Safety Plan

Structures are generally planned and built without any awareness of precisely what hazards they could involve and what measures could be taken to counter these. The use of safety plans is intended to prevent these mistakes in the future. The safety plan basically has the following structure :'

1. Spec$cation of safety goals. Safety goals are given, in the initial instance, by safety requirements in laws, regulations, guidelines, etc. Risk acceptance and safety costs should also be borne in mind when working out safety goals.

2. System analysis. The artefacts are treated as self-contained systems and the individual components are described.

3. Hazard analysis and evaluation of risk. The hazards connected with theartefacts are determined and the risk evaluated. The hazards are basically of the following types :

(a) Hazards from the natural environment, such as snow, storms, avalanches, earthquakes, etc.

(b) Hazards from the technical environment, such as fire collision of vehicles, explosions, overloading, etc.

(c) Hazards from failure of the system components, such as columns, beams, foundations, reinforcement, installations, etc.

(d) Hazards from sabotage and criminal activity

(e) Hazards from materials dangerous to human health and risks of accidents in the workplace

4. Planning safety measures. The hazards that exist are evaluated with regard to the safety goals and the most suitable safety measures are laid down. When laying down these measures, the existing risk must, in the first instance, be reduced to accepted levels. After this, a decision is made by evaluating the relationship between risk reduction and safety costs to determine which risks are to be eliminated by safety measures and which are to be consciously accepted. 

5. Feedback. The safety plan is to be kept up to date at all times. Feedback ensures that the experience gained from accidents and the latest scientific and technical knowledge are included in the safety plan and corresponding improvements are made.

Basically, safety plans are to be prepared for entire technical facilities, including production. However, depending on the nature of the problem, they may relate just to individual components (load-bearing structures, installations, operating equipment ). The scope of the safety plan thus depends on the type of technical facility and its level of complexity.