Inspecting Occupational Safety and Health in the Construction Industry

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The International Labor Organization

Summary Statement

International Labor Organization handbook is designed to help provide information and training for inspectors. It contains information on key safety and health concepts and occupational safety and health issues, including managing an inspection program and performing on-site inspections.
2009

Annexe a
Example of an Inspection Plan for construction sites

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  INSPECTION OF A CONSTRUCTION SITE Reference
  INSPECTION PLAN
 
1 OBJECTIVES OF THE INSPECTION
To analyse, through of a random sample, the implementation of the safety and health measures on the construction site based on the reference documents referred to in hereafter, including, where appropriate, recommendations for the improvement of the OSH implemented on site.
 
2 REFERENCE DOCUMENTS
Laws and regulations there are applicable to the construction site under inspection
Prevention documents of hazards/risks specifically applicable (prior notice, safety and health plan and file)
Specifications of the construction project, including the project design, in special, of the temporary equipment
Other relevant documents related to the construction project
 
3 SCOPE OF THE INSPECTION SCOPE
Construction site as a whole or, depending on its size, the construction of some of the main works under going during the inspection visit.  
 
4 DATE AND PLACE OF THE INSPECTION
2008 - … - ... (weekday)  
Place: Installations of the main constructor at ...  
 
5 TIMETABLE AND ESTIMATED DURATION OF THE INSPECTION ACTIVITIES ATTENDEES
Morning:  
09:00 – Opening meeting IT; ORp; CRp; SExp; WRp.
09:30 – Brief analysis of the construction site flowchart and of the plan of the works. IT; ORp; CRp; SExp
10:00 – Visit to the support site (technical and/or social installations) and/or to all or part of the construction works undergoing. IT; ORp; CRp; SExp
12:30 – Lunch break  
Afternoon:  
14:15 – Analysis of relevant documents, including records of the actions implemented. IT; ORp; CRp; SExp
16:15 – Interviewing the worker’s representatives, if applicable IT; WRp
16:30 – Interviewing the Constructor’s representative and his safety expert IT; CRp; CSExp
16:45 – Interviewing the Owner’s representative and his safety expert, if applicable IT; ORp; OSExp
17:00 – Meeting of the inspection team IT
17:30 – Closing meeting IT; ORp; CRp; SExp; WRp.
18:00 – End of the inspection  

IT – Inspection team; ORp – Owner’s representative; CRp – Constructor’s representative (responsible for all the construction site); SExp – Safety experts (owner and constructor); CSExp – Constructor’s safety expert; OSExp – Owner’s safety expert; WRep – Worker’s representatives.

Notes: (1) The IT may decide to join other persons to the inspection visit (e.g. inspectors on training, external experts, etc.); (2) The timetable may be adjusted in view of the inspection activities during the period.

Prepared by: Verified by: Approved by:
Date: Date: Date:

6 INSPECTION TEAM AND ASSISTANTS FUNCTION RESPONSIBILITIES
  Coordinator of the Inspection To coordinate all the activities of the inspection and to perform all or part of the inspections.
  Inspectors To assist the Inspection Coordinator performing part of the inspections, including, where there is no Assistant, control of the presences and the copies of the documents requested (evidences of the inspection).
  External experts To help the Inspection Coordinator on the assessment of specific technical documents, where needed.
  Assistants Control of the presences and the copies of the documents requested (evidences of the inspection).
  Observers Follow up the activities of the inspection, without any active action.
 
7 IDENTIFICATION OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OWNER AND MAIN CONSTRUCTOR
Owner’s representative: (name and contact)
Constructor’s representative: (name and contact)
 
8 LANGUAGE TO BE USED DURING THE INSPECTION
The official language of the country. Any worker not speaking this language should be assisted by someone from the construction site who does, under the responsibility of the constructor.
 
9 INSPECTION REPORT
The Inspection Report will include, namely the following sections: Introduction; Objectives and scope of the inspection; identification of the main responsible for the construction site; actions effectively performed (dates and places where the inspection was performed); Reference documents; Checklist and findings of the inspection; Written notifications (based on the enforcement instruments); Conclusions and, where appropriate, recommendations; Annexes (this inspection plan, records of presences, documentation gathered during the inspection as evidences, and other relevant documents).
The methods used for the evaluation of the construction site will follow the internal procedure of the Labour Inspectorate.
The report will be available for internal use only by 2008-...-...
 
10 LOGISTICS
Availability of an “office” on the construction site for the meetings; means for photocopying the relevant records (evidences of the inspection); requirement of specific personnel protective equipment to go inside the construction site; means of transport from, to and within the construction site, where needed (e.g. long construction sites with difficult accesses, as new roads, railway infrastructures, etc.); …
 
11 CONFIDENTIALITY
All information related to the inspection are confidential, and may not be made public with the previous authorisation of the Labour Inspectorate.
 
12 FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
The follow up actions will be decided during the inspection depending on the results of the findings and on the internal procedure of the Labour Inspectorate for this purpose. The following actions may be defined: presentation of a corrective and/or preventive plan by those involved on the construction site; re-inspection of the construction site within a defined period, if the number of non-compliances exceed the limits defined in the internal procedure of the Labour Inspectorate; any other action (e.g. confirmation of the implementation of the corrective and/or preventive actions by one of those involved on the construction site by another of them with no responsibility on the non-compliances recorded).

NOTE: The constructor should prepare during the morning period of the inspection (while the Inspection Team visit the construction work) the following documents where data should be referred to the day before the inspection (copies of these documents should also be available):

Nominal flowchart of the construction site (A4 or A3 format), including the definition of functions (all functions performed on site and not only related to OSH) of all those with key-positions related to OSH issues on this construction site;
Overall Planning of the Works, preferably reduced to the A3 or A4 format (the one approved and under use) where the Follow-up vertical line should be drawn in red representing the actual situation of the works as for the date of the inspection;
Prior Notice updated; List of all employers and self-employed persons, of the workers’ representatives for this site and of the clerk of works, by fulfilling the following tables.

<Name of the construction site>
List of all those involved on the construction site as per the day before of the inspection

Employer or Self-employed person Head-office (place) Intervention (1) Nr. of workers Contractor (3) Obs.
Total Night (2)
1.            
2.            
3.            
...            
Totais à        

Nr. of SC Nr. of LBSc Nr. of EQSc Nr. of ESS Nr. SE Other
           

(1) Refer the type of intervention: SC – Sub-constructor; SE – Self-employed person; LBSc – Labour-only subcontractor; EQSc – Equipment subcontractor with operator; ESS – Service Supplier, e.g. topography, OSH, quality, environment, etc.), followed by the type of work on this site (e.g. SC-reinforced bars, SC – falsework, LBSc – diverse works, EQSc – earthworks; ESS – OSH services, etc.);

(2) Number of workers that stay overnight on the construction site in dormitories or in other installations specifically addressed to them near the construction site.

(3) Name of the contractor who subcontract (SC, LBSc, etc.) followed by the reference number of the employer or self-employed person referred to in the first column of this table (e.g. SC3 means the sub-constructor referenced in the first column as the number 3).

Workers’ representatives as per the day before of the inspection
Name Professional cathegory Employer
1.    
2.    
...    

Clerk of Works (general and of a group of construction works)
Name G 1st 2nd Group of construction works Employer
1.          
2.          
...          

Note: G, 1st and 2nd - Category of the Clerk of work, respectively, general, first and second category.

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