ENGINEERENGINEER -- Vol.Vol. XLVIII, XLVIII ,No. No. 03, 03 pp., pp. [35-44], [page 2015range], 2015 © The InstitutionInstitution of of Engineers, Engineers, Sri Sri Lanka Lanka Table 2 – Percentage particle size distribution at different places of flour mixtures with mixing time Health Hazards, Risk and Safety Practices in Particle size distribution (%) Construction Sites – A Review Study Mixing time Place (Min.) >150μm 150-25μm 125-06μm 106-0μm 90-5μm 75μm < c b a a c b V. H. P. Vitharana, G. H. M. J. Subashi De Silva and Sudhira De Silva A 30.68 56.97 9.98 2.12 0.02 0.23 d a b b b c 1 B 26.87 69.45 3.38 0.23 0.03 0.04 Abstract: This review attempts to identify the health hazards, risks and causes of poor safety C 43.19b 52.98c 3.03c 0.27b 0.03b 0.5a practices in construction sites. In addition, the differences in safety practices in both developed and a c d c a b developing countries and methods to improve construction site safety are discussed. D 46.94 50.06 2.69 0.16 0.04 0.11 Effects of some health hazards are chronic while some are acute. Mostly reported acute health hazards are “workers fall from height” and “electric shocks”, while mostly reported chronic health hazard is A 28.85b 60.39d 7.4a 2.45a 0.5b 0.41b “exposure to hazardous substances”. 2 B d b b b b a 26.67 64.26 6.34 1.8 0.47 0.46 Lack of awareness about site safety and dislike to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were C c c c a a d identified as main causes of poor safety practices in construction sites. One of the major needs with 27.92 62.34 6.38 2.43 0.57 0.36 regard to the construction industry is to enhance professionals’ interests in active safety management D 30.01a 65.63a 2.33c 1.36c 0.28c 0.39c and implementation of awareness programs, which must be developed and implemented among construction workers. Awareness on possible risk factors and knowledge on how to reduce these risk A 27.45a 65.31a 5.07a 1.13a 0.54a 0.5a factors among workers and contractors will enhance site safety. 3 B 27.41a 65.32a 5.08a 1.15a 0.53a 0.51a Key words: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Site management, Workers. C 27.4a 65.35a 5.06a 1.16a 0.52a 0.51a D a a a a a a 27.42 65.3 5.1 1.17 0.51 0.5 1. Introduction compared with other industries and it contains a wide range of construction materials and A 27.46a 65.32a 5.09a 1.14a 0.5a 0.49a products, building services, manufactures, Construction site is a very important place, as a a a a a a contractors, sub-contractors, design, operation, 4 B 27.4 65.33 5.1 1.15 0.54 0.48 a considerable number of workers are involved in construction activities. and refurbishment services. These C a a a a a a 27.43 65.35 5.02 1.18 0.52 0.5 Employments in construction site can be complexities make the construction industry D a a a a a a categorized into three groups; “Management as one of the most hazardous industries that 27.45 65.29 5.04 1.13 0.57 0.52 and technical” work force, “Skilled” work causes high rate of accidents. force and “Semi-skilled and Unskilled” work Safety in construction sites is needed to be Fabrication cost for the developed flour blender References force. Personnel with high educational was about 100,000 SLR and flour blending cost qualifications, usually graduates, trained to highly considered in order to reduce the risk was 0.97 SLR per kg. When the developed flour 1. Fitzpatrick, J. J., Particulate and powder design, manage and instruct the construction of being injured at work. Safety is also blender is compared with the available mixing, Food mixing, 1st ed, Blackwell processes can generally be identified as identified as one of the major factors affecting blending machines in the international market Publishing Ltd, United Kingdom, 2009, 269 p. “Management and technical” work force. the image of the project manager and the with same capacity, developed flour blender 2. Khurmi, R. S., Gupta, J. K., A Text Book of Persons who possess extensive knowledge organization (Grandjean. [36]). “Safety, health nd has reduced the blending time and the initial Machine Design, 2 ed., Eurasia Publishing, and experience in their construction activities and welfare on construction sites”, the training New Delhi, 1993. pp. 614-625. cost of the machine by 5 times while the flour or profession are identified as “Skilled” work manual published by the International Labour 3. Kazembe, H. W., Approaches to Successful force. “Semi-skilled and Unskilled” work Office in Geneva[37],states that high rate of blending cost is reduced by 25%. Development of Low-Cost Fruit Juice accidents occurs in the construction industry Extraction Technologies: A Case Study to forces are the site labourers with little or no 6. Conclusion Improved Rural Livelihood in Malawi. construction knowledge. Generally, all skilled, than in the other manufacturing sector. This is Tropentag, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, 2005, 3 p. semi-skilled and unskilled workers are at risk Based on the results of gluten content and 4. Deveswaran, R., Bharath, S., Basavaraj, B. V., of being injured, death or various illnesses in a percentage particle size distribution at different Abraham, S., Furtado, S., & Madhavan, V., construction site, although the level of risk V.H.P.Vitharana, B.Sc.Physics(Hons)(Ruhuna),Research places of flour mixture, it can be concluded that “Concepts and Techniques of Pharmaceutical varies with activities they are engaged in. (Mphil)Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of the minimum mixing time required to give a Powder Mixing Process” Research J. Pharm. and Tech, M.S Ramaiah College of Pharmacy, Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. uniform flour mixture is 3 minutes. A hazard is a potential source of harm or an Eng. (Dr.) (Mrs.) G.H.M.J. Subashi De Silva, PhD MSR Nagar, India Vol.2 (2), April-June, adverse health effect on a person or persons. (Saitama), B.Sc.Eng. (Hons)(Moratuwa), C.Eng. MIE (Sri 2009,pp. 245-249. Acknowledgements “Hazard” and “Risk “are often used Lanka), Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil and 5. SLS 144, Determination of Gluten., Sri Lanka Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Authors wish to express their gratitude to Standard Specification for wheat flour, 1st Rev., interchangeably. Workers of construction sites University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. WELDISI PVT LTD, Lunama, Ambalanthota for SLS, Sri Lanka, 2003, 10 p. are, generally, exposed to an excessive risk of Eng. (Dr.) Sudhira De Silva, PhD (Saitama), M.Eng being injured at work (Almenet al. [4]). (Saitama) B.Sc.Eng. (Hons)(Moratuwa), C.Eng. MIE (Sri providing funds for carrying out this research Lanka), Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil and project. Pungvongsanuraks et al[28] elicited that Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, construction industry is unique and complex University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. ENGINEER 35 ENGINEER possibly because the construction industry 3.1 Health hazards and risks consists of high self-employed workers, and large number of seasonal and migrant A hazard is a potential source of harm or an workers; many of them are unfamiliar with adverse health effect on persons. Risk is the construction processes. In addition, those likelihood that a person may be harmed or workers are exposed to bad weather and suffered from adverse health effects if exposed involved in many different trades and to a hazard. Therefore, risk can be minimized, occupations. However, the manual published although the hazard is there. by International Labour Office in Geneva [37] stated that, “The concerned work should be Two major hazards that are common in safe and conditions on the construction site construction sites have been identified by should not cause damage to life, health and Abdul et al [21]. Physical injury hazards are professional skills”. Further, it[37] explains often caused by equipment used such as that employer needs to have safety norms and scaffolds, power access equipment, ladders, health standards; there should be safety plant and machinery for excavation and practices in construction sites to be followed processes such as manual handling, and roof by the employer. Effective safety management work (Abdul et al [21]). These hazards can is to make the environment safe, to make the cause direct injury to workers at site and, if job safe and to make workers safety conscious. severe, it can even cause death. Different types In recent years, many developed countries of mechanical energy such as noise, vibration, have considered safety as one of the important radiation and temperature extremes (i.e. hot management issues of construction projects, and cold) can also cause physical injury especially, personal safety (Chen et al[7]). hazards. Noise is inevitable in construction sites due to the nature of construction Objective of this study is to review previous activities. However, in a previous study research studies on investigation of health (Archer [33]) construction noise has been hazards and risks in construction sites to identified as one of the risks, which can cause identify causes of poor safety practices and hearing loss (one of the adverse health effects). methods for improving construction site Chemical hazards found in construction work safety. include asbestos, welding fumes, spray paints, cutting oil mists, solvents and hexavalent 2.