“How to Reduce and Eliminate” the Hazardous and Risky works in Construction Industry
Confidential
Study Report
on
“How to Reduce and Eliminate” the Hazardous and Risky Works in Construction Industries of Nepal
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Submitted to:
Department of Labour (DoL)
Minbhaban, Kathmandu
Nepal
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Submitted by:
Quest Forum Pvt. Ltd.
Deepnagar, Koteshwor, Kathmandu - 32,
Nepal
01 4455366, 9843379600 Post Box- 1356
June, 2015
“How to Reduce and Eliminate” the Hazardous and Risky works in Construction Industry
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Quest Forum Pvt. Ltd. is very much thankful to the Occupational Safety and Health Project (OSHP) and especially Mr. Barun Kumar Jha, Project Chief Mr. Yogeshwor Gharti, Electrical Engineer, Md. Montasir Aalam, Mechanical Overseer, Mr. Deepak Lekhak, Senior Lab. Assistant and for entrusting us for study on “How to Reduce and Eliminate” the Hazardous and Risky Works in Construction Industries of Nepal. We take this opportunity also to thank all the Construction Industries for their support and for their valuable input.
Quest Forum would also like to express its thankfulness to the organizations, experts and authors of the documents, which have been consulted in the work.
Quest Forum
June, 2015
Executive Summary
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) should aim at; the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention among workers of adverse effects on health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of workers in an occupational environment adapted to physical and mental needs; and the adaptation of work to humans (ILO).
Working conditions of construction industries are not satisfactory and may be described as poor. Manpower is the key factor for the any construction activities, so manpower are always facing with many occupational risks and hazards. In the construction industry, owners, contractors and designers have the obligation to provide a safe site working environment, and their negligence on safety may cause severe accidents and injuries as well as economic loss. A large number of construction accidents are reported and thousands of workers are killed or injured on construction sites each year. As a result, owners lose large amounts of money and many families suffer from permanent pain.
Construction industries is a chemical based industries and some of the hazardous chemicals are also using in this industries. The workers exposed to chemical in these industries which can affect the throat, skin and lungs of the exposed workers. Heavy and haphazard working practices leads the workers musculoskeletal stresses and workers getting fatigue and dehydration due to high heat and humidity.
Building construction is risky work due to very specific nature of structure of its own, frequent operation of power tools and heavy equipment, engagement of large numbers of workers of various trades and various natures of works in the same construction sites. Construction activities are associated with various health hazards. Workers are frequently exposed to these hazards in the course of works which result in accidents and ill health of workers. The data were collected from the workers and site management personnel through interviews and questionnaire survey from seven construction sites in Kathmandu and Lalitpur.
The study found that major cause of fatalities in construction is fall from heights. Majority of respondents answered that unprotected edges of floors and roofs are the prominent source of fall. The study revealed that dust is the most prominent hazard causing ill health of workers. And most prominent sources of dust hazards are construction materials such as mud, sand, concrete and cement to which workers are exposed daily. It is concluded from the study that there are various contributing factors of injuries and fatalities at sites. Lack of regular safety inspection, failure to use personal protective equipment (PPE) in working site, lack of conducting safety training and safety meeting among workers are the key contributing factors of occupational fatalities and injuries. It was found from field survey that key safety protection measures are not made available at site.
PPE are not available at all sites appropriately and adequately. Only safety helmet and safety belts are available more frequently in almost sites. First aid facilities, emergency vehicles and fire protection systems are not satisfactorily available in all sites. Use of proper informatory and caution signs and signal, guardrails and barriers in hazardous area and machineries which are prime safety precaution measures are either not provided or poorly implemented at sites. The implementation of safety provisions and regulations ensured by state laws and acts was poor at site due to lack of proper safety policy and plan, separate safety department with safety manager and adequate budget.
It can be concluded from study that identifying the health hazards associated with works, minimizing the contributing factors of injuries and fatalities, proper use of safety protection measures and enforcement of safety policy and provisions are the major activities to be undertaken to prevent or minimize accidents and ill health of workers.
There is a great need for prevention and control of risks and hazards exposure in Construction industries of Nepal. Low and no cost measures can contribute significantly in the improvement and bring down the level of exposure. Cost demanding options will have to be implemented to bring the level of chemical exposure within the Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL).
Table of Content
Acknowledgement I
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Industrial Sector Development In Nepal 2
1.3 Local Context 3
2. Objective 5
3. Scope Of The Work 5
4. Methodology 5
5. Construction Industries 6
6. Literature Review 10
7. Occupational Risks And Hazards In Construction Industries 14
8. Present Situation 18
9. Legislation And Standards 25
10. Possible Measures For Reduce Or Eliminate The Risk And Hazards In Construction Sector 27
11. Conclusion And Recommendation 31
12. References 34
List of abbreviation
ACGIH / -American Conference of Governmental Industrial HygienistCBS / -Central Bureau of Statistics
CME / - Census of Manufacturing Establishment
CP / -Cleaner Production
DANIDA / -Danish International Development Assistance
dBA / -decibels A-weighted
DG / -Diesel Generator
DOL / -Department of Labour
ESPS / -Environment Sector Programme Support
ESPS / -Environment Sector Program Support
HDPE / -High Density Polyethylene
HSE / -Health and Safety Executive
ILO / -International Labour Organization
Kg / -Kilogram
mg/m3 / -Miligram/meter cube
mg/m3 / -Milligram per meter cube
min / -Minimum
MoLEP / -Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion
MoSTE / -Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
MSD / - Musculoskeletal disorders
MSDS / - Material Safety Data Sheets
NCME / - National Census of Manufacturing Establishment
NIHL / - Noise Induced Hearing Loss
NIOSH / - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
NPR / -Nepalese Rupees
OSH / -Occupational Safety and Health
OSHA / -Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHP / -Occupational Safety and Health Project
PEL / -Permissible Exposure Limit
PPE / -Personal Protecting Equipment
S. N. / -Serial Number
TLV / -Threshold Limit Value
IV
“How to Reduce and Eliminate” the Hazardous and Risky works in Construction Industry
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is a discipline with a broad scope involving many specialized fields. It should aim at; the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention among workers of adverse effects on health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of workers in an occupational environment adapted to physical and mental needs; and the adaptation of work to humans (ILO).
Occupational Safety and Health situation of any working places should be free from risk and hazards. For the achievement of better OSH condition participation of employers and employees in safety and health programs is must. OSH considers the issues relating to occupational medicine, industrial hygiene, toxicology, safety and health education, engineering safety, ergonomics and psychology.
Poor OSH conditions of any type have the potential to affect a worker's health and safety. Unhealthy or unsafe working conditions are not limited to industries; they can be found anywhere, whether the workplace is indoors or outdoors. For many workers, such as agricultural workers or miners, the workplace is “outdoors” and can pose many health and safety hazards. Poor OSH conditions can also affect the environment where workers live in, since the working and living environments are the same for many workers. This means that occupational hazards can have harmful effects on workers, their families, and other people in the community.
There are unlimited numbers of hazards that can be found in almost any workplace. There are obvious unsafe working conditions, such as unguarded machinery, slippery floors or inadequate fire precautions, but there are also a number of categories of insidious hazards (that is, those hazards that are dangerous but which may not be obvious) including:
· chemical hazards, arising from liquids, solids, dusts, fumes, vapours and gases;
· physical hazards, such as noise, vibration, unsatisfactory lighting, radiation and extreme temperatures;
· biological hazards, such as bacteria, viruses, infectious waste and infestations;
· psychological hazards resulting from stress and strain;
· physiological hazards (ergonomics) such as badly designed machinery, mechanical devices and tools used by workers, improper seating and workstation design, or poorly designed work practices.
Most of the workers in Nepal face a combination of these hazards at work. For example, it is not difficult to imagine a workplace workers exposed to chemicals, unguarded machine, poor illumination, noisy machines, hot temperatures, slippery floors, etc. all at the same time and sometimes same person.
As per the findings of International Labour Organisation (ILO), some occupational diseases have been recognized for many years, and affect the workers in different ways depending on the nature of the hazard, the route of exposure and the dose. Some well known occupational diseases include: asbestosis (caused by asbestos); silicosis (caused by silica); lead poisoning (caused by lead); and noise-induced hearing loss (caused by noise).
There are also numbers of potentially crippling health problems that can be associated with poor working conditions, including: heart disease; musculoskeletal disorders such as permanent back injuries or muscle disorders; allergies; reproductive problems; and stress-related disorders.
Although many more findings on occupational hazards have revealed by now from the research and study compared to the past and even today every year new chemicals and new technologies are being introduced which present new and often unknown hazards to workers. These new and unknown hazards pose great challenges to workers, employers, educators, and scientists that are to everyone concerned about workers' health. The effects of these hazardous agents in the environment are also a matter of concerned.
1.2 Industrial Sector Development in Nepal
Industries are the backbone of economic development. Nepal is still in an immature stage of industrial development. The history of industrial development in Nepal dates back to 1930s. It has been observed that the early industrial ventures in Nepal were driven by domestic shortages in 1930s and 1940s but this effort was not very successful due to lack of adequate technical knowhow, management skill and experience. Till 1960s there were very few registered industries in Nepal, which were neither adequately supported by essential infrastructures nor the institutions. With the donors support in the infrastructural development, slowly modern industries and small and cottage industries started developing. It was only in the early 1970s that industrial sector began to receive priority attention in the development planning.
The industrial development in the country spurs to generation of different kinds of risk and hazards to the employees. It also generates solid, liquid and gaseous wastes which harm the neighbors and community. In course of the generation of these risk and hazards in some categories of industry is relatively very high. It has been observed that due the lack of legal provisions and enforcements in the country and the adequate awareness, the employees are working in this hazardous situation without using minimum protection in the most of the industrial establishments.
1.3 Local Context
Awareness on OSH aspects is raised in Nepal. Industries now think labour productivity can improve if they take into consideration that the employees safety and health problems arise from the unwanted risk and hazard generated from different process, using chemicals and raw materials, using machineries and wastes.
National data of occupational accident and diseases is not properly available. Due to lack of database and information regarding occupational accident and diseases actual cause and effects cannot explain. Although Nepal has potential for agro based industries many others industries are in operation including some chemical industries too. In these industries workers are exposing from many hazards and risk resulting occupational diseases and accident happening. In the all related law, rules, regulation treated the all industries through single eye either they are hazardous and risky in nature or not. So, no any special criteria developed to define the industries hazardous or others.
Internationally recognized some occupational diseases also may found in Nepal but lacks of proper research and confirmation not easy to say. But in the context of occupational accident some news and information can be got from news media and concern agencies and based on this, we can say that particular sector is an accident prone industrial sector.
The existing working environment in the Nepalese industries clearly shows the need to improve the conditions. The poor working environment is giving rise to frequent accidents, material damages, low quality product and low productivity. Many types of occupational diseases have also resulted due to long working in unsafe work place and unsafe working environment. This, in turn, results in lower labour productivity and increased medical costs, absenteeism and cost of production. The situation calls for strong need for improvement through giving proper training as well as technical inputs to the owner /management as well as the work-force of these industries.