“Occupational risk” shall be understood as the possibility that a worker suffers a certain damage derived from work. To qualify a risk from the point of view of its severity, the probability of the damage occurring, and its severity should be jointly assessed. In BIMprove we primarily focus on the following two risks: Fall and Fire.

Fall

These protections are divided into two groups: collective and individual protection. The objectives of the collective protection is first to prevent falls, eliminating risks through integrated security or, when this is not possible, using collective protections, such as nets, railings  and second to limit the fall, if it is impossible to prevent the fall, it will be necessary to install collection surfaces that limit the fall, that is, protection nets as a means of collective protection, and finally when it is not possible to use collective protections, or the working conditions require it, it will be necessary to protect each worker by individual protection, that is, the use of seat belts and individual devices. But if this protection is not well assembled or maintained, losing their safety properties, they must be considered as no protection so should be checked/detected:

Safety barrier fence

  • Detect by element the presence of all of their parts, handrail, baseboards and intermediate rail
  • Detect the continuity of the hold system around the perimeter to be protected.

Vertical safety nets assembly

  • Check that the net is in its place covering all the perimeter that should be protected
  • Check the continuity in the upper and bottom union around the perimeter to be protected

Horizontal safety nets assembly

  • Check that the net is in its place covering all the hole perimeter that should be protected
  • Check the continuity around the perimeter to be protected

Fall protection equipment assembly

  • Check the continuity of the lifelines at the roof

Others

  • Check that while all of these systems are on installing or on maintenance there should be a non-available area limited by a barrier.

Fire

  • Heat sources or electrical devices unsupervised

The pre-installation of the construction site is done using modular electricity sources. In this way, at the end of the work day it is possible to cut off the electricity of all those parts that are not essential. Disconnecting all possible connected and unsupervised devices. It is important to carry out prior planning to establish the necessary measures.

  • Thermal loads due to improper material storage

Periodic reviews and control in cleaning at the end of the tasks.

  • Performing heat-related tasks within the last two working hours

It is very important to carry out a scheduling of the tasks taking into account this scenario. It is not possible to perform this type of task at the last minute. In the same way, it will be necessary to check that the area is clean and that flammable products have not been stored near the area. It is convenient to analyse if in the area affected by the execution of the task, another task that could be incompatible will be parallelly developed.

  • Blocking of emergency exits or fire brigade accesses

It requires good planning of entry, unloading and exit of trucks. It affects logistics, but also the organization and execution of tasks. It should be communicated to the subcontractors, as well as the machinery drivers. The informative panels must be always visible and the checks by the manager must be periodic.

  • Negligence

The training of all workers is an essential point, even so there can always be distractions, accidents or even negligent acts. In order to avoid potentially dangerous situations, regular checks are essential. In this sense, the safety manager must check that dangerous tasks are not carried out without approval, that negligent behaviour such as smoking does not occur, or that electrical sources are used appropriately.

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