Importance of always wear protective gear and use protective equipment through out the site.
Setting out foundations are amongst the 1st tasks to be carried out in a building construction works. This marks a good start for masons to begin getting accustomed to any new protective gear.
Types of protective gear.
- Reflective vest.
The reflective yellow or orange vests increase visibility, hence enabling more safety.
The gloves prevent masons from being burnt by cement mortar since its very reactive to bare skin.
The boots prevent injury from nails and other tripping objects.
The overalls prevent dirt and other loose clothing from getting entangled by machine moving parts.
Helmets prevent injury from flying objects from the upper levels.
County Government Health department bye laws.
The county government through its health department outlaws any worker/mason from working at a site without proper protective clothing.
Any worker found without this gear by the county inspection team is liable to be arrested and fined in a court of law.
Demonstration of actual setting out.
Procedure.
- Timber formwork is installed at the foundation edges.
- One mason will read out the dimensions and mark them on one side of the edge.
- Mason will Tie a nylon string.
- Another mason will pull the sting all the way to the opposite side.
- The mason will use a long type builders square to position a right angles protrusion of the string from his end.
- The other mason on the opposite end will move and adjust the sting as per the instructions of the mason measuring the 90 degrees angle.
- When the mason measuring the 90 degrees angle is satisfied of the right angles, he will ask the other mason on the opposite side to tie the string on the timber formwork and then nail a nail on the timber formwork .
- Eventually mason will tie the string to the nail in a taut firm manner.
- This process is repeated for all the dimensions shown on the architectural drawings and structural drawings.
Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau
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