Health and Safety in Construction Contents

• Foundations in health and safety 
• Health and safety management systems – PLAN
• Health and safety management systems – Organising – DO 1
• Health and safety management systems – Risk assessment and controls – DO 2
• Health and safety management systems – Monitoring, investigation, and recording – CHECK
• Health and safety management systems – Audit and review – ACT
• Construction law and management
• Construction site issues – hazards and risk control
• Vehicle and plant movement – hazards and risk control
• Musculoskeletal hazards and risk control 
• Work equipment hazards and risk control 
• Electrical safety 
• Fire safety
• Chemical and biological health hazards and risk control
• Physical and psychological health hazards and risk control 
• Working at height – hazards and risk control
• Excavation work and confined spaces – hazards and risk control
• Demolition and deconstruction – hazards and risk control
• Summary of the main legal requirements
• International, environmental and other aspects of health and safety
• Study skills 
• Specimen answers to practice questions
• International sources of information and guidance

Preface to Health and Safety in Construction PDF

The Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction has quickly established itself as the standard text for students taking the NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health and Safety, and for those taking other courses in building or construction.

It is also of great value to those working in the construction industry at all levels – particularly construction site managers and foremen.

As it has become a significant work of reference for managers with health and safety responsibilities, it is a matter of prime importance that it should be kept up to date, as far as is possible, with new legislation and recent developments.

There has been concern over a number of years at the poor record of health and safety in the construction industry.

The legal health and safety requirements for all places of work are numerous and complex; it is the intention of the authors to offer an introduction to the subject for all those who have the maintenance of good health and safety standards as part of their employment duties or those who are considering the possibility of a career as a health and safety professional.

Health and safety are well recognized as an important component of the activities of any organization, not only because of the importance of protecting people from harm but also because of the growth in the direct and indirect costs of accidents.

These costs have increased higher than the rate of retail price inflation by a considerable amount in the last few years as the number of civil claims and awards have risen each year.

It is very important that basic health and safety legal requirements are clearly understood by all organizations, whether public or private, large or small.

A good health and safety performance is normally only achieved when health and safety are effectively managed so that significant risks are identified and reduced by adopting appropriate high-quality control measures.

The NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health and Safety is established as a leading health and safety qualification for the construction industry, with over 15,000 successful candidates.

It is designed for supervisors and managers within the construction industry and to provide a sound breadth of underpinning knowledge that enables them to discharge more effectively their duties with respect to health and safety in construction activities.

Many larger construction organizations choose the NEBOSH National Construction Certificate as a key part of their supervisors’ or management development program.

By ensuring that line managers have a sound understanding of the principles of risk management they build an effective safety culture in the company. Smaller construction organizations often choose the NEBOSH National Construction Certificate as the appropriate qualification for the manager taking the lead on health and safety issues.

The course is divided into three distinct units, each of which is assessed separately. The three units are NGC1 – Management of health and safety, NCC1 – Managing and controlling hazards in construction activities, and NCC2 – Construction health and safety practical application.

This development offers the opportunity for additional and more flexible course formats and students may now study parallel courses (in, say, general health and safety and fire) without repeating the management unit.

Students who decide to take individual units will, on passing, receive a Unit Certificate. However, it has necessitated the need for an additional chapter (Chapter 7) on construction law and management to deal with those construction topics that were in the original management syllabus.

This fifth edition has been produced to include all the recent syllabus changes and to update the health and safety legislation contained within it, with particular regard to the following changes in legislation:

• The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (Section 69)
• The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Civil Liability) (Exceptions) Regulations 2013
• The Report of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
• The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
•  Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures Regulation (European) adopting into EU UN Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS);
• Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015
• The revocation of The Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010
• The revocation of The Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1969
• The revocation of The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008. Other changes made by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have also been reflected in this edition. These include:
• Fees for intervention
• The withdrawal of the Approved Code of Practice (L21) for the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations
• The revised health and safety management system outlined in HSG65 – Managing for health and safety.

The publication of the amended HSG65 – Managing for health and safety, recommends a new model for health and safety management based on the ‘Plan, Do Check, Act’ principle replacing the ‘Policy, Organising, Planning, Measuring performance, Auditing, and Review (POPMAR)’ model. This has produced a significant change to NGC1 – the management unit.

This change produced a very large Do element which we have split into two chapters – Do1 that covers ‘ organizing’ and Do2 that covers ‘risk assessment and controls’ resulting in an extra chapter in this edition. The other major change to NGC1 is the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015.

In a similar way, the hazards unit NCC1 syllabus has been amended to reflect changes to the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015 and other relevant revoked legislation.

The tutor references for all elements have been updated. Since the first edition of this book was published, NEBOSH has allowed us to use past NEBOSH examination questions at the end of each chapter.

Over the last few years, it has become evident that a small number of candidates have memorized these questions and the contents of the accompanying examiner reports.

As a result of this problem, NEBOSH has withdrawn permission to use past examination questions and changed the format of examiner reports. We have, therefore, included our own questions at the end of each chapter using the NEBOSH format.

Candidates that can successfully answer these questions unaided should have no problems in the examinations.

NEBOSH is anxious to dispel the myths surrounding their examinations and have provided training courses for course providers to introduce changes to the syllabuses and to answer any queries so that their students get the best possible preparation for the assessment tasks.

The NEBOSH website is also a very useful channel of communication with course providers and students.

As mentioned in previous editions, it is the policy of NEBOSH to examine new relevant legislation 6 months after its introduction whether it is specifically mentioned in the syllabus document or not.

This book has been written specifically for students who are studying for the NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Safety and Health but will also be useful for those studying a variety of building and construction courses, such as the Higher National Certificate and Diploma.

It was felt appropriate to produce a textbook that mirrored the Construction Certificate syllabus in its revised unitized form and in a single volume to the required breadth and depth.

The syllabus, which follows the general pattern for health and safety management set by the Health and Safety Executive in their guidance HSG65, is risk and management based so it does not start from the assumption that health and safety are best managed by looking first at the causes of failures.

Fortunately, failures such as accidents and ill-health are relatively rare and random events in most workplaces. The book is also intended as a useful reference guide for managers and directors with health and safety responsibilities and for safety representatives.

Chapter 19 summarises all the most commonly used Acts and Regulations. It was written to provide an easily accessible reference source for students during and after the course and many others in industry and commerce such as managers, supervisors, and safety representatives.

Finally, since one of the objectives of the book is to provide a handbook for the use of any person who has health and safety as part of their responsibilities, we thought that it would be helpful to add a few useful topics which are outside the syllabus.

These include fast-track settlement of compensation claims following the Woolfe reforms (Chapter 5) and demolition using explosives (Chapter 18).

We have also added a chapter on the international and environmental aspects of construction health and safety that are not included in the NCC syllabus.

This will be useful for those who need to travel and work overseas. We hope that you find this new edition to be useful.

Download Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction 5th Edition PDF Free.