Construction Safety Impacting Construction Productivity

Mr. Gurjot Bhati, Senior Executive Director - PMG, CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd.

CBRE is one of the well-known commercial real estate services and investment firm that offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management. It’s Senior Executive Director - Project Management Group CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Gurjot Bhatia tells Built Expressions that it is of paramount importance that all EHS procedures are established right at the project strategy stage because every project is unique.

BE: How important is EHS factor at a construction project and how is it accommodated at tendering stage?

GB: Personal safety is an important factor for the normal course of one’s life; and when it comes to a construction project, safety issues become that much more important. It becomes mandatory that due importance is given to safety at a construction site; and that the entire team involved in a project abides by the guidelines for EHS. It is of paramount importance that all EHS procedures are established right at the project strategy stage because every project is unique; and in the interest of a project it is essential that an EHS plan be customized to address its bespoke requirements.

It is important that a detailed Operational Health and Safety Plan be created to clearly establish procedures, site rules and contractor responsibilities. It is advisable that this plan be included as part of the tender process, as it gives an opportunity to the contractor to accommodate all safety requirements in his proposed cost. From our past experience, we have had cause to believe that negligence towards safety at site may very often be attributed to a client’s limited understanding and/or expectations of safety during the tendering stage.

BE: Do you think construction safety is professionally viewed in India? Your comments on the same….

GB: Although awareness towards occupational health and safety has improved in the recent past, it is yet to reach the desired level of maturity in our country. One should bear in mind that health and safety at construction sites involves considerably more than just wearing hard hats and high visibility jackets. Most firms in India, in fact, do not have any internal processes and guidelines in place to address EHS. Every process and activity at a construction site comes with a health and safety risk attached to it; and it’s important to first acknowledge this fact even before implementing the required measures. Not only is the importance of Health and Safety at a construction site not understood in its full scope across all levels, but often times this understanding is not even percolated down by the management to their ground force staff.

BE: Since most of the developers are going high-rise under which stage you feel that it’s critical for workers to be monitored for safety?

GB: A high-rise building construction site just increases the severity of an unfortunate event (accident), but the probability of such an event occurring depends entirely upon various other aspects such as the construction technology and machinery being used. Monitoring workers’ safety is very important at every stage of a project - be it the foundation excavation stage or installation of cladding at the top floor. Although for a high rise building, the emphasis should be on analyzing the risks involved in working at heights, reviewing method statements, and working with the contractor to develop an optimum safety procedure. 

Safety guidelines and processes have to be established at the very onset of any project, and implemented with regular checks and audits throughout the construction process.

BE: How important is Activity Hazard Analysis in India?

GB: Considering that most of the modern automated technologies are fairly new in the construction industry, it is very important to undertake an activity hazard analysis with a key focus on manpower training, and experience in using these technologies. Certain practices like HIRA (Hazard Impact Risk Assessment) and AIA (Aspect Impact Analysis) are already in place, but these belong specifically to the manufacturing and automation sector. There is a great need for adapting similar practices for the construction industry.

Undertaking Activity Hazard Analysis is essential to establishing high risk activities, and planning mitigation effectively. In addition to undertaking the analysis, it is essential that mitigation measures for addressing such issues are also implemented, and necessary training provided to workers. This needs to be properly monitored during construction through regular audits, and additional process trainings, if required.

BE: How is the scenario of construction safety in India when compared with developed countries?

GB: As mentioned earlier, in India, awareness of construction safety has improved, but it is still limited to large construction projects, and is almost non-existent in case of smaller projects and at non-metro cities. In India, the importance of construction health and safety is not embedded in the ethos of the traditional construction industry, and that is the fundamental difference with developed economies. To start with, there are not many vocational courses available that certify skilled labor; and as most of the workforce on site is untrained, the concept of health and safety is almost non-existent.

In addition, a regulatory practice in most developed nations is to register a construction project with the local health and safety monitoring body, even before planning drawings are submitted. Adherence to the health and safety plan is a given, but this action enforces even consultants to abide by certain rules while undertaking site visits and building surveys.

BE: Do you see any relation between Construction Safety, Construction Mechanisation and Construction Productivity?

India’s construction industry is still largely labor intensive; and especially for smaller construction projects and development at non-metro cities, mechanization is almost negligible. Consequently, it is fair to say that construction safety and optimum labor welfare will have a very positive impact on construction productivity, going forward. To improve construction productivity via mechanization, it is essential that we have skilled workforce who are trained to operate equipments and machinery.