According to the authors, Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction quickly established itself, in its first two years, as the standard text for students taking the NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Safety and Health. It is also of great value to those working in the construction industry at all levels, particularly construction site managers and foremen. As it has become a significant work of reference for managers with health and safety responsibilities, it is a matter of prime importance that it should be kept up to date, as far as is possible, with new legislation and recent developments.
There has been concern for some time at the poor record of health and safety in the construction industry and although performance has got better over recent years, there is still room for improvement. The legal health and safety requirements for all places of work are numerous and complex; it is the intention of the authors to offer an introduction to the subject for all those who have the maintenance of good health and safety standards as part of their employment duties or those who are considering the possibility of a career as a health and safety professional. Health and safety is well recognized as an important component of the activities of any organization, not only because of the importance of protecting people from harm but also because of the growth in the direct and indirect costs of accidents. These costs have increased more dramatically than the rate of retail price inflation by a considerable amount in the last few years as the number of civil claims and awards have risen each year.
It is very important that basic health and safety legal requirements are clearly understood by all organizations whether public or private, large or small. A good health and safety performance is normally only achieved when health and safety is effectively managed so that significant risks are identified and reduced by adopting appropriate high quality control measures.
Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction (2nd Ed) is based on the QCA (Qualification and Curriculum Authority) accredited NEBOSH Certificate in Construction Safety and Health syllabus as revised in August 2003. It has been developed specifically for students who are studying for that NEBOSH National Certificate course. It was felt appropriate to produce a text book that mirrored the Construction Certificate syllabus in its revised unitized form and in a single volume to the required breadth and depth. The syllabus, which follows the general pattern for health and safety management set by the Health and Safety Executive in their guidance HSG 65, is risk and management based so it does not start from the assumption that health and safety is best managed by looking first at the causes of failures. Fortunately, failures such as accidents and ill-health are relatively rare and random events in most workplaces.
This second edition has been produced in order to update the health and safety legislation, with particular regard to changes in legislation relating to fire – the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005. This removes the requirement for fire certificates and revokes the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Requirements. This additional information enables the book to be useful to students undertaking the new NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management.
Other important changes in health and safety legislation, which are included in this edition, are the Work at Height Regulations, the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, the draft Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 and the Introduction of Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) in the 2005 amendments to the COSHH Regulations.
Some more recent examination questions have been added at the end of each chapter. Many questions cover the contents of more than one chapter. It is recommended that students have sight of the published examiners’ reports, which are available from NEBOSH. These reports not only provide an excellent guide on the expected answers to the questions but also indicate areas of student misunderstanding.
The book is also intended as a useful reference guide for managers and directors with health and safety responsibilities, and for safety representatives. Chapter 20 summarizes all the most commonly used Acts and Regulations. It was written to provide an easily accessible reference source for students during and after the course, and for many others in industry and commerce such as managers, supervisors and safety representatives.
Finally, one of the objectives of the book is to provide a handbook for the use of any person who has health and safety as part of their responsibilities. The authors thought that it would be helpful, therefore, to add a few useful topics that are outside the syllabus. These include managing occupational road risks, fast track settlement of compensation claims following the Woolfe reforms and demolition using explosives.
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