1. Worksite Hazard Identification, Job Hazard Analysis, and Risk Evaluations

Work Practices – Walking and Working Surfaces

Housekeeping

Proper housekeeping assists in preventing falls from slips and trips. All work areas should be kept clean, orderly and in a sanitary condition. The floors of work areas should be maintained in a clean and dry condition. Where wet processes are used, drainage must be maintained and gratings or raised platforms provided. If work surfaces are temporarily wet or otherwise slippery, warning cones should be positioned in plain sight directly in front of the affected area. Every floor, working space, and passageway should be kept free of protruding nails, metal, splinters, holes, or loose grating/boards. Always sweep your work area, removing any debris, after completing your task.

Floor Slip Resistance

Walking and working surfaces should be maintained in a stable, firm, and slip-resistant condition. This is particularly important when employees are likely to be exposed to wet floor conditions or perform material handling tasks. The design of such environments should include considerations for how to maintain the floor; the appropriate selection of floor material to provide adequate slip resistance; and controls to reduce exposure such as floor drains and slip-resistant drainage mats.

Floor Openings, Holes and Wall Openings

Standard guardrail systems should be provided to prevent falls from every open-sided floor or platform except where there is an entrance to a ramp, stairway, and a fixed ladder. Floor openings may be guarded with a guardrail system or covered by a cover capable of sustaining at least twice the anticipated load. When the floor opening cover is removed a temporary guardrail shall be put in place or an attendant must be stationed at the opening to warn workers. Wall openings with a lower edge of less than 90mm representing a fall hazard must be protected with a guardrail system. Every floor hole into which a person can accidentally walk should be guarded by either a standard guardrail system or a floor hole cover of sufficient strength. The cover should not create a tripping hazard. In some cases, a Restraining System may be used to prevent an employee from falling through a floor opening or over an edge when the floor cover or guardrail system is temporarily removed.

Protection From Falling Into Dangerous Equipment

Regardless of height, open-sided floors, walkways, platforms, or adjacent to dangerous equipment, tanks, pits and similar hazards must be guarded with a standard guardrail system or workers should be provided personnel fall arrest gear selected to prevent contact with the hazardous equipment, material, and/or condition.

Ditches

Ditches, holes and other depressions greater than 1.2m deep should be surrounded by a guardrail system or other substantial physical barrier to prevent falls into the opening.

Fixed Ladders

Fixed ladders, including manhole ladders, must meet OHS Act and Construction regulations standards to include being constructed of a material that is appropriate for the environment, capacity, dimensions and clearances.

Floor Loading Protection

Load rating limits should be conspicuously posted on plates, raised platforms, and other engineered elevated structures. Never place a load on a floor or roof greater than its approved limit. Temporary covers should be able to withstand at least twice the anticipated load.

Work Practices – Roofs and Other Elevated Locations

Falls from roofs may occur when an employee falls over an edge, through a skylight or down an access trapdoor. Employees may be protected from these fall hazards with either a passive control system, such as a guard rail or a parapet, or an active fall control system such as a personal fall arrest system. Roofs may be of different pitches, from flat to very steep. The roof slope will determine what fall protection systems are practical. Roofs with a slope greater than 200mm require special considerations. In all cases, doors and access trapdoors leading to roofs or elevated surfaces with fall hazards must be locked, restricting access to authorized, trained individuals only. On buildings that are only a few stories, it is advisable to perform this work from the ground using scaffolds, or aerial lifts.

Flat Roofs and Elevated Surfaces

Flat roofs and elevated surfaces are typically accessed by fixed ladders through access trapdoors or fixed stairs and doors. Fall hazards may include unprotected edges, skylights and access trapdoors. The preferred protection for these exposures is to use a passive protection system. In a passive system, the roof or elevated surface edge is protected by a standard guardrail system or a parapet that is a nominal 1 m in height. Parapets less than 1 m are not considered acceptable fall protection. An access trapdoor must be protected with guardrails. An acceptable alternative for protecting employees accessing equipment on flat roofs with unprotected edges is through the use of a designated area. The designated area must be surrounded by a rope or wire and supporting braces that can withstand a force

Weather Considerations

When adverse weather conditions exist, such as high winds, heavy rain or snow, or when the accumulation of ice on surfaces especially during winter months, significantly increases the risk of slips and falls when performing tasks, a risk assessment should be conducted and where possible the work postponed until better conditions prevail or other precautions taken.

Training and PPE

Supervisors must ensure that all workers have the proper training, and are fitted with the appropriate PPE to reduce the risk of incidents, injuries, and fatalities on the job.

The main danger of working at heights is either falling from a height or being struck by an object that fell from a height.

The main safety concerns with working at height are people or objects falling and causing serious injury and damage. Falls and falling objects can both have fatal consequences. Other significant hazards associated with working at height include falling objects and the potential for a working platform to collapse or overturn as well as contact with overhead electrical services.

It is not always easy to foresee potential fall hazards at the work site. The first step in solving the issue of potential hazards is to survey the area and create a plan of action. You need to perform an on-site analysis of existing hazards throughout the site for fall risks. Identify the hazards, which is the most important step when working at heights to meet the best practices and legislative requirements.

Below are the steps you should follow to address in your plan;

Record information about the job site: This includes general information like the project manager/foreman in charge of the project and job site location.

Process mapping and creating a flow diagram: It is the gathering and documentation of the current process situation, known as process mapping, represented in flow or diagram. At this time, we also gather the problems and fragilities, as well as the opportunities for process improvement.

Click here to view or download Annexure A

Fall Hazards in the Work Area

In the construction sector, OHS Act requires fall protection for workers at heights of 2m or more above the ground or a lower level, but slips, trips, and falls can occur at any height.

Check all that apply. Include locations and dimensions next to each hazard/note these hazards on your drawing above.

Click here to view or download Annexure B

In addition to planned height-related activities, regular reviews and inspections of the site should be carried out to identify potential sources of fall hazards. All these sources must be recorded and followed up until adequate controls are provided to eliminate the hazard

When a high-risk fall hazard is identified during a routine inspection, corrective and preventive measures must be established immediately before the work in the area can be allowed to continue.

Job Hazard Analysis

A task/job analysis is any process for assessing what a user does (task), how the task is organized, and why it is done in a particular way and using this information to design a system or analyze an existing system. Task analysis is an investigative process of the interaction between operators and the equipment/machines they utilize. It is the process of assessing and evaluating all observable tasks and then breaking those tasks into functional units. These units allow for the evaluators to develop design elements and appropriate training procedures and identify potential hazards and risks.

Task analysis has been defined as “the study of what an employee is required to do, in terms of actions/cognitive processes, to achieve a system goal”.

Approaches to task analysis have been classified into three categories:

• Normative: “prescribe how a system should behave”
• Descriptive: “describe how a system actually works in practice”
• Formative (also called predictive): “specify the requirements that must be satisfied so that the system could behave in a new, desired way.”

The nature of the work domain and the task influences the type of analysis that is appropriate. Both the normative and descriptive approaches are applicable to analyzing existing systems, while the formative approach can be applied to developing and designing a new system that will support work that has not previously been done or allow the work to be done in a new way. The normative approach is appropriate for a very mechanical and predictable work environment; as the work becomes more complex and unpredictable, requiring more judgment, the formative approach becomes a better analysis tool.

This is an important tool to identify the dangers of specific tasks in order to reduce the risk of injury to workers. Once you have identified what the hazards are, you can start to reduce or eliminate them before anyone gets hurt. The JHA (job hazard analysis) can also be used for training employees to do the job safely and be used to investigate accidents.

When conducting a Job Hazard Analysis:

Involve employees

• Discuss and involve workers on what needs to be done and why, as they do the job of often knowing the best ways to work more safely
• Explain that the task needs to be studied, not the worker's performance

Identify the OHS Act standards and Construction regulations that apply to your jobs. Incorporate their requirements into your JHA.

Give priority to the following:

• High-risk jobs with the highest injuries and illness rates
• Reported near misses
• Jobs which did not conform to the OHS Act standards
• Jobs that are new to workers

Identify who or what might be harmed, e.g.

• Maintenance staff
• Construction workers
• Sub-contractors
• Cleaning staff
• Contractors
• Visitors
• Vulnerable employees

Safety consequences usually result from contact between the person and the plant or machinery. These could include but are not limited to the following:

• Amputations
• Contusions
• Lacerations
• Unconsciousness
• Fractures
• Electric Shock
• Burns

Health consequences are the result of existing conditions within the working environment. They usually result from exposures to fumes, dust, chemicals, radiation, noise, poor lighting and ergonomics.

These could include but are not limited to the following:

• Dermatitis - (inflammation of the skin)
• Cancer
• Asbestosis - (lung disease)
• NIHL – (noise-induced hearing loss)
• Silicosis – (a lung disease caused by prolonged inhalation of dust containing silica) acute and chronic

The main difference between a JHA and a risk assessment is the scope. A JHA involves specific job risks and typically focuses on the risks associated with each step of that task. A risk assessment gives a higher-level or broader view of all operational risks across an entire business, project or type of activity.

Click here to view download Annexure C

Risk Evaluation

Risk Evaluation is the process used to compare the estimated risk against the given risk criteria so as to assess the effectiveness of the significance of the risk.

The aim of the risk assessment process is to evaluate hazards, then remove that hazard or minimize the level of its risk by adding control measures, as necessary. By doing so, you have created a safer and healthier workplace.

The idea behind evaluation is to allow an organization to make decisions regarding risk treatment and the prioritizing of risk mitigation with ease.

Risk evaluation takes the risk criteria and measures against the risk analysis to determine:

• Which risks are the highest priority
• How to approach the next steps (risk treatment)

The outcome of a risk evaluation could result in several actions:

• You will either need to assign further analysis,
• maintain your existing controls, or
• reconsider the objectives of the risk strategy in alignment with the organization’s objectives

Regular evaluation allows you to develop a comprehensive and mature risk management strategy, as changes to risk factors, impact, consequence, and objectives can be addressed in a reasonable time frame.