Occupational Safety and Health OSH in buildings for professional use Ir' Trees Klaver Occupational H

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Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in
buildings forprofessional useIr. Trees
KlaverOccupational Health and Safety
Department(Arbo- en Milieu Service Organisatie)
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OSH Legislation, Guidelines and Standards

• EU-directives concern safety, health and welfare
  of employees
• For the Netherlands they are included in
• Law on working conditions (Arbo-wet)
• Implementation of the law on working conditions
  (Arbo-besluit)
• Legislation concerning Working Conditions
  (Arbo-regeling)
• Guidelines for Working Conditions Including
  Standards (Arbo-beleidsregels)

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Netherlands resources onOSH Legislation
Guidelines

• Arbo-informatiebladen
• Arbo-themacahiers
• (only available in Dutch)

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Resources on OSH in offices
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Resources on Indoor Conditions and Health
in Professional Environments
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OSH in New, Renovated and Existing Buildings
for Professional Use
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• Noise Control

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A lot of information is available, so

• why do so many problems occur??

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Causes of problems (1)

• Design phase
• Building regulations ?
• OSH regulations !!
• Little attention for OSH
• OSH is often considered a luxury and is
  consequently subject to budget cuts

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Causes of problems (2)

• Design phase
• Design influences safety during building phase
  and maintenance
• Maintenance is often overlooked
• Aesthetics is preferred over functionality

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Causes of problems (3)

• During use
• Rooms used in an different way than planned
• Wrong use of building / installations
• Not sufficient maintenance
• Ageing of the building
• Changing insights

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Building code (Bouwbesluit)

• Refers to new and existing buildings
• Implements minimal safety, health and usefulness
  requirements
• OSH code (Arbobesluit)
• Refers to new and existing working environments
• Optimal OSH (working conditions) for workers and
  others involved

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Building code (Bouwbesluit)

• Commissioner / owner responsible
• Performance requirements, seldom technical means
• OSH code (Arbobesluit)
• Employer responsible
• Optimization of OSH, seldom minimal standards

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Building code (Bouwbesluit)

• Ministry Housing (VROM)
• Supervising organisation Community
  administration (Fire department, Building
  inspectorate)
• OSH code (Arbobesluit)
• Ministry Social Affairs and Employment (SZW)
• Supervising organisation OSH inspectorate
  (Arbeidsinspectie)

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An example

• In the Netherlands approximately 50
• of the office workers experience
• insufficient or bad indoor air quality
• Source AI-blad 7 Kantoren, SDU, 2e druk, 2000

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Causes of indoor discomfort in offices

• 50 organisation and behaviour
• wrong use of building / building services
• insufficient or wrong maintenance
• 50 bad design
• wrongly designed building services
• wrongly chosen building and finishing materials
• Source AI-blad 7 Kantoren, SDU, 2e druk, 2000

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DONTS in problem solving

• Immediately think about solutions
• Aim at a quick fix
• Make things worse
• Perform one rebuilding after another

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DOS in problem solving

• Objectify complaints
• Try to find the complaint behind the complaint
• Registration of complaints
• OSH is sometimes misused
• Thorough systematic investigation
• Enquire with the occupants
• Consult experts

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OSH Risk Management Process

• Thorough investigation of risks and possible
  solutions
• Prioritization
• Construction of an improvement program with
  timetable
• Implementing the improvement program
• If necessary repeat (1) to (4)

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OSH Prioritization

• High immediate danger
• Medium possible exposure or detriment after
  prolonged exposure
• Low possible but unlikely situations

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Prioritization by Housing Services TU/e

• Safety / health
• Legislation / standards
• Research / education
• Resulting damage
• Aesthetics / comfort
• Dienst Huisvesting

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Subjects

• Lay-out of working places ()
• Hazardous chemicals / biological agents /
  airborne dust
• Physical factors ()
• Machinery and equipment /
• specific tasks
• Safety and health signs
• See next slides

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Lay-out of working places (1)

• General regulations order and neatness, hygiene
• Provisions for emergency situations
• Effective working places

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Lay-out of working places (2)

• Lay-out requirements
• VDU work / sedentary work
• Recreational facilities and other provisions

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Physical factors

• Indoor climate including ventilation
• Lighting and daylight
• No view requirement anymore
• Daylight is obligatory in most cases
• Noise and sound

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Why bother?

• Good working conditions
• conditions allowing for optimal output of
• workers and thus contributing to the
• economic aim of the organisation they
• are a member of

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OSH and productivity (non creative work)
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Improvements afterwardsSuboptimal results
at a multiple of the costs
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Occupants sometimeshave to live 20 /30 /40 /
years with the choicesof the architect
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SoPrevention is better than cure!