Occupational hazards, a factor to reckon with

The construction industry boom can be seen in almost all the developing countries. The demand is high for supplies such as raw materials, builder hardware, paints, manpower and everything else related to construction. And India being rich in all the resources, it is but natural that the construction industry is the largest employment generation sector next to the agricultural sector.

Currently this sector employs around 30 million construction manpower (CMP) which is expected to grow up to 98 million by 2012, and similarly the market size is predicted to grow from 3,000 billion to 4,800 billion over the same period (source CIDC country report 2005-06).
New hazards

By its very nature, physical conditions at construction sites change radically every day if not every hour and new hazards surface continuously and pose safety and health-related risks to people engaged in work and to the general public living in the areas surrounding the construction site.

Though many hazards are recognised well in advance and precautions are taken against them during the course of operations, a delayed approach can be dangerous and as a result, accidents become inevitable.

The building sector mainly employs migratory, unskilled workers. Being a CMP-intensive sector, a large number of people are exposed to the risk of workplace incidents as there is no formal induction planned by the employers/organisations to train the people about the possible risks and hazards.
Burden on management

Every year thousands of construction workers are losing lives due to accidents at the workplace and many more are ending up with work-related injuries and occupational illnesses. This is a totally unacceptable human and social cost as well as heavy burden on the management. Poor safety and health conditions at work site reduce the employment potential of workers and weaken their competitiveness in our economy.

Generally whether in the past or in the present, be it at a construction site or in a factory or even for that matter at home, the importance of safety comes into play only after the damage / accident has occurred. However, prevention is better than cure, and so the industry should aim at creating safe working hours in a safer environment.

Effective management of worker safety and health protection is a decisive factor in reducing the extent and severity of work-related injuries and illnesses and their related costs. In fact, an effective safety and health management system forms the basis of good worker protection. This can save both time and money – two most valuable commodities in this fast-paced world.
Risk factors

With rapid urbanisation and boom in the building sector, construction is happening at a very rapid pace. Mainly the following activities pose a great risk to the workers and the general public in the nearby areas:

1. Blasting activities

2. Working at heights

3. Working with scaffolding

4. Heavy vehicle movement

5. Unskilled workers

6. Construction power utilisation.

7. Sociological effects

8. Environmental effects

9. Occupational Health effects
Ecological imbalance

Rapid urbanisation at times causes ecological imbalance. While creating good infrastructure, one should follow environmental friendly processes like rainwater harvesting, development of greenbelts, etc.

While mobilising huge labour force of the construction workers one needs to build temporary camps for their stay. Generally we do not see any hygiene in these camps and by virtue of this very lack of hygiene, epidemics spread and cause considerable nuisance in the adjoining areas. Also these epidemics can cause delays in the project schedule.

Providing proper living conditions to workers at camps would definitely increase morale of the workforce and result in better productivity.