority on the
agenda even during the execution phase which is not a
healthy trend. A mean value of Safety Performance Index of
0.52 indicates that even the basic practices required for safety
are not present at most construction sites. Also, the scattered
safety performance levels of firms indicates lack of standard
safety management systems.
 Dr Rafiq M. Chaudhry, NUST
Top 10 Safety Implementation Barriers in pakistan

1. Worker cooperation/ behavior

2. Perception that safety hinders productivity and/ or quality
3. Lack of owner/ top management commitment and support
4. Lack of safety awareness and knowledge
5. Lack of teamwork/ partnering approach towards safety
6. Lack of familiarity & expertise with safety management techniques
7. Absence of safety regulatory framework in the industry
8. Complicated safety work rules make the workers non-responsive
9. Lack of proper training of employees
10. Lack of accident liability