CIDB Green Card (e-SICW) key terms

The legal obligation of employers, supervisors and workers to take reasonable steps to protect the safety and health of everyone affected by their work activities, including visitors and the public.

A ranked order of risk-reduction measures, applied from most to least effective: eliminate the hazard, substitute it, use engineering controls, use administrative controls, then rely on personal protective equipment.

A structured process of identifying hazards, judging how likely and how severe the harm could be, and deciding what controls are needed before work starts and when conditions change.

Any source, situation or act with the potential to cause injury, ill health, damage to property or harm to the environment, whether it is obvious, hidden or created by the way work is organised.

The level of risk that remains after controls have been applied; it must still be judged acceptable, and if it is not, further controls or a stop-work decision are required.

A short, documented briefing at the workplace covering the day's tasks, hazards, controls and any changes, giving workers a chance to raise concerns before work begins.

A written, task-specific method describing the sequence of steps, the hazards involved and the controls to be used, prepared with worker input and revised when the task or equipment changes.

Clothing or equipment worn by a worker, such as helmets, gloves, eye protection, harnesses and respirators, to reduce exposure to hazards that cannot be controlled by other means.

A formal written authorisation for high-risk tasks such as confined space entry, hot work or live electrical work, setting out the precautions, isolations, checks and sign-off required before and during the job.

The process of disconnecting and physically locking energy sources such as electricity, pressure, steam or stored mechanical energy, then proving the equipment is dead before work starts.

The combination of measures used to prevent or arrest falls from height, including guardrails, working platforms, safety nets, and personal fall-arrest systems with anchorage, lanyard and harness.

Work carried out at any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury, including work above ground, at ground level near openings, and below ground level.

A personal fall-arrest device worn over the shoulders and around the chest and legs, distributing fall forces across the body and connecting the worker to an anchored lanyard or lifeline.

A secure, structurally verified fixing to which fall-arrest or fall-restraint equipment is attached; it must be capable of supporting the loads imposed by a fall.

A temporary structure of standards, ledgers, transoms and working platforms used to support workers and materials at height, which must be erected, altered and dismantled by competent persons and inspected as required.

A person who has the training, experience, knowledge and other qualities needed to perform a specific task safely, such as inspecting scaffolds, excavations or lifting gear.

Any man-made cut, cavity, trench or depression in the ground formed by removing earth; it must be supported, battered or otherwise protected against collapse and checked before entry.

The sudden cave-in of excavation sides that buries or crushes workers; it can occur in apparently firm ground and is prevented by shoring, shielding, benching or sloping plus safe access and spoil placement.

Damage to buried electricity cables, gas pipes, water mains or telecom ducts during digging, which can cause electrocution, fire, explosion or flooding; prevented by locating and marking services before excavation.

Any activity using cranes, hoists or other plant to raise, lower or move a load, requiring a planned lift, a competent operator and signaller, inspected gear and exclusion of people beneath the load.

The selection, inspection and attachment of slings, shackles and lifting accessories to a load, and the calculation of safe working load and sling angles, carried out by trained and authorised workers.

The maximum load that a crane, sling, shackle or other lifting accessory may safely carry under stated conditions, marked on the equipment and never exceeded.

A marked and controlled area from which unauthorised people are kept out, used around lifting operations, excavations, demolition, plant movement and other activities with the potential to injure bystanders.

The physical separation of people from moving plant and vehicles using barriers, walkways, crossing points, speed limits and trained banksmen, to prevent collisions and run-over incidents on site.

The passage of current through the body causing burns, muscle spasm, heart rhythm disturbance or death; risk is reduced by isolation, insulation, residual current devices and safe distances from overhead lines.

The minimum safe distance that people, plant, scaffolding and loads must keep from live overhead power lines, often enforced with goalposts, barriers or agreed isolation of the line.

A protective device that quickly cuts the power when it detects leakage current to earth, reducing the severity of electric shock and the risk of fire from faulty portable equipment.

An enclosed or partially enclosed space with restricted entry, poor ventilation or the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere, where entry requires assessment, testing, a permit and standby support.

The use of calibrated instruments to measure oxygen level, flammable gases and toxic gases in a space or work area before and during entry, with results recorded and rechecked as conditions change.

Any activity producing flames, sparks or sufficient heat to ignite combustible material, such as welding, cutting or grinding, requiring removal of combustibles, fire watch, permit and suitable fire extinguishers.

Any chemical, dust, fume, vapour, biological agent or material that can harm health, whose risks must be assessed and controlled through substitution, ventilation, safe storage and protective equipment.

A standard document from a chemical supplier summarising a substance's hazards, composition, safe handling, storage, first aid, spill response and required protective equipment.

Face masks, respirators or breathing apparatus that filter or supply clean air to protect the wearer from dust, fumes, vapours or oxygen-deficient atmospheres; it requires fit testing and training.

Earplugs or earmuffs worn in noisy areas to reduce sound reaching the inner ear, selected to suit the noise level and worn correctly and continuously to prevent permanent hearing loss.

A portable device for fighting small fires, selected by fire class and marked for its contents, and used only by trained people with a clear escape route behind them.

A pre-arranged, signed and safe location where people gather and are counted after evacuation, kept clear of access routes and far enough from the site to avoid hazards.

Immediate basic care given to an injured or ill person before professional help arrives, provided by trained first aiders using stocked kits, and always followed by recording and reporting.

The formal recording of incidents, injuries, dangerous occurrences and near misses to the site management and, where required, to the authorities, so causes can be investigated and prevented.

An unplanned event that did not cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so; reporting near misses allows causes to be corrected before a serious incident occurs.

Standardised safety signs using shape and colour, such as prohibition, warning, mandatory and safe-condition signs, used to communicate hazards, required behaviour and emergency information where people can see them.

The planned actions for containing, absorbing and safely disposing of a chemical or fuel spill, using spill kits, protective equipment and drainage protection, with trained staff and correct waste disposal.