Factories (Building Operations and Works of Engineering Construction) Regulations

Factories Act

(Chapter 104, Sections 68 and 77)

Rg 8

G.N. No. S 174/1985

REVISED EDITION 1999

(1st July 1999)

[1st July 1985]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Factories (Building Operations and Works of Engineering Construction) Regulations.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“appointed medical practitioner” means the registered medical practitioner appointed under regulation 208;

“approved” means approved by the Chief Inspector in writing;

“auditor” means a safety auditor approved by the Chief Inspector;

“base plate” means a plate for distributing the load from a standard in the case of metal scaffolds;

“bay”, in relation to scaffolds, means that portion of the scaffold between horizontal or vertical supports whether standards or supports from which the portion is suspended, which are adjacent longitudinally;

“brace or bracing” means a member incorporated in a scaffold or formwork structure for stability;

“bulkhead” means an air-tight structure separating the working chamber from free air or from another chamber under a lower pressure than the working pressure;

“caisson” means an air and water-tight chamber in which it is possible for men to work under air pressure greater than atmospheric pressure at sea level to excavate material below water level;

“cofferdam” means a structure constructed entirely or in part below water level or below the level of the water table in the ground and intended to provide a place in which to work that is free of water;

“compressed air” means air mechanically raised to a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure at sea level;

“contract of service” includes an apprenticeship agreement;

“contract sum” means the value of the works to be carried out by contractors undertaking building operations or works of engineering construction as stated in the contract;

“contractor” means a person who has entered into a contract for the purpose of carrying out any building operations or works of engineering construction and includes a main contractor or sub-contractor;

“contractor’s safety supervisor” means a contractor’s safety supervisor appointed under regulation 26;

“decanting” means the rapid decompression of persons in a man-lock to atmospheric pressure at sea level followed promptly by their recompression in a decant lock, where they are then decompressed according to the appropriate decompression table in accordance with approved decompression procedures;

“demolition work” means the work incidental to or connected with the total or partial dismantling or razing of a building or a structure other than a building and includes the removing or dismantling of machines or other equipment;

“designated person” means a competent person appointed by an employer to carry out any supervision or inspection or to perform any task or duty prescribed by these Regulations;

“employee” means a person who has entered into a contract of service with an employer;

“employee’s lift” means a powered car operating in guides and used primarily to carry employees in a substantially vertical direction;

“employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service;

“end to end coupler” means a coupler used to connect two tubes end to end whether of an internal or “joint pin” type or of an external or”sleeve coupler”type;

“excavation” means the removal of earth, rock or other material in connection with construction or demolition work;

“falseworks” means the structural supports and bracing for formworks or forms;

“flashpoint” means the minimum liquid temperature at which a spark or flame causes an instantaneous flash in the vapour space above the liquid;

“formwork structure” includes formwork, shores and any other support;

“frame or modular scaffold” means a scaffold manufactured in such a way that the geometry of the scaffold is pre-determined and the relative spacings of the principal members are fixed;

“guardrail” means a horizontal rail secured to uprights and erected along the exposed sides of scaffolds, floor openings, runways and gangways to prevent persons from falling;

“high pressure air” means air used to supply power to pneumatic tools and devices;

“independent tied scaffold” means a scaffold, the working platform of which is supported from the base by 2 or more rows of standards and which apart from the necessary ties stands completely free of the building;

“ledger” means a member spanning horizontally and tying scaffolding longitudinally and which acts as a support for putlogs or transoms;

“lift”, in relation to any scaffold, means the vertical distance between the base of the scaffold and the first ledger or level at which a platform is constructed or the vertical distance between any 2 consecutive ledgers;

“light duty work” means operations which require men and materials to be supported by a scaffold where the maximum total loading does not exceed the weight of 2 persons plus 25 kilograms of materials or 200 kilograms on any one platform in any one bay by the scaffold;

“lock attendant” means the person in charge of a man-lock or medical lock and who is immediately responsible for controlling the compression, recompression or decompression of persons in such locks;

“low pressure air” means air supplied to pressurise working chambers, man-locks and medical locks;

“magazine” means a place in which explosives are stored or kept, whether above or below ground;

“main contractor” means a person who has entered into a contract with an owner or lessee of a property or his agent for the purpose of carrying out any building operation or work of engineering construction;

“man-lock” means any lock, other than a medical lock, used for the compression or decompression of persons entering or leaving a working chamber;

“material hoist” means a power or manually operated suspended platform or bucket operating in guiderails and used for raising or lowering material exclusively and operated and controlled from a point outside the conveyance;

“materials lock” means a chamber through which materials and equipment pass from one air pressure environment into another;

“medical lock” means a double compartment lock used for the therapeutic recompression and decompression of persons suffering from the ill-effects of decompression;

“outrigger” means a structure projecting beyond the facade of a building with the inner end being anchored and includes a cantilever or other support;

“plant or equipment” includes any plant, equipment, gear, machinery, apparatus or appliance, or any part thereof;

“pressure” means air pressure in bars above atmospheric pressure;

“professional engineer” means a person registered as a professional engineer under the Professional Engineers Act (Cap. 253);

“puncheon” means a vertical member extending over at least 2 lifts and placed midway between standards in the longitudinal plane of the scaffold;

“putlog” means a horizontal member on which the board, plank or decking of a working platform are laid;

“reveal tie” means the assembly of a tie tube and a fitting used for tightening a tube between 2 opposing surfaces;

“right angle coupler” means a coupler, other than a swivel or putlog coupler, used for connecting tubes at right angles;

“rock bolt” means a mechanical expansion bolt or a bolt used with cementitious or resin anchoring system which is set in drilled hole in the arch or wall of a tunnel to improve rock competency;

“roofing bracket” means a bracket used in sloped roof construction and having sharp points or other means for fastening to prevent slipping;

“safety screen” means an air and water-tight diaphragm placed across the upper part of a compressed air tunnel between the face and bulkhead, in order to prevent flooding the crown of the tunnel between the safety screen and the bulkhead, thus providing a safe means of refuge and exit from a flooding or flooded tunnel;

“scaffold” means —

(a)	any temporarily provided structure on or from which persons perform work in connection with operations or works to which these Regulations apply; and
(b)	any temporarily provided structure which enables persons to obtain access to or which enables materials to be taken to any place at which such work is performed,

and includes any working platform, gangway, run, ladder or step-ladder (other than an independent ladder or step-ladder which does not form part of such a structure) together with any guardrail, toe board or other safeguards and all fixings, but does not include a lifting appliance, a lifting machine or a structure used merely to support such an appliance or such a machine or to support other plant or equipment;

“segment” includes a cast iron or precast concrete segmented structure formed to the curvature of the tunnel cross-section and used to support the ground surrounding the tunnel;

“service shaft” means a shaft for the passage of persons or materials to or from a tunnel under construction;

“shaft” means an excavation having a longitudinal axis at an angle greater than 45° from the horizontal —

(a)	for the passage of persons or materials to or from a tunnel; or
(b)	leading to an existing tunnel;

“shield” means a movable frame which supports the working face of a tunnel and the ground immediately behind it and includes equipment designed to excavate and support the excavated areas in a tunnel;

“site safety supervisor” means a site safety supervisor appointed under regulation 25;

“sole plate” means a member used to distribute the load from the base plate or the standard of wooden scaffolds to the supporting surface;

“standard” means a member used as a vertical support or column in the construction of scaffolds which transmits a load to the ground or solid construction;

“steel rib” includes all steel beams and other structural members shaped to conform to the requirements of a particular tunnel cross-section, used for the purpose of supporting and stabilising the excavated areas;

“sub-contractor” means a person who has entered into a contract with another contractor for the purpose of carrying out any building operations or works of engineering construction;

“suspended scaffold” means a scaffold suspended by means of ropes or chains and capable of being raised or lowered but does not include a boatswain’s chair or similar appliance;

“swivel coupler” means a coupler for connecting 2 tubes at any angle other than a right angle;

“tie” means an assembly used to connect a scaffold to a rigid anchorage;

“toe board” means a member fastened above a working platform, access landing, accessway, wheelbarrow run, ramp or other platform to prevent men and materials falling therefrom;

“trestle scaffold” includes a scaffold in which the supports for the platform are any of the following which are self-supporting, that is to say, split heads, folding step-ladders, tripods or movable contrivances similar to any of the foregoing;

“transom” means a member placed horizontally and used to tie transversely one ledger to another, or one standard to another in an independent tie scaffold;

“tubular scaffold” means a scaffold constructed from tubes and couplers;

“tunnel” means a subterranean passage made by excavating beneath the over-burden into which a worker enters or is required to enter to work;

“underground” means within the confines of any shaft, tunnel, caisson or cofferdam;

“vehicle” means a vehicle propelled or driven by mechanical or electrical power and includes a trailer, traction engine, tractor and road-building machine;

“working chamber” means the part of the construction site where work in a compressed air environment is carried out, but does not include a man-lock or medical lock;

“working platform” means a platform which is used to support workmen or materials and includes a working stage;

“working pressure” means pressure to which persons in a working chamber are exposed;

“worksite” means the premises where any building operations or works of engineering construction are being carried out.

Application

3.—(1) These Regulations shall apply —

(a)	to building operations; and
(b)	to works of engineering construction,

undertaken by way of trade or business, or for the purpose of any industrial or commercial undertaking, or by or on behalf of the Government or any statutory or public authority and to any line or siding which is used in connection therewith and for the purposes thereof and is not part of a railway.

(2) The provisions of these Regulations shall be in addition to and not in substitution for or in dimunition of other requirements imposed by the Act.

Obligations

4.—(1) It shall be the duty of every contractor and every employer who is undertaking any of the operations or works to which these Regulations apply —

(a)	to comply with such of the requirements of these Regulations as affect him or any person employed, except that such requirements shall be deemed not to affect any employee if and so long as his presence in any place is not in the course of performing any work on behalf of his employer and is not expressly or impliedly authorised or permitted by his employer; and
(b)	to comply with such of the requirements of these Regulations as relate to any work, act or operation performed or about to be performed by any such contractor or employer.

(2) It shall be the duty of every contractor and every employer who erects or alters any scaffold to comply with such of the requirements of these Regulations as relate to the erection or alteration of scaffolds having regard to the purpose or purposes for which the scaffold is designed at the time of erection or alteration.

(3) Every contractor and every employer who erects, installs, works or uses any plant or equipment to which any of the provisions of these Regulations applies shall erect, install, work or use such plant or equipment in a manner which complies with those provisions.

(4) Where a contractor, who is undertaking any of the operations or works to which these Regulations apply, appoints any artisan, tradesman or other person to perform any work or service under a contract for services, it shall be the duty of the contractor to comply with such of the requirements of these Regulations as affect that artisan, tradesman or other person.

(5) For the purpose of paragraph (4), any reference in these Regulations to an employee shall include a reference to such artisan, tradesman or other person and the contractor shall be deemed to be his employer.

(6) It shall be the duty of every employee to comply with the requirements of such of these Regulations as relate to the performance of or the refraining from an act by him to co-operate in carrying out these Regulations.

(7) No employer or contractor shall permit an employee to do anything not in accordance with the generally accepted principles of sound and safe practice.

(8) No employee shall do anything not in accordance with the generally accepted principles of sound and safe practice.

(9) No person shall wilfully do any unsafe act which may cause injury to himself or to others.

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