Management and Economics of Construction Safety in Hong Kong

7 - Role of the Supervisor

1 Introduction As a construction site is maintained and managed by the main contractor, the site supervisor plays a key role in the daily management of the construction site. As representative of the main contractor, he has to ensure that the construction works are completed in accordance with the drawings and within the time and budget schedules, and that the quality is up to the requirement of the contract. Also, he has to ensure that the works are constructed safely with all safety precautions and procedures adopted on site, and that all regulations including the Buildings Ordinance are complied with. This chapter is to investigate the major role of the site supervisor in safety management of a construction site. 2 Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (FIUO) Before the discussion of the role of the site supervisor in safety management, it is important to know the requirements of site safety under the current regulations. - - - - - 106 MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG Under the current FIUO, it is the duty of every proprietor (i.e., employer) of an industrial undertaking to ensure the health and safety at work of all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking. Under the legislation of Hong Kong Cap 59, FIUO, Section 6A, the proprietor is also responsible for the following: (a) the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health; (b) arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances; (c) the provision ofsuch information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking; (d) so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any part of the industrial undertaking under the proprietor's control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks; and (e) the provision and maintenance ofa working environment for all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, and without risks to health. As an employee, the worker should also work safely in his working environment. Section 6B of FIUO requires the worker: (a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work; and (b) as regards any duty or requirement imposed on a proprietor of the industrial undertaking or on any other person by this Ordinance for securing the health and safety of persons employed at the industrial undertaking, to co-operate with him so far as is necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed or complied with. The legislation has increased the safety awareness of both employers and workers. In order to maintain workplace safety and educate workers about safety at work, an employer is required to employ a Safety Officer and/or a Safety Supervisor in accordance with the rules laid down in Chapter 59Z of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulation for a construction site employing more than 100/20 employees in total respectively. ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR 107 - - - - The duties of a Safety Officer are as follows: (a) advising the proprietor as to measures to be taken in the interest of the safety and health of persons employed in the industrial undertaking and, with the approval of the proprietor, implementing such measures; (b) inspecting the industrial undertaking,or directing any person employed as a safetysupervisor therein to inspect the industrial undertaking for the purpose of determining whether or not there is any machinery, plant, equipment, appliance or process or any description ofwork carried on in the industrial undertaking which is of such a nature as to be liable to cause risk ofbodily injury to any person employed in an industrial undertaking; (c) reporting the findings ofany inspection carried out under sub-paragraph (b) to the proprietor and recommending what measures, if any, ought to be taken as a result of that inspection; (d) assisting in the supervision ofany person employed as a...