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“Safety, I came to realize, will not happen by accident. It must be a daily practice, especially for those of us who are more susceptible to the work adversities” … Jenna Wortham
Jenna Wortham is an American journalist. They work as a culture writer for The New York Times Magazine and co-host The New York Times podcast. As a journalist Jenna must have seen many accidents in her career as well those accidents also that’s why her views about accidents & safety are so precise & precious too! After a long I am writing about accident (that too site accident) is in a way a good sign yet accident happens when you are most sure about them that it won’t happen, so is the scene! Recently in Pune (where else) a tragic accident happened where a school going boy was a victim as a piece of steel bar (being used as plumb-bob) fell on his head when the boy happened to be walking along with his mother on the footpath adjoing to a project! Before I go in to the details, let me be very frank & honest, this sharing is not to blame some entity or a conclusion of who is guilty (as that’s job of investigation agencies, which are capable enough) but its sheer analysis as an engineer as well as a common man (and a builder too) , which is very much important for not just real estate developers but every segment associated with it because accident doesn’t happens with an intimation though warning signs are always there & this particular incidence can be taken as one such!
And then I got to work on the committee formed by local authority which was supposed to find the facts about this accident & earlier also I was part of such committee & accidents which has given me a fair exposure about all aspects of an accident, which I thought can be or say must be shared as awareness is one of the main keys to prevent accidents! And I have had my own encounters with this accident named guy during thirty years of site working & till now (thanks to god) all these encounters have helped me to form a work policy to keep accidents at bay!
Let me tell you at the start, accidents can happen at any site or at any project whatsoever care you have taken as that’s why they are called an accident; the problem is about being careless or not taking any efforts or having any system to avoid the accident! This is my point of the sharing & this is what any investigation agency is interested in when they investigate an accident. Take example of accident while driving, in case you are driving at a normal speed on a road & suddenly someone comes in front of your car & dies then it’s an accident yet a life is lost so the police (investigation agency) will file an FIR & check whether you were over-speeding or drunk while driving or has jumped red signal or driving in wrong lane or was busy in checking reels on Instagram while driving, as if you happened to do so then its not just a plain accident but outcome of negligence which has costed some innocent his life! From this angle every concerned investigation or regulatory authority will look into the accident which claims somebody’s life at your (our) site & this aspect is called as safety. Whether you have taken enough safety precautions at site to avoid an accident is very much important & for that you have to have a system in practice which matters most at the time of investigation of any accident & sadly real estate is very poor in having a system in place is a fact! Here I will suggest a three-way system for developers as well every person associated with a site accident (such as architect, rcc consultant etc) which were either missing or was present & has helped to rescue the developer or innocent persons involved in the accident.
First & foremost have a very clear & detailed documentation of the responsibilities of every job & safety aspect involved in that job. For e.g., if you are giving work of glazing of façade of a building then right from fabrication necessary for fixing that glazing to erecting scaffolding for fabrication of the façade to designing of the fabrication, mention every step & action involved in the process & safety measures necessary as well who will be doing what. For example, if safety net around the building is needed to remove to erect scaffolding for the glazing (temporary formwork/platform on which labours can work) then what alternate arrangement is being done for safety & who will be doing it, should be clearly mentioned in the work order of glazing agency’s work order you as a developer will be issuing to the agency. And this is applicable for every single job or service you will be coming across in the building of your site at every stage. Even the consultants like architects or structural designers must be covering probable accident’s details & safety measures needed to be taken on those. And this we are not doing to catch someone as scapegoat but to make everybody responsible about their duty towards safety at site! This aspect of fixing responsibility of safety measures, most developers neglect or ignore & later become victim to the investigation agencies axe because as principal employer if nobody’s responsibility is specified in the case of an accident then its your responsibility, mind it!
Next comes workmanship procedures & inclusion of the safety measures in all the work processes at site. Right from checking the physical health condition of every person while you allow him or her to work on site (checking for drunk or chronic illness of laborers) to continuous vigilance on the ongoing works, every small thing matters. Agreed, small or single building sites can’t afford a safety officer but you can train your supervisor staff for safety measures & as an owner you also must be visiting the site from this angle often! A labour working at height without safety belt, a small child of working labour playing around work area or unguarded cut-outs in the slab at higher floors, your eyes & senses must be trained to look for such flaws & until they get trained make a checklist & have a habit to tick it every day at site! As well try to infiltrate the safety which is an attitude till the last level of personnel at site as actually the labourers who are exposed to the accident directly & unless they themselves start thinking for their own safety the accidents won’t be reduced! At the same time this particular incident where our committee is involved the victim was not even part of the site staff but a passer by common citizen & while working in urban centres this aspect also must be kept in mind. Keeping safety within the site premise along-with that of adjoining properties & people around both things are equally important!
Third aspect is of documentation as well keeping records of the site work & premise, written & visual, one more weak link (kamjor kadi) of real estate; because in this particular incident there has been a tin-sheet barricade between footpath & the building but due to footpath flooring work the authorities have asked to remove the tin-sheets to the developer, is what the developer’s says & the authorities are saying that they didn’t gave any such instruction! At such times written communication comes into the picture, not to blame or frame some entity but to fix & make the concerned realize the responsibility of some action! Developers must understand that their neck is at stake in case of any accident at site, that’s why every communication with every agency must be there in writing & kept as record & in proper time, as you never know when it will be required as evidence of your safety approach! Especially communication with govt agencies as well neighboring buildings or establishments, regarding safety issues as in one of my own projects where I noticed that the compound wall of one of the adjoining societies to my plot has been tilted! I immediately clicked snaps & wrote a letter to that society & sent a copy of that letter to local police & public bodies, warning them about the condition of their wall & mentioning we won’t be responsible for any damage if it happens if that wall collapses in the future! Nobody of them ever has acknowledged but I have kept the record with me, this is documentation!
And then we must have modern technology at our service & things like having twenty-four hours surveillance of CCTV on all four sides of your building is a must to capture every thing happening at site making us know who has faltered in his or her respective duty regarding safety! As well save the CCTV recordings till the work gets complete, do spend on such systems as it's like spending for insurance & not waste of money. Keep all essential emergency contact names & numbers available on site & make a whats-ap group of all such people so in one message everybody will be alerted in case of an accident. Conduct a mock-drill of your own once in six months for accident situations so you will know who has understood his or her responsibility about safety & if the site is big enough then get a safety audit done per month! As well, keeping proper maintenance of all the machinery such as site lifts or concrete mixers & pumps also is very important & can help in avoiding accidents!
Here, the role of the public body is also equally important as real estate is an unorganized sector & most works are carried out by hand & those men are non-technical. Barring a few big organizations most tradesmen are in the trade just by practice & have no proper training of safety which is a must! PMC along with Fire Dept & CREDAI can start a short-term course making site labourers aware about basic safety norms & procedures at site & it should be made mandatory for every person working at site!
Below are the ten pointers about safety at sites which I have learnt…
1.Understand the term safety.
2.Train every person from a safety angle at site.
3.Take care of children & kids on site.
4.Keep all machinery in proper working condition.
5.Use of technology such as CCTV surveillance at site.
6.Proper documentation of the safety measures being taken.
7.Fixing responsibilities of every concerned person regarding safety aspects at site.
8.Constant awareness efforts about safety i.e., posters display, WhatsApp messages, videos etc.
9.Proper & in time communication with the authorities regarding safety issues related to the site.
10.As a developer, unless you don’t practice safety, no one else will!
Friends, nobody wants accidents as they not only cause loss of lives but financially also gives a big setback to all associated with the accident, defeating the very purpose of doing business & best way to face an accident is to avoid it from happening, which depends on us only, mind it; adios with this note!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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Theoretically, nothing is safe in this world.
ReplyDeleteSafety is all about reducing the probability of an accident. Safety is not being safe only about
oneself, but to ensure there will be no harm to other individuals by preventing an accident.
The best example is, after an accident, others, not directly involved in that accident, can get
injured due to panic situation. This means, by working in unsafe condition we are
jeopardising the safety of others as well.
Importance of discipline in safety.
The perception of safety is different for every individual. A juggler playing with knifes in a
circus may feel it’s absolutely safe, but for a common person it may not be safe. That is why
it is difficult to cultivate the safety culture in a group of people having their individual
different perceptions about safety.
Safety rules & regulations for a specific operation by a specific group of people are based on
understanding the perception of majority of individuals from that group of people.
It is necessary to follow the safety rules & regulations by all, to ensure own safety as well as
safety of others.
Reporting Near-miss.
Reporting & analysing Near-miss situations is very important. Near-miss is an event OR a
probability of an event which can cause harm or damage to people, property or
environment. Near-miss shall include every unsafe situation (such as not respecting the
barricade) or an unsafe act (working at height without a safety harness)
Near-miss is one of the best leading indicators which can provide a warning about a
probable incident / accident well in advance.
We at NDPL have announced “Recording Near-miss” campaign from 1st November till 31st
March & will be able to share the results in Apr 2024.
Being Safe = Being Human.
Although everyone agrees that “Being Safe is a part of life”, the problem with safety culture
is, once the activity or work is done, even in unsafe conditions with unsafe practices, if
nothing goes wrong, then it is difficult to convince the importance of required safety
measures while repeating the activity.
To cultivate the culture of Being Safe, we have to always think about safety. One of the best
practices followed by the leading construction organizations around the world is to dedicate
3~4 minutes at the start of every meeting, irrespective of its agenda, to discuss the
importance of safety by sharing a recent experience by any individual OR safety in general.
Remember, there is always time to do a thing “Safely”.
By Ashok Tamhankar. +919011907645
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