2. Education, Training and Promotion144

Construction Industry Occupational Health and Safety Manual – 2015 Edition

Sample copy

Guide to Safety Toolbox Talks

WEEK 10

♦ HOUSEKEEPING – SCRAP REMOVAL SYSTEM AND WASTE CONTROL

Company:

Contact Person:

No. of Employees Present:

Date Toolkit Talk Presented:

Presented by:

Designation:

HOUSEKEEPING: “A place for everything and everything in it’s place.”

SCRAP REMOVAL AND WASTE CONTROLGood housekeeping is one of the most important factors in maintaining a safe job.

Thousands of workers in the construction industry are injured each year because they trip, stumble, or step on objects that are in their way. Such accidents are too often blamed on the worker’s carelessness in not looking where he is going, or being some place where he has no business to be. Actually, such accidents are the direct result of POOR HOUSEKEEPING. Good housekeeping is also very important in fire prevention. Rubbish, oily rags and other scrap material are often responsible for fires and often result in tragic loss of life.

Material left lying scattered around on floors or work areas take considerably more space than if arranged in piles or stored in bins or shelves. It takes longer to sort and select needed items, and material is often damaged due to being stepped on or knocked over.

Good housekeeping is not maintained by cleaning up once a week or even once a day, but by keeping clean all the time. It is everyone’s responsibility. It involves many things. Material storage and scrap disposal are perhaps the most important and most often neglected. We usually have ample space to store our materials without having them scattered about for us to trip over.

Scrap material should never be mixed with usable material. It will lay there for days, presenting an untidy appearance, and will inevitably get kicked around for people to trip over.

Keep all scrap separated from usable material, and stored in piles where it can be picked up for disposal.

Issue of hardware/nails/screws/cartridges, etc. must be controlled and return of unused items monitored.

♦ TEST – ANSWER TRUE OR FALSE

1. Off-cuts and re-useable material must be removed daily and kept to a minimum. True False

2. Scrap material can be mixed with useable material. True False

3. Waste material causes tripping and untidy conditions. True False