Health, safety and environmental practice on site
Health, safety and environmental practice on site
This domain tests site safety and environmental controls under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the Asbestos Regulations 2016 and trade waste/sediment rules. Expect hazard control, trenches, confined spaces, silica, lead and spill response.
Core rules
- Identify hazards before work: services, excavation, traffic, electrical, gas, asbestos, silica dust and manual handling. Use the hierarchy of controls, not PPE alone.
- Trenches need support or battering, edge protection, safe access and service locating. A trench is a confined space when the atmosphere or engulfment risk makes it one.
- Control dust from cutting concrete, tile or fibre-cement with water or extraction; assume asbestos until a survey says otherwise in older buildings.
- Manage lead from old solder, paint and flashings; use respiratory protection and hygiene controls.
- Environmental controls: sediment fences, catch pits, spill kits, covered stockpiles and trade waste approval before discharging to the stormwater or sewer.
Worked example
A crew must cut a 1.8 m deep trench across a driveway. The controls are: locate services, use a spotter for traffic, shore or bench the trench, provide a ladder, barricade the edges and test the atmosphere if a confined-space hazard exists. Concrete cutting is wet-cut to control silica, and slurry is contained, not hosed to the stormwater.
Traps
Relying on PPE only, digging without service locations, dry-cutting concrete, no spill kit, and discharging trade waste to stormwater.