Health Safety Security Environment (HSSE)
“Prevent the worst and Put safety first, because being Safe today will keep you Alive tomorrow”
TOPICS:
HSSE General
Importance of HSSE in Project Construction
HSSE Concerns
HSSE Management
HSSE Concerns at Project
Tasks to Manage HSSE
HSSE Organization
HSSE Manager
On-site HSSE Team
Risk Situations
HSSE Management System
Required Actions
Set Targets
HSSE Checks
Get Fit and be Efficient
Hendricks Accident Triangle
Too often we exaggerate the risk of a hazard and categorize what is merely possible as probable because it is easier to enforce than if we make an honest assessment. Some safety professionals, in the name of “zero-injuries” will heap regulation after regulation on a job until the organization rebels and simply refuses to comply. When it comes to making the workplace safer, the more complex and/or burdensome the solution the far less likely the compliance.
We must understand that there are limits to the amount of protection we can provide to people and if when exceed the perceived reasonable limits we not only fail to protect in that instance, but we lose credibility and jeopardize compliance with safety protocols that are essential for basic safety. When safety professionals’ risk tolerance is out of alignment with societal norms the safety professional is doomed to a life of frustration. – Phil Ladoke
General- Health Safety, security and Environment (HSSE) on Construction projects
A project is unique in itself; no two projects may be the same. But they work within the same knowledge areas and process groups (may be customized as per requirement of the project)
The Health, Safety, Security and Environment management factors are valid for all the projects. Except a few unknown risks, all the risks in HSSE are known risks. As such HSSE management can be planned considering these risks and also customizing it to the project or operations requirements.
Most important thing is to assess the requirement of HSSE from the project activities and align the HSSE efforts accordingly.
Importance of HSSE in project construction and operations.
HSSE revolve around the project Knowledge Areas and Process, and in doing so, they take up numbers of processes to execute the project for quality output of the product. This must be there, but ultimate result depends upon how the workplace environment and work force health safety along with security are designed in project execution.
A secured environment enhances the working efficiency of the work force at the workplace. This is achieved by use of right type of equipment for the right job, avoiding hazard substance or environment, use of authorized persons, adopting equivalent designs and taking the necessary and required precautions for work. Workforce works with confidence and dedication, if secured environment is available in working places.
Equivalent: Alternative designs, materials, or methods to protect against a hazard which the employer can demonstrate will provide an equal or greater degree of safety for employees than the methods, materials or designs specified in the standard.
Authorized person: A person approved or assigned by the employer to perform a specific type of duty or duties or to be at a specific location or locations at the jobsite.
Equipment is the set of necessary tools, clothing, etc. for a particular purpose and to achieve the purpose efficiently without causing harm to operation process
Hazardous substance: A substance which, by reason of being explosive, flammable, poisonous, corrosive, oxidizing, irritating, or otherwise harmful, is likely to cause death or injury
Precautions – a measure taken in advance to prevent something dangerous and unpleasant or inconvenient from happening – is an important word being used in HSSE. Any action in real world these days is full of risks. We are prepared or must be prepared for known and at the same time must be prepared for unknown risks.
Construction projects are full of risks- this include the risks inside the project operations and outside the project boundary that are related to project affected areas.
Mainly these risks are related to human resources in the form of injury, illness, accidents etcetera.
HSSE subject is important to any business, be it projects or operations, where workforce is employed, and work area environment is to be maintained.
The engineers involved in construction and operations must be trained for the gap in their knowledge and skills, before putting them on the job.
The industry must go through the technological changes and so it must manage in its HSSE implementation accordingly, and also remain in touch with educational institution to meet their requirement. These institutions accordingly impart education to engineer students for required inbuilt knowledge and skills, but even after this there remains some gaps when these engineers become workforce of the organization, which should be duly addressed by the organization before imparting necessary training.
HSSE concerns are important at construction projects
To ensure a safe and healthy work environment and the workplace should provide a feeling to work without tension.
It is mandatory by law and enforcement measures.
It is necessary to avoid cost overrun due to unsafe working in unsafe health environment
One of the major concerns of the industry/organization is to maintain or upgrade the business value by good implementation of HSSE subject in the organization. (If there is well skilled and managed staff for HSSE, it will save the business cost on the time line)
HSSE management is the concern for the following:
Organization
Sponsors
Project team
Constructors
Employees
Service Providers
Material Suppliers
Labor Unions
State Government
As such the organizations must have their policies for the following disciplines, but not limited to:
Health Policy
Safety Policy
Security policy
Environment Policy
Quality Policy
Corporate Social Responsibility
The policies must have accreditation such as, ISO-9001 for Quality, ISO-14001 for Environment Management, OSHA-18001 for Occupational Safety and Health .
HSSE concerns at Construction Projects are addressed through the implementation of the approved management plans listed below.
Health, Safety, Security, Environment Manuals
Pollution Control
Restoration and land Scape
Erosion and Sediment Control
Waste Management
Traffic Management
Biodiversity Management
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Healthy, Safety Management Plan
Muck Management Plan
Tasks to manage HSSE
Understand the needs of safety and health for the type of construction projects
Know your legal responsibilities
Make a commitment to health and safety in the workplace
Plan how you will implement a safe working environment
Identify, assess and manage hazards
Provide information, training and supervision for employees
Report, record and investigate incidents, injuries and illnesses
Involve employees in the process to improve health and safety
Plan and be ready for emergencies
Include contractors and subcontractors in your hazard management processes
Help employees return to normal work after injury
Read more on the Psychology of Safety and Risk by Dr Robert Long and George Robotham
HSSE Organization
HSSE Manager – Projects / Operations
Key Responsibilities:
Ensure that the approved plans are being followed for execution to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
Ensure that necessary skills are being used in process operations, and methodology is followed, taking into considerations the all required HSSE measures.
Monitor & Control all HSSE matters related with project team members, the contractors, and the workforce follow the set norms and standards for specific requirements.
Ensure that HSSE manuals based on organization’s policy are being followed and workforce actions for the process operations are observed and noted for analysis
Any changes required to be made to the base plan must be discussed with all stakeholders and must be implemented after due approval of change control unit.
HSSE manger shall be responsible for the health, safety, environment, & security throughout the project duration to achieve safe project completion with increase in business value for tangible and intangible state
He must be aware of all construction/ operation activities and the processes to find out the requirements for the HSSE and participate in Risk Assessment and hold relevant meeting, workshop internally and with other stakeholders.
Ensure that the necessary standards and norms of the local bodies and government are implemented efficiently and effectively.
Enforce and audit activities to ensure they meet design / plan requirements and other HSSE guideline.
Monitor and update the HSSE risks register and ensure all mitigation measures are adhere to, throughout the project life cycle / operation period.
Prepare and manage required documents for related internal / external communication and audit.
The On-job HSSE team
The on-job HSSE cadre must follow the HSSE plan, and during the execution process, it should observe, the workforce’s actions on HSSE measures. And align them to the planned efforts, to be taken during construction operations.
The team should note the processes to be performed, precautions to be met, and observe the actions of workforce in doing the job skill wise.
The data collected should be analyzed for different categories of works and risks associated with their jobs or undesirable actions, some of which are mentioned below:
Onsite facilities misuse
Falls into ditches
Electricity misuse
Barricade misuse
Improper use of equipment
Fire accidents
Vehicle accidents
No use of PPEs
Violation of work standards and norms
Non-participation on in awareness trainings
(All such actions / violations notices must be brought to the notice of supervisors and to senior staff for follow up action which may include:
High level meetings
Field level meetings
Training for awareness
On job training
PPE use awareness training
Training on security measures
Appointment of certified skilled staff)
Acceptance of HSSE subject norms, like other norms is not effortless. It depends on the attitude of the worker-his behavior.
(Those who do not know can be trained. Those who do not want to know is an attitudinal problem. And needs special attention.)
Risk situations may be created by:
Electricity supply
Airborne particulate matter
Excavation operations
Underground blasting operations
Material handling and fabrication
Noise of construction operations
Vehicle movement
Slips
Works at height
Suicide
Etcetera
HSSE Management System
( The Principle- Zero accident in Project Life Cycle)
HSSE Management System Documents encompasses:
A -Organizational Commitments for HSSE
(HSSE Policy and Goals, Responsibility and Accountability Matrix, Performance Reviews, Actions on unlawful involvement of work force, Issue Resolution, Change management, Staff management and High-level inspections)
B -Planning, Identification of HSSE tasks from the Process groups, Monitoring & control, Evaluation and feedback system design.
Depending on the perceived HSSE Challenges and project HSSE requirements, project planning should include actions required during the project execution process. These may include perceived site specific Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Control Measure, Facilities Inspection designs, HSSE task lists, Instructions, Record Logs, Manuals, Training Requirements, Checklists, Emergency Response Planning, Incident Reporting and Investigation instructions and Reporting formats, Controls, Feedback and Communication implementation strategies. Preparation of HSSE execution plan and its approval from team and the stakeholders.
C -Execution of HSSE tasks
The execution processes must use required Inputs, Tools & Techniques for the desired Outputs as suggested in HSSE plans.
It is to be ensured that the execution is inline with the approved planning. Any changes required during execution process, or incorporation of additional requirements should be duly approved, and implemented after revised plan approval for further execution.
It should also be ensured that the quality of implementation operations is as per set standards and necessary report is generated.
D – Monitoring and Control.
It should be ensured that the implementation unit is following the planned instruction and no unauthoried deviation means are adopted. The field units should follow the set rules and in case of any variations found by the monitoring unit the , these should be complied and reported. Any unusual implementation process exection should be brought in the knowledge of high level team for information and advice.
Also ensure that:
The compliance is done. ( Non Conformance Notices should be issued for any unacceptable output).
Involving Stakeholders in decision making
Training of all persons for plans of Health, Safety, Security a
All stakeholders must be aware of HSSE plans and its implementation
Roles and responsibilities of the persons under project manager must be clearly complied.
Involve everybody from initiation to planning to execution to end through a well-managed communication system
Important Required actions During Implementation Stage
Set procedures for processes
Set work instructions at the workplace
Create awareness about known risk
Supervisors must foresee the risks during construction operations and apprise workers about it
Conduct safety meetings
Ensure that work supervising force uses the required treatment for physical and mental ailments
Provide short rest breaks and avoid overtime.
Maintain HSSE files
Set targets for :
Review and discuss the status in reality
Be open to receive other’s opinions
Active participation, learning from past and related projects Learning from incidents
Tool Box Training
Training of all stakeholders
Development of monitoring system
Employ trained and certified persons
Analyze the job and search for support providers
A project involves both the shop floor activities and construction activities. So, whole area of the project must be given important attention by dedicated team of managers and supervisors so that accidents are bare minimum or Zero. It shall boost the morale of the work force and increase the efficiency.
Contrary to this, organization may face labor problems, legal problems etcetera which will affect the project timelines and other project constraints.
As such
Focus on the topic
Create awareness
Connect to work force
Evolve methods
Manage projects
Inbuilt HSSE in all knowledge areas and processes of project management
Special considerations be given to fire, electricity, lights, vehicles operations along with process hazard analysis and suggested precautionary measures required for awareness creation training and execution.
Anything happening against these parameters in project management, spread in a big way and affects project operations and business. Without the required amenities it is always difficult to move within the limitations of the project constraints. It may affect schedule, cost, quality, resources and reputation.
HSSE checks for system implementation
Ensure that /mechanism/ arrangement exists and check for:
The workplace is safe to work for the required number of persons
HSSE head is in place
Awareness creation mechanism exists
Top management is committed
Awareness creation about existing enforcement measures Awareness about age of persons for construction jobs
Ensure safety of other service providers at the project
Ensure safety of community outside the boundary of the project Necessary insurance measure for all project participants Apprising the project team about HSSE plans
Apprising stakeholders about risks and plans
Policy document existence
Creation of milestones in planning
Hazard identification processes
Known hazards
Engagement of third party for training and consultancy
Availability of responsibility matrix
Ensure that the supervisory staff is duly certified
Crisis manager is available
Risk management plan and risk response plan exists
Existing of Injury / incident reporting and management system.
Arrangement of onsite training for staff
Site safety management for workers
Emergency procedures
Non -conformance notices implementation system
Injury / accident management system
Induction training
HSSE concerns documentation in contract
Awareness about legal requirement of HSSE training
Information and communication system about hazard management
Monitoring and feedback system
Functioning of digital real time equipment
And many others as per need of the project tasks
Get Fit and be Efficient
Fitness is very important now in this fast-action-packed scenario to avoid accidents at work during travel and at home. It is not the gym exercises and is different.
It keeps you fit to carry out your functions.
A footballer, hockey player, badminton player or cricketer, plays the game part. These players to play the game without disruptions in actions need to be fit and therefore they get regular fitness training which is additional to their game.
The put the purpose is to make you understand that developing of EQ as well as to keep yourself fit for actions effectively and efficiently, is the requirement for the success. How important the follow up of HSSE guidance is, is clear from the information given by Heinrich Accident Triangle be
The Health, Safety, Security and Environment affect the workforce efficiency and their morale. If duly taken care of, there is boost in production and recreation.
Contrary to this, business Value may reduce..
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. John F. Kennedy
