Health and safety (H&S) in housing

Abstract

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.

Inadequate or the lack of H&S negatively affects cost, environment, productivity, quality, and time. Conversely, optimum H&S is the catalyst for enhanced performance relative to the aforementioned, as a result of, inter alia, tidy sites, optimum access, and loss prevention. Accidents result in direct and indirect costs, the latter being up to twenty times that of the direct costs. Both the direct and indirect costs add to the cost of housing. The paper reports on a study conducted among members of the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) in South Africa to primarily determine H&S related perceptions and needs. The paper concludes that there is a general need for assistance relative to H&S. The assistance required is primarily in the form of the development and implementation of an H&S programme, training of management, supervisors and workers, content and interpretation of H&S legislation, development of project H&S plans, and to a lesser extent, risk assessments. The paper recommends that the NHBRC should inter alia: develop a housing oriented H&S programme; develop housing oriented H&S guidelines; present H&S seminars and workshops; train NHBRC ‘inspectors’ in H&S; include the assessment of H&S in site inspections, and develop an H&S competition.