Case selection and description
Construction is a land-based job that is very hazardous. Jobs of construction include building roads, houses, maintaining, and repairing infrastructure. The hazard of the construction includes falling from a height, dust, noise, excavation, equipment, and tools. The industry of construction plays an important role in the emerging economic development of the world. The industry of construction in Australia has ranked the third most deadly sector with more fatalities, injuries, and accidents. The construction industries have a higher rate of occupational injuries and results in human tragedies, progress delay, affects the production cost, and reputation of the industry of construction.
Expenses like medical costs and high compensation and insurance to workers, damages of properties are incurred regularly. Many workers have reported or represented in the court of law to seek justice. This report presents the court case in Australia about construction health and safety. The court case is analyzed stating the cause of accidents, decisions of the court among others. In the literature review, two topics are selected, discussed, and related to the case study. Lastly, recommendations that can reduce the rate of accidents in the sites of construction are also presented.
$80,000 fine imposed after workplace incident results in amputation
Inadequate training and supervision for the young workers have been blamed for the incident at the workplace which resulted in the unexperienced laborers having their hand amputated. The workers were employed but had no experience in the safety issues that should be taken into considerations when doing construction work. Rockhampton Magistrate court overheard the accident that happened when the workers were employed as the laborers at the pipeline consortium next to Biloela. The work at the pipeline construction involved the excavation using the machines of trenching. Workers have the qualification of engineering but they were too young and lacked experience regarding pipeline construction.
When the worker was employed in the industry, he was assigned as the mentor and given the high level of supervision and monitoring so that trench activities can be observed by keeping an eye to every activity, looking, and listening to any problem such as conveyor machine blockage. In July 2013, the worker was using the operator of the plant and notice the root piece lodged in the trenching machine. He put his right hand between the conveyor and the roller the remove the root. Shirt of the worker was trapped between the plant conveyor and the roller, pulling the hand in the machine and this resulted in his hand at the wrist joint being amputated. Workplace safety and health of Queensland informed the court that the accident could be foreseen and the control measures and identified hazard highlighted in the statement of safe work practices was inadequate. Administrative practices are the lowest measures that rely on supervision and human behavior to be operative.
Root causes of accidents
The court head the training and supervision of the workers was not adequate compared to what was detailed or described in the policy program of a new employee. The worker was not given the tutor or mentor and was not supervised when the incident occurred
The defendant presented the extensive measures considered to enhance systems of safety and reduce accidents that occur in the plant. The defendant also said that the machinery was not made or fitted with guarding which went against the recommendations of manufacturers that the area is monitored to prevent blockages. The defendant explained in the court that trenching machine that caused incident was no-longer applied after the occurrence of the accident. The significant supports was given to the injured worker such as giving him another work and job that uses his qualifications of engineering.
The magistrate imposed a fine of $80,000 and a court cost of $2,900with no recorded conviction, coming into agreement that the young worker must be provided with higher levels of training and supervision. The magistrate acknowledged the defendant by the support they gave the worker, lack of the conviction of previous work, safety, and health, the remorse of the company, and being sorry for its wrongdoings. The defendant agreed that the company was not responsible and that it was their fault as management for the occurrence of accidents because of inadequate supervision, training, mentoring, and failure to foresee the incident and monitor the machines regularly, failure to identify the hazard on time, not following the control measures as written in their work safety statement (Qeensland, 2018).
Causes of the incident or accident
Inadequate supervision: The construction companies need to have supervisors whose job is to walk around the site monitoring how the activities are being carried out by workers. They should ensure that the workers have safety protection gear to prevent machinery accident. In the case study, there was a lack of supervision and that is why the worker got injured without being helped. The worker was not putting on the protective gear on the hand which could have protected the hand from being amputated. The administration should employ supervisors to help the new workers and also to monitor all the activities in the construction sites.
Inadequate training: New workers are supposed to be trained before starting the work. Training should be performed frequently and extensively to ensure that the worker has enough required information that can help then to keep safe in the industry. Training helps the workers to learn more about how the machines are operating, the type of protective measures that they should have, what they should avoid, how to report the incident, and acceptable behaviors at the sites of constriction. In this case study, the new worker was not trained on the ‘dos’ and ‘donts’ of the construction industry. The worker was not trained on how the machine should be handled especially when operating (Journeay, et al., 2018).
Costs of accidents
Lack of mentors: The worker lacked a mentor who can guide him through the entire process of the construction. There was no one to guide him on how to operate the machine or a good way of removing the root that clogged on the conveyor machine. The worker was not aware of how the machine operates and that is why he risked by putting his hand on the machine instead of using some equipment that would have been applied to clean the machine.
Failure to foresee the incident and identify the hazard: the administration failed to recognize or identify the failure of the machine on time. Lack of monitoring of the machine regularly also contributed to the accident. Some machines can give a warning when they are about to experience failure and monitoring could have identified the hazard (Zou & Yosia, 2013).
Employing inexperienced workers; the worker who got an accident was employed in the pipeline construction company but was an engineer. It seems that he lacked any experience with machine operation. Experience, exposure and knowledge is very important when it comes to construction industries because especially in the sector of machine operation. One mush know how to operate the machines used for construction and also a better way of cleaning them.
Failure of following the control measures as stated in the work safety statement: from the case study, the construction company had a well-structured statement of controlling safety but they were not being followed. The company should highlight the policies that govern their activities and they should comply with what is required by the government. Workers should be included in the decision-making process of the company so that they can feel they are part of it and motivate them o take measures as required (Zhang & Fang, 2013).
Training: education and training are the main emphasis of OSHA and are widely available in many sources. The manager also has the responsibility of ensuring that the workers are well educated to undertake work on the site. Induction training should be performed for all the new workers to help them get the needed information and knowledge. New employers should not be allowed to operate the equipment and machines until they are done with training on their safety and operation to prevent the occurrence of accidents to workers. Safety training should entail; giving workers information on the nature of accidents at the sites of construction; improving workers’ awareness on the rules and safety procedures and making them comply with the law. Safety training should be carried out when the workers are just hired and also in the course of the job (Pandit, et al., 2020).
Responsibilities of stakeholders
Management provides the resources that are used to implement the programs of safety and health. Responsible leadership including the workers, supervisors, and other relevant parties must show commitment to eliminate accidents and protect the employers. A clear policy should be formulated by the management that safety and health is the main priority of the organization before productivity and profitability. Formulated statements about the control measures of the work safety should be put into practice. Managers should have a positive attitude towards safety management to encourage the workers.
Assessment and identification of hazards or accidents is a good strategy that can be used to manage safety at the site of construction. Employers and workers should collect and review information about the hazards, conduct frequent and regular inspections to identify recurring accidents. These hazards can be identified by supervisors or managers when performing auditing and machine monitoring.
Regular inspection; regular inspection of the accidents and activities at the site is a hood strategy of identifying the shortcoming which can be addressed. Trained and experienced people should be designated to do frequent and regular inspections of machines and activities so that they can audit and report the incidents. Equipment and machine should be inspected frequently and a checklist should be made to identify if the purchase of new machines is needed (Loosemore & Malouf, 2019).
Case Analysis
According to the case, the accident was caused by the mishandling of the machine. The worker was not trained or given enough information on how the machine can be handled. The company failed to induct the new worker when he was being hired. The worker was lacking qualification of machine operation and pipeline construction since he was an engineer. Lack of supervision and mentors also caused the accident because there was no one to guide the new worker on what should be done when it comes to machine operation. Failure to monitor the machine regularly reduces the chances of identifying the hazard on time. Causes of accidents were caused by administration by failing to perform their responsibilities. The occurrence of accident impact on the company by affecting the reputation of the company, increasing the budget of the project, reduced productivity, reduced profits, and also increased losses because of the huge amount of money that they were fined by the court of law (Bluff, 2017).
Measures taken by the company included settling the medical bills of workers, compensation, giving him support, and employing him in the engineering sector of the company. The impact of the accident on the worker was the loss of hand because of amputation which can even lead to depression. In this case, all the problems and accidents were caused by the administration which include lack of good leadership, lack of positive attitudes towards safety issues, prioritizing profits before safety management, inadequate money for implementing safety measures and policies. The magistrate acknowledges the defendant by the support they gave the worker, lack of the conviction of previous work, safety, and health, the remorse of the company, and acceptance of its wrongdoings. The company also put some measures that will help in reducing accidents in the coming days (Hinze, et al., 2013).
Safety management systems/plans
There are several ways of preventing accidents and improve safety such as integrating safety as part of the job, creating accounts at every level, accounting for safety during the process of planning, making sure that all the relevant parties are qualified, making sure that the workers are trained properly, having protection equipment, inspecting the activities and machines regularly, innovating ways of safety training and replacing human by robots especially in risky jobs.
The worker must be trained properly on the task of the job before starting to work to help in preventing death, accidents, and injuries. Foremen of the construction site should be couched to include safety issues in their daily conversations with the workers to reduce accidents related to work. The management should ensure that workers know how to use conveyors, electronics, and other equipment of construction. Machines used at the job should be maintained properly and regularly inspected (Awolusi & Marks, 2017).
A system of machine inspection will help the machine operator to be sure that the machine is mechanically good in terms of operating conditions. Workers should be assigned to inspect the machines to ensure appropriate safety. The managers should design and implement regulations of safety to reduce injuries and accidents. They should also conduct daily audits and inspections to ensure that they comply with the regulation of government. Equipment used in the industry should be made by the qualified person and no one should be allowed to use the operating machine (Tanvi, et al., 2020).
Workers should remain in a safe distance from the machines while operating. In general, the following practices can be applied to improve safety; incorporating the strong process of the safety of engaging workers and assigning the personnel to solve the problems directly, developing site-specific safety and health plan, education, among others. Regulations should be created to emphasize the importance of creating a culture of safety throughout the construction process. To ensure that the control measures are effective, the administration should track the implemented practices. Regular inspection should be performed for evaluation of the effectiveness and the need for modification (Silva, et al., 2013).
Other measures are; including workers in the safety processes and policies, analyzing the safety issues in preconstruction, establishing a policy where workers can report cases, assigning an authorized person to supervise workers, and conducting incident and near-miss investigation. Managers should use control measures that are effective, permanent, and feasible. They should be selected by a hierarchy that emphasizes the solutions such as physical removal of the hazard, replacement of the hazard, giving the workers protective equipment to prevent them from being injured when accident occurred and changing the behaviours of people
Promoting safety culture/climate
Conclusion
The concern of safety has been important in the industries of construction. Construction sites are a complex environment with the people from many places interacting in the problematic physical environment. While the issues of enhancing safety have been the need of the industries, there was a need to examine examples of construction accidents that have led to a court case. The use of technologies of the training offer various was passing safety information to the workers and need to be effectively deployed to contribute to the enhancement of communication and productivity. Data from the case show that improper training, supervision, failure of monitoring machines, employing an unskilled or unexperienced worker, and lack of mentor led to the occurrence of an accident. Workers should be encouraged to report accidents occurring at the construction sites especially if the cause is linked to administration. New employed workers should be supervised, trained, educated and given a mentor so that they can gain enough experience before starting work.
References
Awolusi, I. & Marks, E., 2017. Safety Activity Analysis Framework to Evaluate Safety Performance in Construction. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(3), p. 05016022.
Bluff, E., 2017. Safety in machinery design and construction: Performance for substantive safety outcomes. Safety Science, Volume 66, pp. 27-35.
Hinze, J., Hallowell, M. & Baud, K., 2013. Construction-Safety Best Practices and Relationships to Safety Performance. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(10), p. 04013006.
Journeay, W., Pauley, T., Kowgier, M. & Devlin, M., 2018. Return to work after occupational and non-occupational lower extremity amputation. Occupational Medicine, 68(7), pp. 438-443.
Loosemore, M. & Malouf, N., 2019. Safety training and positive safety attitude formation in the Australian construction industry. Safety Science, Volume 113, pp. 233-243.
Pandit, B., Albert, A. & Patil, Y., 2020. Developing construction hazard recognition skill: leveraging safety climate and social network safety communication patterns. Construction Management and Economics, pp. 1-19.
Qeensland, W. C., 2018. $80,000 fine imposed after workplace incident results in amputation. pp. https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/news/2018/000-fine-imposed-after-workplace-incident-results-in-amputation.
Silva, S., Araujo, A. & Costa, D., 2013. Safety Climates in Construction Industry: Understanding the Role of Construction Sites and Workgroups. Open Journal of Safety Science and Technology, 3(4), pp. 80-86.
Tanvi, M., David, P., Jefferies, M. & Pillay, M., 2020. Examining the Psychological Contract as Mediator between the Safety Behavior of Supervisors and Workers on Construction Sites. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 146(1), p. 04019094.
Zhang, M. & Fang, D., 2013. A continuous Behavior-Based Safety strategy for persistent safety improvement in construction industry. Automation in Construction, Volume 34, pp. 101-107.
Zou, P. & Yosia, R., 2013. Skills for managing safety risk, implementing safety task, and developing positive safety climate in construction project. Automation in Construction, Volume 34, pp. 92-100.
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