Safety is always the most important consideration in construction.

The duty of the construction site safety supervisor is to ensure the safety of every aspect of the engineering operation. Construction site safety supervisors must have risk management skills and good communication skills to help minimise casualties and protect human life. In addition, safety supervisors must be professionally keeping pace with the times and understand the ever-changing construction technology in order to provide appropriate and professional advice on site to reduce the risk of site accidents.

According to the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations, the duties of a safety supervisor are to assist the project owner and the relevant safety officers to ensure the safety of the works. They should compile the statistics of past incidents from other construction sites, focus on monitoring jobs with high risks, such as collapses, lifting injuries, falls from heights, etc., and formulate prevention and control measures. They will provide advice to the project owner or the safety officer, formulate safety or protection standards, ensure that workers comply with relevant safety standards, and prepare reports for submission weekly for record.

In addition, safety supervisors need to communicate effectively with the industry through conferences, sharing sessions and seminars and then communicate with the internal engineering team to understand the priorities of various stakeholders, balance the needs of all parties, and formulate practical security measures. “Monitoring” is a job that site safety supervisors cannot ignore. They will regularly monitor and inspect all the activities on the site to identify potential hazards, report the results and recommend necessary measures to deal with various safety and health matters.

The digitalisation of the construction industry is a trend. New construction methods such as AI and modularization can help improve the efficiency of construction sites. Safety supervisors also need to embrace the new thinking and apply different risk management methods to make construction sites safer. We foresee that the number of construction projects will continue to increase in the future, and the effective reduction of construction site casualties depends on the quality and efforts of the newly recruited safety supervisors.

This article is contributed by Ir Victor W F Tse with the coordination of the Safety Specialist Committee.