Abstract
The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 are LAW in the UK. Find out why conventional approaches to safety documentation and management might not work effectively to ensure legal compliance and effective construction site safety. Get suggestions for a more effective approach to construction site safety and improved compliance to CDM 2007 requirements.
Why Don't People Work and Act Safely on Site?
Do you drive to work? Hang on, what's that got to do with CDM 2007 or construction site safety? you might be asking. Well, bear with me while I use this common example to lay bare the truth about human error, and highlight behavioural characteristics which can make or break construction site safety.
So, back to the driving question:
Following the good practice in your vehicle handbook would dictate that before you drive away you should check lights, brakes, fluid levels, tyres etc. But how many of us do this? In reality I would venture to guess that it would be a struggle to find anybody (including health & safety specialists) who went through these checks on a daily basis.
We just don't want to waste the time - right? Statistically, on a reasonably new vehicle, the chances are that nothing will be far enough out to cause us a problem. Ok, if the tyre pressures are a bit low then fuel economy might suffer a bit and the tyres might wear slightly quicker, but such things are not immediately noticeable, when set against the fact that we are going to be late for work if we don't leave NOW!
Driving off without making those checks is a risk, but a calculated one. The very fast risk assessment the driver has mentally carried out probably resulted in a calculation something like this:
a) My car/van/truck is not that old - nothing should fall apart yet;
b) I always have it serviced by the main dealer at the specified intervals so everything has been checked not so long ago;
c) It's highly unlikely that something is bad enough to cause a problem, and if it is, driving just down the road will highlight any problem before I get to the motorway;
d) If I don't leave now I'll hit more traffic and be even later than I am now;
e) It's so unlikely that anything is badly wrong that I'd just be wasting a lot of time for nothing;
f) I'm not going to waste my life being a train spotter - My mates will think I'm an idiot;
g) It'll never happen to me.
The above scenario illustrates some of the reasons people don't necessarily act in the safest possible way whether it's a legal requirement of CDM 2007 or not.
Stephen Fry has been quoted as saying that what he does with temptation is to give in straight away as it "saves time on faffing about." The fact is: we're all human and susceptible to common temptations - think of new year resolutions, speeding on the motorway, or giving up drinking / smoking.
In terms of CDM 2007 and construction site safety: If an accident occurs where someone gets hurt, a common reaction of Site Management is to look for an "idiot" to blame, but is this reasonable? It is generally assumed by standard site safety management systems that when we walk into a workplace or onto a construction site we will immediately experience a personality metamorphosis and become earnest, logical deep thinkers, but this is a simplistic if not downright naive expectation. It is much more likely that if the safe method is slow, awkward and a nuisance then it's just a question of how many workers will succumb to the temptation to take "short cuts" and how often.
Remember that people will normally be attracted to answers that are immediate, certain and (at the time) positive. Say for example: A chimney has been taken down manually. The bricks need to be removed to a skip but the only method available is a bucket on a long rope. So the choice is lower the bricks down one bucket at a time, or throw bricks down from the scaffold. Throwing the bricks is unsafe and banned by construction site safety procedures, but offers an immediate solution and could be seen as "positive" because time might be saved. Or consider this: what's easier: Sitting down to produce risk assessments safe working methods, policies and site safety Plans which will comply with CDM 2007, or taking a chance that the HSE won't find out?
In reality it's far more effective to design out temptation than to implement harsh punishments. In the driving example at the start of this article, the vehicle manufacturer's have responded by looking for solutions that are positive, convenient and immediate. For example: we would generally notice dashboard warning lights. A brake warning light glaring at us is highly visual and much more likely to make us pause, check and take action - after all there wouldn't be a light if it didn't connect to the serious stuff.
In the bricks / scaffold example: Putting in place a CDM health & safety plan which identifies the work order and risk assesses the stages would highlight the issue, and a chute discharging directly into a skip could be specified in good time to avoid the temptation to throw bricks from the scaffold.
Having straightforward highly visual CDM system documents which highlight site issues means little time is required to produce a site specific plan. This can be more easily discussed with the workforce, saves time and money by identifying and avoiding critical hazards and ensures compliance with CDM regulations.
KEY POINTS
* Human error is inevitable. To reduce the consequent risks we need to analyse the work, predict where errors might occur / the reasons for them and take preventive action.
* If unsafe behaviour has immediate and apparently positive consequences, people will be tempted to take "short cuts"
* To reduce risk we need to predict where the temptations will occur, and design out shortcuts / make the safe method an easy, painless and rewarding way to do the job.
* Ask the opinions of people involved in the task: what is slow / awkward / a nuisance about doing this job? Discuss and take action based on the answers.
I hope that you can see the case for using visual techniques which involve the workforce in site safety, leading to identification of effective, but easier and more economical methods of ensuring excellent construction site safety. Using highly visual methods which fully comply with the spirit of the CDM 2007 regulations will give you the ability to spend more time on practical site safety and less on reading or producing pointless reams of paper. And that's got to be good news!
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