BOS 3401 Construction Safety Unit II Assessment

How often should a construction worksite be inspected? Provide the rationale for your recommendation.

I would do a weekly inspection of construction sites, due to the increased hazards involved in construction, I would make the inspection random, and discuss the findings of the inspection with the foreman that same visit, depending on what was found I would consider doing another inspection a couple days later to see if the discrepancies were corrected, In my opinion it is best to catch people of guard to keep them from making a safety mistake.

Discuss some criteria for selecting members of a worksite inspection team. Which one do you think is the most important, and why?

When selecting an inspection team for a worksite I would look for an experienced worker from each task being performed on the jobsite, I would want somebody there that knows what the worker is supposed to be doing, if it is somebody hanging dry wall I want an expert at hanging dry wall, if it’s a plumber I want a master plumber. I don’t think one is more important than the others, I think I stress more on their integrity and attention to detail than what their job is in the process

Think of a job common to construction worksites (for example, hanging drywall). List the steps for the job. For one of the steps, describe the potential hazards and suggest some possible control measures.

A common job for larger construction sites is welding any type of industrial building has welders on site, the first thing a welder must be aware of is potential hazards in the vicinity of where they will be preforming the welding, walk the area scanning for combustibles, tripping, falling, or electrocution risks, next look over your equipment for serviceability, check for emergency equipment in the area also knowing an escape route, have the proper ventilation in the area, and due to the hazards of blinding light I would advise others of the potential dangers of looking at the arc, wouldn’t be a bad idea to have caution signs posted also. Next put on all of your protective clothing, welding cap, leather coat, sleeves, apron, boots, helmet, make sure there is no damage to the protective lens in the helmet, and that it has the proper rating for the type of welding then will be preforming, if welding on galvanized or any other metal that has the potential for releasing fumes make sure they have a functioning respirator. While preforming the task, be aware of your surrounding and other workers in the area and stop to check that the sparks are not creating a hazard to yourself and others, once the job is complete check equipment for damage and replace as necessary, clean up your work area and check for hot sparks that might be lingering.

What is the relationship between employee factors and management factors in accident causation? Why do you think many accidents result in “employee error” as the major cause?

I think the relationship would be the mentoring or training the employee, if the employee is not trained correctly and watches the supervisor do something incorrectly the employee is more likely to do the task incorrectly, it goes back to the how somebody is taught to do something, it is human nature to do something the way they were shown and not take steps to look up proper procedure, show people how to do it correctly and they will tend to do it correctly. Employee error is a vague term because pretty much everybody is an employee to somebody else, it could be that the term covers most accidents, but when it comes down to it, it’s the employees responsibility to make sure they are doing things the correct way and have the integrity to do it that way, the supervisor cannot be over the employees shoulder, and who wants that anyway, micromanaging in itself causes accidents, the employees are on edge and become accident prone when they are constantly being watched.