Master Builders Association (MBA) North has developed a Construction Health and Safety Information Technological (CHS-IT) system aligned with the requirements of government’s new construction regulations.
The new system will be launched in the first half of this year, says MBA North’s past president and driving force behind the new system, Lea Smith.
“Under the new construction regulations, more stringent health and safety obligations have been placed on a wide range of parties involved in construction work, including the client, subcontractor, designer and principal contractor,” she states.
The regulations clearly specify that all stakeholders must be involved in the implementation, maintenance, monitoring and enforcement of the construction regulations’ legislative require-ments, which include legal appointments, regular health and safety audits, medical certificates of fitness for all employees and a construction work permit or construction notification. All these must be in place before any construction work can start.
At last year’s Department of Labour (DoL) conference, DoL chief inspector Tibor Szana appealed to the building industry to reverse the “intolerable loss of life” in the industry. The challenge was to step up inspection and enforcements, he stated.
With this in mind, MBA North developed the CHS-IT system.
“The system is a proactive online solution to help implement, monitor and enforce the construction regulations in real time, across multiple construction sites conveniently from any smart device or personal computer,” says Smith.
Included in the system’s benefits are ease of use, time saving, accessibility from any “smart” device, real-time monitoring and reporting, recording of health and safety audit information, storage of health and safety documentation, automated audit reports, and the monitoring of contractor compliance in real time. The CHS-IT system also has an online automated work permit and construction notification submission, saving time and money.
“It is a secure, cloud-based system making accessibility to information quick and easy. When Internet connectivity is poor or unavailable, information will be stored in the CHS-IT app and automatically uploaded when connectivity is restored. An added advantage of the system is that it is multiuser based, meaning that more than one safety officer can be working and engaging with the system at any one point in time,” Smith adds.
“One of the exciting elements of the CHS-IT system is its third-party external audit function that allows for 5% of all sites using the system to come up for possible selection for an audit on a month-to-month basis. The intention of the audits – by building-industry- trained health and safety officers – will be to provide information and guidance based on the audit to the construction manager or client about the conformance of the site in terms of the construction regulations,” concludes Smith.