SWMS – Safe Work Method Statement
In the construction sector, a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is a type of safety program. It is most commonly used in the construction industry to refer to a document that contains precise guidelines on how to securely conduct a job-related operation or operate a unit of machinery or equipment.
The statement is typically used as a component of a safety introduction and afterward referenced as needed throughout the workplace; it should identify all of the dangers that are likely to come up when performing an activity or procedure, as well as specific instructions on how to do so safely. High-risk construction work is the official term for these high-risk activities (HRCW).
Work method statements are also utilized in a variety of industrial occupations and for the maintenance of specific machinery or equipment in a variety of industries.
For a project or before site work begins, a safe work method statement for each relevant activity must be created, with the collection or 'package' of SWMS being presented and reviewed by the client or another third-party service provider before work begins.
The SWMS becomes a document ensuring continuous activity once it is authorized, and it should be referred to and maybe revised during the work, with newly recruited workers examining and confirming that they have reviewed, understood, and consented to conduct work in this responsible way.
Purpose of an SWMS
- The basic goal of a safe work technique statement is to verify that everyone involved in high-risk construction activities does so safely.
- This is especially critical in the event of accident or mishap. A corporation or company director that fails to deliver a safe work method statement to its employees may face substantial legal consequences, which is why storing SWMS and SWMS agreements is so important.
- Employees and managers would be depending on their own instincts as well as possibly undesirable habits to do work if safe work technique statements were not in place.
- A SWMS is the system by which a firm or project can verify that each and every action is carried out in a consistent and approved manner. This lowers the risk of careless mistakes and neglect, which can lead to injuries, missed productivity hours, and even fatalities.
When is an SWMS required?
When any individual managing a business or activity is engaged in any high-risk construction work, safe work procedure statements are required in most nations and sites. Some scenarios are listed below –
- Asbestos or explosives-related work
- Demolition of infrastructures
- Work involving tilt-up or pre-cast concrete in construction or demolition
- Work that takes place in limited places
- Work done on or near facilities and services including high-pressure gas, chemicals, and electricity.
- Alterations to the structure that necessitate temporary support to avoid collapse
- Working on or in close proximity to mobile machinery and equipment
- Work done near a road, a transportation corridor, a railway, or a shipping route
- Working at a height of more than 2 meters
- Working at a depth of more than 1.5 m
- Working in regions where there is a threat of drowning or when severe temperatures are present
When it comes to determining when a safe work method statement is required, you can never be too cautious. The effort and repercussions of a serious safety issue on site are far less than the work and consequences of creating and maintaining a SWMS for an activity.
Read also: Construction Water – Why It Should Matter
Limitations of SWMS
Your employer must be well-versed in and knowledgeable of your workplace and site environment. In recent years, the culture surrounding construction safety has improved, but there is still potential for development.
It is critical for continual improvement in safety to ensure that individuals are seeking for fresh teaching, training, and openly debating safe work technique statements, and other security mechanisms and insights.
A safe work procedure statement by itself is insufficient to ensure site or worker protections, but it can go a long way into assisting.
Read also: PLC: Everything you should know about
FSTP – Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant
The accumulation, transportation, and purification of fecal sludge from pit latrines, septic systems, or other onsite sanitation systems is referred to as fecal sludge management (FSM). FSM is required in densely populated places where a segment of the population is not associated to a sewerage network and pit latrines cannot be covered and rebuilt.
Sludge treatment aims to reduce slurry weight and volume to lower transporting and disposal costs, as well as lowering the potential health risks associated with various disposal alternatives. Pathogen annihilation is often achieved via heating during thermophilic decomposition, digestion, or cremation, although water removal is the predominant method of weight and volume reduction.
Treatment process of Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant
Thickening
This is usually the first step in the sludge treatment process. Primary sludge can be thickened to an average of 8 to 10% solids, whereas secondary sludge can be thickened to an average of 4% solids. Thickened sludge with less than 10 percent solids may receive extra sludge treatment.
Dewatering
Sludge's water content can be lowered through centrifuge, filtering, or evaporation to minimize transportation costs and increase composting effectiveness. Centrifugation could be used as a first step in reducing sludge volume before filtration or evaporation.
Filtrate and centrate are usually recycled back into the sludge treatment process. Sludge can be treated as a solid holding 50 to 75 percent of water after dewatering. Sludge that has been dewatered and have greater moisture content is normally handled as liquids.
Digestion
The goal of digestion is to lower the concentration of organic matter in the solids as well as the amount of microbes that may cause illness.. Anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, and composting are the most prevalent treatment options.
The process is frequently optimized to produce methane gas, which can be utilized as a fuel or sold to create energy for the plant.
Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a microbial process that occurs when there is no oxygen present. The procedure can be thermophilic digesting, in which sludge is cultured in tanks at 55°C, or mesophilic digesting, in which sludge is cultured at 36°C.
Biogas produced by anaerobic digestion contains a high amount of methane, which can be utilized to heat the tank as well as power generators or turbines for many other on-site activities. The anaerobic process produces methane, which is a significant benefit.
Aerobic digestion
Aerobic digestion is a microbial process that occurs when oxygen is present and resembles the treatment process. Bacteria devour organic stuff quickly and convert it to carbon dioxide in aerobic circumstances.
Bacteria die when there is a scarcity of organic materials and are consumed as nutrition by other microorganisms. Endogenous respiration is the term for this step of the process. In this phase, solids are reduced.
Diffuser pumps or jet air filters can also be used to oxidize the sewage for aerobic digestion. The ability to achieve the needed oxygen transfer rate is a critical consideration when choosing a diffuser type.
Sludge treatment
Sludge thickening or dewatering technologies produce two products: thickened or dewatered sludge and a liquid fraction known as sewage treatment fluids, sludge dewatering channels, liquors, centrate (if it comes from a centrifuge), filtrate (if it comes from a belt filter press), or something similar.
Because this liquid is heavy in phosphorus and nitrogen, it will need to be treated further, especially if the filth has been anaerobically processed. The appropriate treatment might take place either within the wastewater treatment plant or as a separate process (by recycling the liquids back to the beginning of the treatment process).
Composting
This is the aerobic process involving mixing sewage sludge with carbon-rich agricultural byproducts like sawdust, straw, or wood chips. Bacteria digesting sewage sludge and plant material produce heat when oxygen is present, which kills disease-causing microbes and parasites.
Composted piles can be inspected to recover undigested boosting ingredients for re-use after a sufficient compost interval for pathogen reduction.
Sludge incineration
The alternative of restoring moist scrubber effluent to the treatment of wastewaters may reduce air pollutants by raising levels of dissolved salts in wastewater treatment plant effluent, but incineration tends to enhance levels of heavy metals in the leftover solid ash requiring disposal.
Drying beds
Gravel and sand are commonly arranged in four levels in drying beds. The very first layer is a 15 to 20 cm thick layer of gritty gravel. Then there's a layer of fine gravel that's 10 cm deep.
The third layer is sand, which can range in thickness from 10 to 15 centimeters and acts as a screen between the waste and gravel. Sludge dries up, and water percolates down to the first layer, where it is gathered at the drainpipe beneath all of the layers.
