Introduction
1 Managing occupational safety and health (OSH) risks at the planning and design stage is often more effective and easier to maintain and implement than making changes later, when the hazard has become a real risk in the workplace. This Occupational Safety and Health in the Construction Industry (Management) (OSHCIM) Guidelines provides practical guidance to clients, designers and builders on the management of safety, health and welfare when carrying out projects.¹ construction of a structure² .

2 The OSHCIM guidelines are for duty bearers (whether persons carrying on a business or undertaking) under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Factories and Machinery Act (FMA). This includes clients, designers and builders as shown in Figure 1. These guidelines explain what they must or should do to comply with the law and suggest their roles in managing their projects. Any action taken must be commensurate with the risks in the construction project.

Figure 1. The primary duty bearers in the OSHCIM Guidelines are the people involved in the construction project team.

3 In general, responsibility for OSH in construction projects should be shared among all stakeholders in the industry supply chain. Stakeholders such as clients, designers and builders should work together to ensure that the construction industry’s processes and products are free from OSH hazards. By working together, they can identify and eliminate or reduce, as far as is practicable³, all foreseeable design risks to the safety or health of any person⁴.

4 Under the OSHA, any organization or individual can simultaneously be one or more duty holders for a project or workplace. A duty holder can also have more than one duty. Each duty holder must comply with the duty in accordance with the requirements set by the OSHA even if other duty holders have the same duty.

5 Duty holders must also carry out their duties and cooperate with other duty holders to carry out their duties, and promote the safe execution of construction and maintenance work so that the buildings and structures can be safe workplaces.

Key Elements

6 This OSHCIM is based on five important elements as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Key elements of the OSHCIM Guidelines.

The approach of risk management principles and general principles of prevention

7 Duty holders should use these two principles in their approach to identifying the steps they need to take to control OSH risks on a project. The principle of risk management is a systematic way to make the workplace safe and it should also be used as part of the design process. Risk management involves hazard identification, risk assessment, risk control and review of control measures.

8 In summary, the general principles of prevention are as follows:
(a) avoid risks if possible;
(b) assess unavoidable risks; and
(c) establish appropriate control measures that control it at source.

9 The OSHCIM guidelines recommend that designers, principal designers, principal builders and builders take these principles into account when carrying out their duties. Applying these principles at the planning and design stage will enable clients, designers and builders to integrate early control measures into the design process to avoid or, where this is not practical and reasonable, minimise OSH risks throughout the life of the designed structure.

10 Designing for structural safety should always be part of a wider set of design objectives, alongside practicality, aesthetics, cost and functionality. These competing objectives need to be balanced without compromising the OSH of those working in or using the structure throughout its life. General guidance on the risk management process can be found in the Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) Guidelines.

Appointing designers and builders

12 Anyone responsible for appointing designers (including principal designers) or builders (including principal builders) to carry out a project must ensure that those appointed have the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out the work in a manner that ensures OSH. If the appointee is an organisation, it must also have the appropriate organisational capabilities. The appointer must ensure that the appointee has these qualities before their appointment. Similarly, any designer or builder who wishes to seek appointment as an individual, must ensure that they have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience.

13 Duty bearers should be appointed in a timely manner. For example, the client should appoint the principal designer and principal builder as soon as possible and before the start of the construction phase, so that they have sufficient time to carry out their duties to plan and manage, respectively, the pre-construction phase⁵ and construction phase.

A builder who appoints anyone to work on a construction site

14 When builders appoint anyone to carry out work on a construction site, they should ensure that the person appointed has, or is in the process of acquiring, the right skills, knowledge, training and experience. Not everyone will have these qualities and, if they do not have them, the appointment should be made on the basis of their ability to acquire them.

Supervision, instructions and information

15 The level of supervision, instruction and information required will depend on the risks involved in the project and the level of skill, knowledge, training and experience of the workers. The builder (including the principal builder) should ensure that supervision is effective and site induction is appropriate.⁶ given together with other information – such as the procedures to be followed in the event of a serious OSH hazard.

Collaborate, communicate and coordinate

16 Duty bearers must cooperate with each other and coordinate their work to ensure safety and health. They must also communicate with each other

¹Project means a project that encompasses or is intended to encompass construction work and includes all planning, design, management or other work involved in a project until the end of the construction phase.

²Structure is defined as any permanent or temporary structure, which also includes any part of the structure and any product, or mechanical or electrical system designed for such structure.

³Practicable means that the level of risk in a given situation can be balanced against the time, trouble, cost and physical difficulty of taking steps to avoid the risk. An action is considered practicable when it is feasible. To decide whether an action is reasonable, one needs to consider: (a) the severity of any injury or harm to safety that might occur; (b) the degree of risk (or likelihood) of that injury or harm occurring; (c) how much is known about the hazard and how to eliminate, reduce or control it; and (d) the availability, suitability and cost of care/maintenance.

⁴Person is defined as any person: (a) carrying out or likely to be affected by the construction work of the structure; or (b) working in a building or completed structure as a place of work including individuals who maintain or clean the structure, or anything in or on the structure.

⁵Pre-construction phase means any period of time during which design or preparatory work is carried out for a project and may continue during the construction phase.

⁶Suitability testing will include an assessment of the adequacy of available time and other resources, past experience with similar projects, and the experience and qualifications of the employees.