Occupational health and safety considerations when carrying out industrial roof
repairs.
When entering into a contract with any contractor the occupational health and
and safety act views you as an employer and the contractor as an employee.
Who is responsible for safety?
In terms of the act the employer is responsible for the safety of the employee.
This means that the onus is on you to ensure that the contractor is working safely
on your site. You can image if your contractor is waterproofing a roof 10m high
you would have to get safety harnesses and ropes to secure them so they don't
fall off the roof or through it.
Any accidents and subsequent investigations will involve both the contractor and
you as the employer of the contractor.
Health and safety policy
It is therefore vital that you hire a roofing or waterproofing contractor that is
committed to working safely. Any contractor you are considering to enter in a
contract with should have an active, up to date health and safety policy in place.
This is especially true carrying out industrial roof repairs.You can request the
contractor to bring copies of the following documents to your site before they
begin work:
> Signed Health and Safety PolicyLatest Equipment check lists
> Risk Assessment
Before undertaking work in high risk areas, a risk assessment should be
conducted by the roofing and waterproofing contractor for review by the employer.
The risk assessment shall highlight activities to be performed, associated
dangers with the activity and preventative measures that could be put in place to
lower the risk of an accident. It is important as the employer to be involved in this
process as it is during this time that you can point out hazards about your working
environment that the contractor would otherwise be none the wiser about.
In conclusion
As long as there are human workers there will be accidents. One could never
possibly eradicate human error. We can however put measures in place to limit
such errors and the impact they have on our well being. Should an accident occur
on your site, and you have employed a roofing or waterproofing contractor
committed to health and safety, you will have gone along way to prove your
commitment to ensuring you have done what you can to prevent the accident.
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