Author(s): Maneesha Gaur, Sushma Goel, TG Rupa and Anil Diwan

Abstract:
Safety compliance in construction is the process of following safety regulations and guidelines to prevent hazardous injuries and accidents on-site. The data findings revealed that 50% construction companies had taken requisite fall protection measures such as installing fall arrest systems, slide guards, guardrails etc. All four construction companies were in compliance with safety regulations and allowed only trained workers were allowed to use power tools and nail guns after wearing appropriate PPE. For electrical safety Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) system was communicated to all workers and frayed, damaged or worn electrical cords or cables were immediately removed by safety personnel. Required safety equipment or PPE such as hard hats, shoes, eye glasses, face shield and ear plugs or ear muffs were provided to all workers by all four companies as specified by Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) standard IS 17423:2020 and ISO 9001:2015. Hazard communication was done by placing safety signage at prominent locations on-site. Safety signage’s were available on all the eight sites. Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), ladder, electrical equipment and housekeeping safety inspection was done on weekly basis as these were critical areas and high stake were involved in terms of resources (material and human resources) and hence, required good supervision and continuous monitoring. SOP for emergency on-site Emergency Response Team (ERT) was set-up consisted of site controller and their rescue team, safety officers, supervisors, workers and incident controller. Site controller and their rescue team was responsible for barricading and evacuating the area in case of emergency by continuously blowing the siren from emergency control room for one minute. The findings indicated that overall safety compliance was found to be good only in two construction companies in terms of implementation of safety specifications and regulations, indicting possible gaps and inefficiencies in complete safety adherence by construction companies.