Expertsolution,, please see the 1st question and comment from the Professor in unit# 1.
Question 1 .16 out of 20 points
Partial Credit State the major players that make up the safety and health team of a construction company, and explain the roles of each person in the safety and health plan.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Answer Selected Answer: The major players of a construction company that make up the safety and health team are safety and health managers and other professional personnel, contractors, supervisors, and employees/subcontractors (Goetsch, 2010).
Roles of Safety and Health Managers and other professional personnel
Roles and Responsibilities of Safety and Health Managers and other professional personnel are for establishing, managing and implementing the company’s overall safety and health program (Goetsch, 2010).
The specific duties are:
• Planning and developing safety and health program and implementing, and executing them for company
• Communicating safety and health information to subcontractors and employees
• Investigating and reviewing all processes, jobs, and materials for hazards
• Developing job descriptions that make safety and health part of every employee’s job
• Working to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate accident prevention hazard control strategies
• Conducting accident investigations
• Ensuring companywide compliance with all laws, standards, and Being current with OSHA standards and regulations
• Maintaining safety records
• Developing and maintaining Emergency Action Plan
• Analyzing company’s products from the perspectives of safety, health, and liability
Roles and Responsibilities of Contractors in the safety and health plan
Contractors’ ultimate responsibility for safety and health on their job sites include:
• Establishing a commitment to safety and health in the company‘s strategic plan (Goetsch, 2010).
• Setting a pro–safety priority based stand for the company
• Allocating sufficient resources to support a complete companywide safety effort
Roles of Supervisor in the safety and health plan
Supervisors communicate with employees on job sites more frequently. The responsibility for supervisors includes:
• Training program for organization’s safety,
• Accident Prevention program
• Accident Investigation and Reporting
References
Goetsch, D. L. (2010). Construction safety and the OSHA standards. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Correct Answer: [None]
Response Feedback:
See my Professor Helps for using lists. I have found the Supervisor is the key. Employees will work only as safe as their Supervisor motivates them. In my career I did not take direct action to correct unless imminent danger existed, I would always call the Supervisor to correct, even as small as to have employees put on their Safety Glasses.
Another major issue I have seen is the qualification of the site Safety person. Many companies want a good ole boy as their safety person to take responsibility and all the issues so as to protect the company leadership and if they could spell safety they were qualified. The Construction Safety Person on a job site must be able to make it happen by having the knowledge to understand the intent of the safety process and the skill to build a positive culture expediently.
Normally companies get in trouble with cost benefit especially in construction with normally small profit margins. Many contractors will hire someone with minimal qualifications in safety to provide cost benefit under direction of the operation manager. Owners should always place a major focus on the qualifications of any contractor safety Representative.
A safety and health manager wears many hats and the job is very complex. They must be well versed within their industry although they do not have to be specialized in each task. Their job covers a very broad spectrum and they utilize their safety and health team to ensure appropriate decision-making. According to Goetsch (2010) they may seek a professional certification such as the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) or Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE). However, this may not be required. In today’s environment, employers are required to provide a safety and healthy work environment for their workers. Therefore, the safety and health team may be made of many players, but will at least include contractors, supervisors, managers, employees and/or subcontractors.
When a company is large enough or the budget will allow, they may often include one or more safety and health professionals. Although each position holds different responsibilities, they all work in tandem to ensure the employees have a safe and healthy work environment while working to avoid injuries and minimize loss
Question 2 .14 out of 20 points
Partial Credit Identify four examples of forces that have been influential in changing the nature of the construction industry. Provide examples of each and explain their impact in detail.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Answer Selected Answer: The nature of the construction industry is changing, and a major driving force for this change is what is often referred to as the commoditization of construction services resulting in margin compression for construction firms. Whether evolutionary or revolutionary in nature, these forces will drive some contractors out of business. Those who thrive in the next generation will not just survive; they will master change and remodel the industry.
The forces that have been influential in changing the nature of the construction industry are:
• Introduction of inanimate power (i.e., steam power) to replace people and animal power
• Substitution of machines for people
• Introduction of new methods for converting raw materials
• Organization and specialization of work, resulting in a division of labor
Their impact
These changes necessitated a greater focusing of attention on the safety and health of workers. Steam power increased markedly the potential for life-threatening injuries, as did machines. The new methods used for converting raw materials also introduced new risks of injuries and diseases. Specialization, by increasing the likelihood of boredom and inattentiveness, also made the workplace a more dangerous environment.
Reference
Goetsch, D. L. (2010). Construction safety and the OSHA standards. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Correct Answer: [None]
Response Feedback:
There has been much advancement in technology that have sent the construction industry in an upward direction and created many jobs as well as increased productivity. These changes also introduced a whole gambit of new safety concerns that go along with it. This includes such industries as general contractors, painting, plumbing, concrete work, demolition and many more.
The safety movement in the United States has made great strides over the years to develop an industry that maintains a safe working environment for their employees. However, this topic is controversial, as many believe that certain aspects have been introduced to ensure working safer while other aspects have also been introduced that extend more dangerous hazards.
The forces that have been influential in changing the nature of the construction industry include inanimate power, machines, materials and work specialization. Each one of these forces has both a positive and negative impact for the construction industry. P.2
