INSIGHT
While technological advances will assist, in the interim, it is essential for all stakeholders to go‘ back to basics’.
energy sources, including hydraulic, pneumatic, and stored energy. The basic systems that are implemented to avoid these accidents rely heavily on action from the operators and the individual employees themselves through, for example, the implementation of the‘ 3m Rule’, which requires persons to be at least 3m away from moving mobile machines— always. Lifting accidents rely on the operator of the crane and persons giving signals to the operator, as well as the individual employees who are situated underneath the load or close to the load. Where revolving machinery is involved, accidents often occur because the guarding is inadequate, removed, or bypassed. The common theme is that several of the accidents can be attributed to human behaviour. The primary aim of implementing technological improvements is to avoid over-reliance on human behaviour and to implement what is commonly referred to as a‘ hard barrier’, which excludes the need for human intervention. Examples include personnel / machinery warning and anti-collision systems that do not rely on intervention by the operator to bring the machinery to a stop, before the interaction occurs. While technological advances will assist, in the interim, it is essential for all stakeholders( clients, agents, principal and other contractors, and the employees) to go‘ back to basics’. The back to basics programme should have, as its starting point, identification of the health and safety responsibilities that are placed on the stakeholders by the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993( Act No. 85 of 1993)( OHSA) and the various regulations that are in force in terms of the OHSA, such as the Machinery Regulations and the Construction Regulations. It is, unfortunately, disappointing that there is often a lack of understanding of the legal responsibilities that are placed on employers and employees in terms of the OHSA and the regulations, and critically, those persons who manage and supervise construction work. No health and safety programme is complete without a component that ensures that managers and supervisors are competent to hold the management and supervisory position; that is, that they are fully familiar with the OHSA and its regulations, the work sites, and both know and understand the hazards to which persons are exposed, when allocating tasks. The back to basics approach requires employers, in respect of their own employees and other persons who may be affected by their activities, to at the very least, focus on the following: conducting appropriate hazard identification and risk assessments comprising baseline, issue-based, and continuous hazard identification and risk assessments; implementing appropriate measures to address the identified hazards and assessed risks, comprising codes of practice, standards, procedures, and instructions; implementing a comprehensive health and safety training and communications system aimed at communicating the hazards and the measures to address the hazards; appointment of competent supervisors whose task it is to implement the first three components; the implementation of an over inspection system that is designed to‘ close the loop’; and the implementation of a contractor management system, which is aligned with the previous five components. It is possible, given the high labour intensity of the construction sector, that the move to significant mechanisation and automation may not be practical in the near term, emphasising the need to implement health and safety programmes that focus on‘ back to basics’ in the interim. nn
Hogan Lovells
About the author Warren Beech is the global head for the Mining Subsector of the ENRG Sector for Hogan Lovells. He provides multidisciplinary legal and related services to the mining, construction, and engineering industries, including health and safety, environmental, commercial, litigation, criminal and employment law, as well as national and international training, auditing, consulting, seminars, and conferences.
CEC March 2018- 27