Guiding Procedures for Response to Emergency Situations on Construction Projects
GUIDING PROCEDURES TO RESPOND TO EMERGENCY SITUATIONS ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
By
Maj ® Muhammad Ijaz
Student MS Disaster Management-2012 at NUST (MCE)
Introduction
Construction projects involve use of heavy machinery, execution of numerous work activities simultaneously. Working environment like in Pakistan where safety culture does not prevail results in increased vulnerability to accidents thus frequent emergency situations on construction projects. The author being a Project Manager on construction projects have experienced number of emergency situation involving loss of life of worker. The Safety Rules requires that the constructor shall establish Emergency Response Procedures for every project, Life Insurance of worker is also mandatory clause of the contract agreement in Pakistan but normally not implemented in letter and sprite. This article will be useful to assist constructors in developing Emergency Response Procedures. Detailed Emergency Plan helps to minimize the human suffering and economic losses that can result from emergencies.
It should be understood that the size and complexity of projects, as well as their access and location, have a bearing on the degree of planning necessary for emergencies. It is therefore strongly recommended that the constructor ensure that a member of staff on site assist in developing the emergency response plan.
The Planning Process
Planning shall begin before any work commences on the project. Although there may be little time between the award of the contract and the start of the project, a good emergency response plan can be generic and, with some minor changes, can be easily adapted to specific sites and readily implemented. This is especially the case where a constructor specializes in similar types of projects.
For meaningful Development of Response Plan following considerations should be kept in mind:
1) Identification and assessment of hazard
2) Assessment of resources
3) Mean
By
Maj ® Muhammad Ijaz
Student MS Disaster Management-2012 at NUST (MCE)
Introduction
Construction projects involve use of heavy machinery, execution of numerous work activities simultaneously. Working environment like in Pakistan where safety culture does not prevail results in increased vulnerability to accidents thus frequent emergency situations on construction projects. The author being a Project Manager on construction projects have experienced number of emergency situation involving loss of life of worker. The Safety Rules requires that the constructor shall establish Emergency Response Procedures for every project, Life Insurance of worker is also mandatory clause of the contract agreement in Pakistan but normally not implemented in letter and sprite. This article will be useful to assist constructors in developing Emergency Response Procedures. Detailed Emergency Plan helps to minimize the human suffering and economic losses that can result from emergencies.
It should be understood that the size and complexity of projects, as well as their access and location, have a bearing on the degree of planning necessary for emergencies. It is therefore strongly recommended that the constructor ensure that a member of staff on site assist in developing the emergency response plan.
The Planning Process
Planning shall begin before any work commences on the project. Although there may be little time between the award of the contract and the start of the project, a good emergency response plan can be generic and, with some minor changes, can be easily adapted to specific sites and readily implemented. This is especially the case where a constructor specializes in similar types of projects.
For meaningful Development of Response Plan following considerations should be kept in mind:
1) Identification and assessment of hazard
2) Assessment of resources
3) Mean
References: For one author, (Ali, 2012) For two authors, (Ali and Usman, 2012) For three or more, (Ali et al. 2012)