What are the main risks when carrying out industrial demolition works?
Demolition zones refers to areas of an increased hazard: for humans, the environment, and nearby buildings. Industrial Demolition, in turn, creates a separate group of risks associated with equipment and hazardous industrial waste.
The main types of incidents that lead to accidents and industrial injuries in industrial Demoli- tion include:
- Uncontrolled collapse of structural elements of buildings and falling debris, materials, or equipment
- Explosions
- Damage/overturning of construction machines
- Hazardous substance exposure, leaks
- Falling from heights
- Electric shock
- Damage caused by natural disasters, etc
- Uncontrolled stormwater flow
- Uneven surfaces
- Voids and excavations
The occurrence of such critical events situations can lead to:
- Industrial injuries, loss of life
- Temporary halt of the company’s operation (due to an explosion, collapse of structures, or leakage of hazardous substances)
- Environmental incidents and pollution: soil, water resources
- Economic, legal, and temporal risks for the project
- Reputational Damage
- Loss of certification and authorisations.
It is important to separate the risk factors and industrial injuries factors, which can be divided into several groups:
Technical
This group includes causes that result from imperfection of technological processes, design flaws and technical condition of equipment, buildings, and structures, tools and means of collective and individual protection, insufficient mechanization of heavy work, including failure of fences, safety devices, alarm systems and locks, strength defects in materials and wear of structures; previously unknown hazardous properties of the substances used, etc. These reasons are also called design or engineering failures. Violations of sanitary and hygienic standards are closely adjacent to them forming a kind of subgroup, which include increased (above the threshold limit value) content of hazardous substances in the air of working areas, insufficient or irrational lighting, increased noise levels, vibrations, unfavourable meteorolog- ical conditions, the presence of various radiations above permissible values, etc.
Organizational
This group includes causes that result from the level of labour organization during Demolition works. These include:
- Lack of housekeeping in the work area, driveways, passages, walkways.
- Violation of the rules of equipment, vehicles, and tools operating.
- Lack of worksite planning.
- Violation of technological regulations.
- Violation of the regulations for the transportation, warehousing, and storage of materials and products.
- Violation of safety rules and regulations.
- Lack of suitable training for workers.
- Lack of organization of workgroups.
• Weak technical supervision of hazardous works. - Incorrect use of equipment.
- Absence or poor condition of fencing and securing of work sites.
- Absence, malfunction or non-use of personal protective equipment, etc.
Personal (“human factor”)
This group includes causes relating to the physical and neuropsy- chiatric exertions of the employee, leading to his/her mistakes. A person can make mistakes due to fatigue caused by large physical (static and dynamic) exertions, mental strain, sensory strain (visual, auditory, tactile), routine work, stressful situations, ill-health, lack of judge- ment, lack of training, operating beyond the limits to which they are authorised.
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