Root Causes of Accidents on Construction

Root Causes of Accidents on Construction The construction industry is one of the biggest industries in the whole world. The contribution of this industry towards the global GDP is enormous. The construction industry is also a potential employment generator and employs large number of skilled and unskilled labors. In UK the construction industry employs more than 2.1 million people and accounts for around 9% of the total employment within UK (Howarth and Watson., 2009). Since the industry employs large number, it also has a significant impact on the health and safety of the people working in it. The process of construction involves various activities such as working at heights, working in confined spaces, manual handling, lifting operations, demolition works and ground works. These all activities involve risks and are very hazardous in nature, so the chances of accidents taking place on construction sites are high. Now in order to reduce the level of risk it is very important to implement proper safety management systems on construction sites. The UK construction industry is successful in many respects. The construction industry in UK has shown a steady improvement in the safety performance after the Egan Report (1998) but still faces numerous challenges with regard to safety on its journey to improve its performance record whilst delivering increased volume and complex construction projects (Howarth and Watson., 2009). According to HSE statistics, more than 200 people are killed at work in United Kingdom every year excluding work related road accidents. In 2006, 30 million working days was lost in UK to occupational ill health and injury which imposed an annual cost of  £30 billion i.e. more than 3% of GDP. As per Lingard and Rowlinson (2005), the construction industry consists of several SMEs and small amount of large firms. These small and medium size firms lack knowledge and resources required to implement safety management activities so the issues related to health and safety are more in small and medium size firms. Eakins (1992)stated that international research confirms that the issues related to health and safety are more in SMEs as compared to larger firms and also smaller firms are poor in implementation of safety programmes. Therefore smaller firms have higher injury frequency rates as compared to larger firms. The Company- Millennium Contractors Ltd. Millennium Contractors Ltd. is a small and medium size firm which has been working in the UK construction industry for the last 25 years. The company has a much diversified work force, employees from different cultural background and of different age group works in the company. Diversity in construction organizations in terms of culture and ethnicity has many advantages but at the same time there are many disadvantages related to it. In the condition of uncertainty and complexity diversity does not fare well which may lead to confusion and frustration. In a multicultural organization it is very hard to arrive at an agreement on a particular course of action, and can result in negative dynamics and cultural clashes. The other main disadvantage of multicultural organization is the lack of coordination and communication between the workers which can be a contributing cause of an accident. Apart from this the company is committed to prevention of injuries and ill health at work place but has failed in promoting an incident injury free culture. The recent record of the company related to health and safety has not been very good. There have been many accidents which included one fatal accident resulting from the fall from height and other major/minor injuries and also some incidents of dangerous occurrences. The main areas of concern for the company have been; manual handling; hit by falling objects; hit by moving vehicles; collapse of temporary structures and scaffoldings. The company was also served with a prohibition notice because of a fatal injury caused by falling from mobile elevated working platform. The companys policy towards health and safety is also not up to mark. The management has been irresponsible in implementing the policies in an organized manner, which has contributed to the main cause of accident. According to Baxendale and Jones as cited in (Kashyap et al., 2005), the majority of the accidents are not caused by the carelessness of the worker but by the negligence or by the failure to control by the management. Moreover the management should be able to judge the capabilities of the employee before allocating the job and the employees in response should be capable of doing the allocated work. Hence with an involved and committed staff a positive health and safety culture can be maintained. According to Cooper (1998), the impact of organizational safety culture not only affects the accident rates but has significant impact on work methods, absenteeism, quality, commitment, loyalty and satisfaction. According to HSE the positive health and safety culture can only be ach ieved through 4Cs; competence- recruitment, training and advisory support; control- allocating responsibility, commitment, instruction and supervision; co-operation- between individual and group; communication- spoken, written and visible (Clarke, 1999). Issues related to Health and safety in Millennium Contractors Limited As mentioned above, the company has failed to implement structured policy towards health and safety, as a result of which there has been regular incidents of dangerous occurrences. The common issues that the company is facing regularly and the legal action that could be taken against the company are as follows. Manual handling The manual handling regulations (1992) defines manual handling as any transporting or supporting of a load (including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or by bodily force. In effect, any activity that requires an individual to lift, move or support a load is classified as manual handling operations (Stranks, 2006). Manual material handling is one of the most significant risk factors for back problems, whole body vibration, bent and twisted positions (Roy et al., 1999). If proper safety measures are not involved while manual handling of materials, it may lead to injuries and occupational diseases. According to HSE, manual handling injuries are the most common type of occupational ill health in UK. As per Helander (1991), 15% of the back injuries due to manual material handling occur in the construction industry. The main causes of incidents due to manual handling were; The use of poor techniques to move materials. Lack of proper training and guidelines provided to the workers by the management. Lack of communication and co-operation among the workers. The above figure shows the proper method of moving and lifting materials which can be very effective in reducing the injuries caused by manual handling of materials. Legal aspects related to manual handling; Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulations 10 and 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that it is the duty of employers to provide their employees with health and safety information and training. This should be supplemented as necessary with more specific information and training on manual handling injury risks and prevention, as part of the steps to reduce risk required by regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Regulations (HSE). Hit by Falling Object The other main issue faced by the company is hit by falling objects. The small objects like bricks, hammers, nails and tiles when dropped from the height can cause fatal head injuries and other serious injuries to the worker working below it or any other person passing by it as shown in the figure. The main causes of this type of injury were; Poor standards of housekeeping. Failure of management in providing safety nets at heights. Inadequate project planning which leads to inadequate storage of materials. Lack of proper guidelines provided to the workers working at height. Absence of cautionary sign boards. Legal aspects related to hit from the falling object; Regulation 8(b) part 1 of schedule 3, of the Work at Height Regulation, 2005, states that it is the duty of the employer to prevent, where necessary, injury to any person so far as reasonably practicable and also the employer shall provide enough storage space so as to prevent risk of movement of such material. Fall from height The company has a record of one fatal accident resulting from the fall from height. According to the data of HSE in 2005/06 falls from height accounted for 46 fatal accidents at work and around 3350 major injuries. This was the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury. The workers working at heights are prone to have fatal injuries such as skull fractures. Therefore it is absolutely necessary to provide proper training and guidance to the workers working at height. The main causes of this type of incident were; Lack of proper training and guidelines provided to worker by the management. Negligence and unsafe action of the worker. Inadequate use of personal protective equipments. Lack of planning and supervision. No barrication provided. Legal aspects related to fall from height; The Work at Height Regulation 2005 applies to all work at height where there is a risk of fall liable to cause personal injury. It place duties on workers, employers, the self-employed, and any person who controls the work of others (eg facilities managers or building owners who may contract others to work at height) to the extent they control the work. Hit by moving vehicle The other issue of the company is workers being hit by moving vehicles. This type of issues is very dangerous in occurrence and can cause fatal injury. The accident involved vehicle like trucks. The main causes of this type of incident were; Inadequate site planning Improper signs and absence of cautionary (speed limit) boards Unsafe conditions of working Legal aspect related to hit by the moving vehicle; Section 2(2)(a) of HSWA 1974 states that it is responsibility of the employer to maintain plant and system at workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable. According to Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulation (17), there should efficient segregation of pedestrian from vehicular traffic of incoming and outgoing. Collapse of temporary structures and scaffolding The other main issue of the company related to health and safety was collapse of temporary structures and scaffoldings. The incident took place due to lack of inspection. Incompetence of the inspectors to identify risk and hazard involved. Moreover the employer failed to provide the workers with suitable equipment and provide collective measures along with personal protective measures. Legal Aspect: The Work at Height Regulation 2005, Regulation6(4)(b), 6(5)(a,b), 7, 8, 12 and 13, states that it is necessary for the employer to provide suitable equipment, take account of working condition and rigorous inspection by a competent person. Further according to section 2(2)(a) of HSWA 1974, there should be provision and maintenance of plant and machinery at work. Apart from these issues the company was served with three enforcement notices and one prohibition notice by HSE because of dangerous occurrences at work place. The company failed to implement proper structure of health and safety policy due to inadequate management system. Hence for successful implementation of the policy the company should have proper safety management system. Safety Management aims at minimizing the chances of risks, injuries and accidents by implementing risk management techniques and safety management operations, improving the standard of health of the employees, monitoring the operating systems and bolstering the safety measures of an organization. Management practices and documentation In order to reduce the risks of accidents in the company the company should have proper management practices and associated documentation relating to safety induction procedures, tool-box talks, training requirement, accident record book and method statements. The proper safe management practices involve; Risk assessment: During risk assessment, the hazards or hazardous work is first identified before commencement of any work activity. The rating information is then passed on for preparation of method statement, which must be read and understood by every worker undertaking the activity before the commencement of work. Method statement: It is the document that shows or states how an activity needs to be carried out in a safe manner. The statement is usually prepared by a competent person and passed to the principle contractor and the safety coordinator for its inclusion in sites health and safety plan. Site induction and training: The site induction and training is usually provided to the worker before the start of any work by the employer. The workers are informed about the various precautions that are to be taken while working on sites. The site induction includes brief on welfare facilities, brief on site hazards, brief on how to report onsite injury or accidents and the use of PPEs. Accident record book: The accidents that take place on sites are to be entered in this book. Any reportable accident should be reported under RIDDOR, to the site supervisor immediately. Tool box talks: Toolbox  talks  are safety lectures aimed at the construction trade. The lectures are intended to educate workers about creating and maintaining safer work conditions, and attendance is mandatory with many companies. Many companies provide toolbox  talks  in modular form, so that a safety educator has a  curriculum  readily available. The Millennium Contractors Ltd do not have organized structure of management and have failed in implementing the health and safety polices due to which the company is unable to follow safe management practices. Overcoming the Barriers The potential barriers that the company needs to overcome to aim for zero accident policy on sites are as follows; Cultural and language barrier: The company has mixed workforce, workers from different cultural background works in the company now because of ethnic diversity the management might find it difficult to convey all the messages efficiently, resulting in difference in understanding of instructions which may cause problems regarding safety on sites. Fear of change: New ways and methods of working may create confusion and sense of uncomforting amongst workers, leading them to traditional ways of working which can cause some problems related to safety. Therefore in order to overcome this barrier the company should motivate the workers and should train them properly. Difference in education level: Different workers might have studied till different levels in education. It may affect their ability to understand instructions clearly. Conclusion Although the company has vast experience it had failed in implementing the safety policies which are very essential for reducing the risks of accidents. The company has inadequate safety management system which has resulted in several major and minor incidents. An effective safety management system will be most effective if a safety culture permeates the organization and this can only be achieved through communicating leadership, personalizing safety outcomes, engaging individuals in safety responsibilities, improving understanding of safety system and increasing hazard/risk awareness and preventive behaviors. In order to improve the safety management system the Millennium Contractors Ltd must follow these steps which would indirectly help them in reducing the accidents.

Critique of Artificial Intelligence Essay

Journalist John Markoff wrote the article â€Å"Computer Wins On ‘Jeopardy!’: Trivial, It’s Not†. He discusses how the super computer â€Å"Watson† defeated the all time champion of â€Å"Jeopardy!† Ken Jennings. The author, throughout the article, agrees that the supercomputer â€Å"Watson† was a fair match against Ken Jennings. I disagree with Markoff for multiple reasons. This was in no way a fair match because the computer had a remarkable ability to answer questions at super speeds. Also, the computer has access to all available questions and the ability to answer them. This was in no way a fair battle between the computer and Ken Jennings. The author’s main idea of this article is mainly to say how the supercomputer was a fair match between the two. The computer has ways to answer questions that humans have no way of doing. The computer can answer questions within seconds and even milliseconds when the question is asked. It has a super speed ability to answer these questions, which gives no time for the competitor to even have a chance to answer the questions given. So, when the competitor has no time to even have an attempt to answer the question, there is no way to win. â€Å"Watson† is so smart that almost every question that is asked, he answers correctly. Since I don’t agree with Markoff’s statement about â€Å"Watson†, I don’t think his argument is valid. The reason I don’t believe his argument and points are valid is that a computer that has remarkable and inhuman-like abilities is obviously going to win in a competition of speed and knowledge. Ken Jennings had no chance against this computer. So, if a human has no chance against a machine, how can anyone call this a fair fight? Now, Markoff did define his terms clearly and specifically describe his reasons for why he thinks what he thinks, so I do give him credit for that. Still, I disagree with his argument. I disagree with most of Markoff’s view about the competition between the computer and Jennings. His main point of the fair competition is totally undebatable. â€Å"Watson, on the other hand, does not anticipate the light, but has a weighted scheme that allows it, when it is highly confident, to hit  the buzzer in as little as 10 milliseconds, making it hard for humans to beat† (Markoff 212). This statement made by Markoff proves that this was in no way possible for Jennings to beat the super computer. The computer can buzz in at amazing speeds as little as 10 milliseconds, which is way faster than any other human could possibly buzz in. Plus, the computer is programmed with so much information, that it would most likely be able to defeat Jennings, just because of the intelligence of this machine that the creators programmed into it. Overall, I do not believe that this piece published by John Markoff is in anyway valid. Markoff does however succeed in persuading people his ideas and describing his ideas and arguments very specifically. He does a good job with his argument and stating what he thinks. I do not agree with his argument though. My reaction to this piece is actually astonished because I am not sure how anyone could think that a computer competing against a very intelligent human was fair at all. The weakness of this passage is probably how it can be hard for someone to understand how a computer can manage to accomplish all this, but the strengths are good description and expression of the passage. Although he argues very well of his points, I in no way agree with his argument that the battle between â€Å"Watson† and Ken Jennings was fair.

Effect of video games on children Essay

During the course of this research, a number of significant facts were found. The original topic question for the research was â€Å"the psychological and physical effect of video games on children†. The amount of information researched on the psychological effect was a lot and thus the topic question for the research was then changed to â€Å"the psychological effect of video games on children†. The main reason for researching this topic was the fact that there are a lot of young children in the world who play immensely violent games. Many children and their parents ignore the game rating. Many parents do not understand the adverse effect that those video games would have on the young child’s growing brain. Research which is discussed below in detail has proven that violent video games have a great psychological effect on the children which causes them to become aggressive adolescence. This in turn affects their social and personal life in a major way. The researched information shows that violent video games are clearly harmful to children and both parents and children must obey the game rating if they want healthy and rather peaceful children. Video games have been available to the customer for around 30 years now. The games have evolved greatly. They merely started off as 2D arcade games and now they have evolved to 4D virtual reality. One of the main researched subtopic has been video games and the time children spend playing them. The time that children spent playing video games varies greatly according to gender. A research/ study conducted in 2004 by Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh stated that adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week whereas boys played an average of 13 hours. Now this extended amount of time spent playing video games affects the children in many ways. The time which they could’ve spent studying is spent playing video games. This may appear to be a decline in academic achievement. The same study conducted by Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh also states that teens also tend to become more aggressive in nature, more prone to confronting their teachers and also get into a lot of fights with their peers. The research shows that video games not only affect the child psychologically but also socially. It affects the person’s relationship with friends and close ones. In a study by Walsh in 2000, majority of the teenagers admitted that their parents don’t impose time limit. In a survey conducted by myself, the results clearly show that 30% of the people play video games more than four times a week. Another deeply researched subtopic has been video game rating. Parents tend to ignore the game ratings of a game and also the warnings on the game that say that they are unsuitable for children. A research authorised by the UK game industry found that parents let young children play adult games. The main reason for this was the fact that parents thought their children were mature enough to play games way beyond their age level. This thought process of parents is much objected by Modulum researcher Jurgen Freund. He suggests that parents think their children are mature and that the game will not have an influence on the child. Parents seem to perceive age ratings as a guide but not as a prohibition according to him. It has been reported that 39% of UK parents ignore the rating on videogames. A survey conducted by myself indicated that 50% of the children do not follow the game ratings. Video games are very addictive. This is because, once the player engages into the game, he/she is in the game world. The real world is switched off for him/her for that period of time. As the player has no idea about the real world, he/she do not realise the amount of time spent playing the game. Addiction of video games has caused many serious effects on children over the past years. These serious effects also include death. On December 27th 2004, a thirteen year old Warcraft player committed suicide by jumping off a building in order to join the heroes of the game. This aim of joining the heroes was indicated by his suicide note. In conclusion it is clearly evident that video games have a very negative effect on children and their growth. Firstly, children should be monitored throughout their young life so that nothing bad affects them in their childhood as this will affect the child in his later years. Parents should also have a hold on the amount of time the child spends playing video games. The time spent should not interfere with the time that the child could have spent playing with friends and socialising. Parents should strictly follow the game ratings and should instil the idea of following the game rating into their children. Young children should not play adult games. This should be done because violent games cause the children to become more aggressive and in turn it grows the kids into violent adolescents. These violent adolescents grow into aggressive, angry and rather violent adults. If the person is violent it is highly likely that that person will not have many friends and will not often socialise. This will cause that person to be lonely and rather depressed. The parents should enforce strong rules regarding the time spent playing the video games and set a certain time weekly that the children may play the video games. The parents must also strictly follow the game ratings and make sure that they only buy games for their children which fit their age group. Parents should make sure that their kids do not become ‘gameholics’ but rather should spend more time with friends and be out socially. If all the above are followed by parents then there is a reduced risk of psychological problems developing in children from a very young age. If looked carefully it is evident that parents play a very important role in the child’s growth and development. Gentile, D. A. , Lynch, P. , Linder, J. & Walsh, D. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 5-22 [ 2 ]. Walsh, D. (2000). Interactive violence and children: Testimony submitted to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate. (March 21, 2000. ) [ 3 ]. Andrea Norcia, (26/06/2010) The Impact of Video Games on Children, http://www. pamf. org/preteen/parents/videogames. html, 18/11/2011 [ 4 ]. Swiss research association [ 5 ]. Chief executive officer of Modulum [ 6 ]. Alfred Hermida , (27/04/2010) Parents ’ignore game age ratings’ , http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/technology/4118270. stm, 17/11/2011 [ 7 ]. Ricky Lam, (November 7, 2010 ) Top 10 Cases of Extreme Game Addiction, http://listverse. com/2010/11/07/top-10-cases-of-extreme-game-addiction/, 16/11/2011.

High Cost of Healthcare Essay example - 1421 Words

There is no denying the fact that the cost of health care in the United States has been on a constant rise than the wage of the employees that pay to have access to better healthcare. There is the general fear among these employees that if the rising cost of the health care is not brought under control, there will come a time, and some analyst think, the time is already here, when those employees will not be able to afford health care for themselves and their families. This fear of the unknown is particularly evident among those closer to retirement. Employers of labor have for quite sometimes now, been shifting the burden of the high cost of affordable health care to their employees, and that has significantly reduced employee standard of†¦show more content†¦Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). The higher cost of affordable Health care is also eroding the ease with which to afford other insurance that covers about 30 percent of Medicare enrollees ‘expenses. In 2005, about 89 percent of beneficiaries obtained such additional coverage, including through former employers (33 percent), medical policies (25 percent), Medicare advantage plans (13 percent), Medicaid (16 percent), or other programs (1 percent) (MedPAC). These supplemental insurance programs were all very helpful at the onset, but with the passage of time and as health care costs continued to rise, employers are finding it difficult to support these programs and as a consequence, a greater number of these employers are either reducing the benefit or eliminating these benefits especially those that affects their retirees thereby increasing the cost of these supplemental insurances. The Impact on Employees Most health care analyst believes that health benefits provided by employers are provided as part of the overall compensation paid to workers. 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