Hazard Control Measures
Hazards on building sites need to be controlled to reduce the risks of accidents and near misses. The Site Management should consider this to be a top priority, where large sites are concerned there should be a budget established during the tender stage to enable full time Health & Safety Staff to be employed not only to manage and establish control measures but to train ALL staff so that there is a full understanding of the site and the hazards as well as the measures in place to control them.
Hierarchy of hazard control:-
1. Eliminating the hazard.
2. Substituting the hazard.
3. Modifying the process.
4. Isolating the hazard.
5. Implementing engineering controls.
6. Using a combination of controls.
7. Using back up controls, such as personal protective equipment.
In addition it is advisable that the company:-
1. See that all controls identified in an investigation are authorised with signed documentation.
2. Allocate responsibility against each control, to ensure everyone is aware of what is required of them. Any lack of response shall be tracked to the responsible person.
3. Ensure controls have a time frame allocated to them for completion.
4. Ensure all employees concerned have received sufficient training, or arrange for retraining, as deemed necessary by the findings of the investigation.
After implementing controls, ensure they are evaluated at a future time. (This is to ensure that the controls have not caused any further hazards, and that they are in fact appropriate to reducing the likelihood of a recurrence of the same event.)
All controls must be formulated in consultation with the employees of the area associated with the risk. This should be in the form of tool box talks with the Method Statements and Risk Assessments issued to all concerned.
Extracted from our Health and Safety Manual available HERE