Reference no: EM132533487
Learning Outcome 1: Review health and safety regulations and legislation associated with the storage, handling and use of materials on a construction site.
Scenario
You have recently been employed as a civil engineering technician by a local contractor. The company has recently appointed a new Managing Director who has decided to focus on improving the company's awareness of health and safety practices.
Recently there have been a number of accidents and dangerous occurrences relating to site activities involving storage, handling and use of materials. To ensure all the staff are aware of the importance of health and safety associated with the storage, handling and use of materials on site the Managing Director has asked you to prepare a 15 minute presentation (with a set of notes) on how to improve health and safety by sourcing relevant legislation and identifying risks associated with material storage, handling and their use. The presentation should consist of three parts:
Part 1- Regulations associated with the storage, handling and use of materials on site (such as HASAWA, CDM regulations, COSHH, PUWER, Manual Handling, PPE etc)
Part 2 - Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS) how they can be used to manage risk associated with hazardous materials and activities
Part 3 - Finally, using the information from part land 2 select a particular site activity the company is regularly involved in and explain the legislation that applies and highlight how to plan and manage the activity safely.
The submission comprises two related items:
1. A 15-minute verbal presentation, including slides (using PowerPoint or similar presentation software). There will be 5-10 minutes of questions and answers to follow and you are expected to be able to respond to questions with reference to your research, making use of slides to support your answers.
2. In addition, you should prepare a set of presentation notes for distribution to your audience, prior to the presentation. These notes should highlight 'key points' from your presentation. These should NOT be printouts of the presentation slides but edited to provide the audience with information to support their understanding of your presentation and to facilitate their questions after.
Any material that is derived from other sources must be appropriately referenced using a standard form of citation.
The final page(s) of your presentation notes should include a bibliography of any texts used in support of your research. This is to be presented according to an academic standard reference format.
LO2 Discuss the environmental and sustainability factors which impact on and influence the material choices for a construction project
LO3 Present material choices for a given building using performance properties, experimental data, sustainability and environmental consideration
Scenario
You have recently been employed as a civil engineering technician by a local contractor. The company has recently appointed a new Managing Director. As well as improving the health and safety record of the company the MD believes that future success will depend on ensuring the work and materials used are environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Tasks
To highlight the importance of this the MD has requested that you produce a report.
Section 1
Select a suitable construction material and investigate its environmental impact over its full lifecycle. Consider its embodied energy and explain the benefits of environmental product declarations and certification (BREEAM, LEED etc). Finally, produce a waste management plan for a project which involves a range of different waste materials.
Section 2
Investigate construction material performance properties, behaviour and consider their use. (a) Material Testing
(1) highlight the mechanism, rationale and the British Standard guidance for the following 'fresh' concrete tests;
• Taking a sample
• The slump test
• The flow test
• The degree of compactibility test
• The process of making test cubes
(2) The following test results have been submitted from recent concrete cube tests (N/ may) at 28 days with required strength of 35 N/mm'
Based on this data provide the following information;
Mean and standard deviation of the samples respectively.
Interpretation of results using graphs (e.g. normal distribution curve etc.)
|
38.3
|
37.9
|
37.0
|
38.9
|
|
38.2
|
38.4
|
38.2
|
40.4
|
|
39.7
|
39.2
|
37.9
|
37.9
|
|
40.4
|
40.7
|
40.0
|
38.1
|
|
37.7
|
40.9
|
38.5
|
40.2
|
|
38.9
|
37.9
|
37.8
|
36.9
|
|
41.6
|
39.2
|
38.8
|
40.5
|
(3) A tensile test was carried out on a specific material. The Loadings have been recorded on an excel document however it is incomplete.
Complete the required calculations and enter your results in an excel spread sheet and plot the load/extension graph.
Using your results identify or determine: (Appendix 1)
The elastic and plastic region
The yield stress
The ultimate or maximum stress
The Modulus of elasticity of the material (Young's Modulus)
(4) Calculate the density of the supplied samples of materials based on measurement and weight. Record all your results.
Compare your results with researched published density information.
(b) Materials used for the construction and refurbishment of projects within our industry can be categorised as follows:
• Metals and Alloys e.g. iron, steel, zinc, copper, brass, aluminium, lead etc.
• Timber and Timber products e.g. timber, plywood, MDF, particle board etc.
• Clay Products e.g. bricks, tiles etc.
• Cements and Concrete e.g. OPC, RHPC, SRPC, concrete etc.
• Plastics and other artificial materials
• Coatings and finishes e.g. paints, clear finishes, wood treatments From the categories select two (2) materials.
c) All building structures have to carry loads. What is important is how the structure will react to various types of load acting on different parts of the structure. Initially the strength of a building should allow it to carry loads without failure of the construction.
1. Define the various types of loads that a structure must resist. When a member is loaded it is subjected to the following forces / effects.
2. Briefly describe, with the aid of sketches, how timber, steel and concrete are affected by the application of your identified loads/forces on a structure.
Finally prepare a 10-minute presentation for the MD which will illustrate how the use of sustainable practices and considerations for material choice can improve the environmental rating of a completed building.