Requirements for construction site safety In UAE

The first and most important moto of any company should be to strive for ‘zero’ – zero fatalities, zero injuries, and zero excuses. To accomplish this, every Engineer on site is responsible for ensuring zero tolerance for any Safety violation.

The Safety Engineer should ensure strict compliance with applicable safety standard requirements while completing the Work. If there is a discrepancy between the safety requirements and the safety at the site, the Site Safety Engineer should take strict action.

Construction Site Safety Rules and Regulations in UAE

• Works above one point eight (1.8) metres in height have safe access, egress, and a safe platform. Otherwise, people must be secured using a full body harness with a double lanyard, a shock absorber, and enough strengthened lifeline support.
• The working platform must have a hand rail, a mid rail, and a toe board. A certified horizontal life line, preferably 8mm wire rope, must be used.
  Working at a height of more than five (5) meters (e.g., transmission tower, truck covering, etc.) or requiring a different body posture even at a lower height necessitates the use of a “Fall Arrestor” (for vertical movement).
• A safety net for falling objects must be installed to catch such objects.
  If any personnel intends to work at a height, a step ladder or platform should be used. The use of empty drums to climb is prohibited. People carrying tools for working at heights must have tool kits that allow for three (3) points of contact during access and egress.
• The employer’s floor-hole cover policy must be followed, and hole covers must be manufactured in accordance with that policy and design.
• The Site Safety Engineer should also have a written rescue plan in which all persons on the Site, including those working at heights, are mentioned as to how to be rescued.

Safety requirements for scaffolding work on construction sites

• Every scaffolding and its support should be strong and free of flaws. The use of wood and bamboo scaffolds is prohibited.
  Railings and toe boards should be installed on all sides of all elevated structures and working platform areas.
• Scaffolding should be designed to withstand at least four (4) times the anticipated weight of men and materials. For access and egress, it must have a standard inclined ladder or staircase.
• Every nine (9) meters of height must have a landing platform. Extra support can be obtained from a nearby structure. Keep a safe distance away from power lines.
• Fall protection must be used when erecting, dismantling, or modifying scaffolding so that no one falls beneath it.

Competent individuals must design, erect, and certify scaffolding for use. Ready-to-use scaffolding will be marked with a green board, while other scaffolding will be marked with a red tag and will not be used until it has been certified.

Site Requirement for Portable Ladders

• Only commercially available and approved metal/aluminum/fiberglass ladders are permitted.
• Persons performing electric welding or working near energized electric lines or service lines must not use metal ladders.
  Painted ladders should be prohibited.
• All ladders must be inspected by a qualified person or inspection agency in accordance with the law.
• Bends, dents, cracks, loose or missing rivets, disconnected braces, step condition, and corrosion all significantly weaken a ladder. Immediately destroy or repair any defective ladders in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Requirement for Barricades and Signs at a Safety Site

The Engineer should ensure that the banners required for indicating (warning) and protecting from hazards such as excavated areas, platform openings, crane swing areas, fabrication yards, overhead work, road work, and other locations are properly written.

Protective barricades must be made of sheet metal or 40 NB pipe, painted with yellow and black stripes or red and white stripes, and must be strong enough to withstand a force of one hundred (100) kilograms for excavated pits deeper than one (1) meter.

• Site safety warning barricades made of fluorescent tape, cable, and ropes with signs attached can be used. After excavation, the excavated pit should not be left unprotected or without warning signs until backfilling is completed. Caution tape should be used to warn other personnel who may need to access the area about potential hazards.
• The barricade must be at least 1.5 meters away from the excavation’s edge. Excavated earth or vehicle movement is prohibited within 1.5 meters of an excavated pit.
• Barricades must be lit with warning flashers (red or yellow) every fifty (50) meters in areas with night traffic by vehicles or people, and there must be caution boards and warning flags.

Safety Requirements in the Construction Zone

• Ensure proper ventilation (forced or exhaust) and lighting with a 24 V power supply.
• Check for the presence of toxic/flammable gases, monitor the oxygen content in confined spaces, and ensure the availability of communication media between the stand-by confined space attendant and the people inside the confined spaces.
• Ensure the availability of self-contained breathing apparatus or equivalent, as well as the use of all relevant personal protective equipment by the JSA and PTW.
• Ensure that all persons exit the confined space once the work is completed. To ensure such exit, a head count of men entering and exiting such confirm spaces must be performed, with a record kept in a register.

Excavation Safety Requirements on a Construction Site

Before beginning an excavation, the Engineer must first verify site-specific conditions such as traffic, vibrations, the proximity of structures, soil, surface water and groundwater, chemical contamination of water, water table, overhead and underground utilities, and so on.

Some inside construction precautions are required:

• The provision of high visibility jackets for people who are exposed to traffic.
• Remove or stabilise all surface impediments, including loose rock or soil that could fall and cause hazards to people.
• To avoid leaving an excavation hazard unprotected, erect either warning barricades (with a depth of less than one (1) metre) or rigid, protective barricades (with a depth of more than one (1) metre). A spoil pile at least one point five (1.5) metre high, on the other hand, can be used as a barricade on one side of the excavation.
• Keep spoil dirt and any other materials or equipment that may fall into an excavation at least one point five (1.5) metres away from the edge.
• Excavated pits deeper than one point five (1.5) metres will have a vertical wall with a maximum height of one point five (1.5) metres and sloped edges at forty-five degrees (450).
• underground installations must be protected, supported, or removed (e.g., electrical ducts, water lines, sewer lines, or fire lines).
• Personnel must not work or pass under the loads of lifting or digging equipment inside the pit.
• provide support systems such as shoring, bracing, or underpinning to ensure the stability of adjoining buildings, walls, or structures, especially if the depth is greater than one (1) metre. In such cases, confined space entry is required.
• A secure access / egress path must be provided.
• that no worker shall ever be permitted to work alone in a trench.