Chapter 21 Working on, in, over or near water

Working on construction sites which have water within their boundaries or are near watercourses or impoundments requires some prior planning to ensure the water does not become an unwanted and uncontrolled hazard. This chapter outlines the hazards which can be quantified before site work commences and suggests ways to deal with these at planning, design and construction stages. Risk assessment, training of operatives and personal protective equipment will be detailed with some examples from best practice. It is also necessary to consider the changing nature of watercourses: the banks, the bed and flow characteristics and the steps that can be taken when it all goes wrong and an emergency situation develops. The text will also discuss the selection, maintenance and use of plant including the specialist operations of pontoons, mats and workboats. Channel works, river diversion, flood banks and the constructions of sustainable urban drainage systems, cofferdams and caissons will be examined in some detail in order to identify the risks particular to these operations. The chapter finishes with a section on the main health risk, leptospirosis, posed to those working in the water environment.