Factors affecting safety performance on construction sites

Abstract

The factors influencing safety on construction sites are discussed. The impacts of the historical, economical, psychological, technical, procedural, organizational and the environmental issues are considered in terms of how these factors are linked with the level of site safety. The historical factor is assessed by the background and characteristics of the individual, such as age and experience. The economic factor is determined by the monetary values which are associated with safety such as, hazard pay. The psychological factor is assessed by the safety behavior of fellow workers on site including supervisors. The technical and procedural factors are assessed by the provision of training and handling of safety equipment on site. The organizational and environmental factors are assessed by the type of policy that the management adopts to site safety. Information regarding these factors were correlated with accidents' records in a sample of 120 operatives. Results of the factor analysis suggest that variables related to the `organization policy' are the most dominant group of factors influencing safety performance in the United Kingdom Construction Industry. The top five important issues found to be associated with site safety were: (1) management talk on safety; (2) provision of safety booklets; (3) provision of safety equipment; (4) providing safety environment and (5) appointing a trained safety representative on site.

Introduction

Safety at work is a complex phenomenon, and the subject of safety attitudes and safety performance in the construction industry is even more so. In the construction industry the risk of a fatality is five times more likely than in a manufacturing based industry, whilst the risk of a major injury is two and a half time higher.[1]Each year, up to 120 people are killed on construction sites in the UK and there are about 3000 workers who suffer from a major injury in construction related accidents.[2]Unfortunately, it is not only construction workers who suffer from accidents but, on average, one member of the public, including children, is killed each month, with a further 1200 major injuries reported under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations). Apart from the human cost of suffering an accident, the economic effect can be devastating. Every £1 of an accident cost, that an insurance company has to pay out, could cost the contractor between £5 to £50 in indirect costs. These indirect costs will range from product and material, to legal costs.[3]Furthermore, it has been reported that there are over 370 million lost working days due to classified incapacity at work and over 15 million days are lost due to industrial injuries.[4]

In general, accidents at work occur either due to lack of knowledge or training, a lack of supervision, or a lack of means to carry out the task safely, or alternatively, due to an error of judgment, carelessness, apathy or downright reckless. In addition to these factors, the short term and transitory nature of the construction industry, the lack of a controlled working environment and the complexity and diversity of the size of organizations, all have an effect on safety performance within the industry. In construction, it is suggested that `unsafe behaviour' is the most significant factor in the cause of site accidents and therefore provides evidence of a poor safety culture.[5]Never the less, according to a report by the HSE (cited in [6], nearly 90% of all construction accidents leading to death could (or should) have been prevented, 70% by positive management action

Despite the evidence which suggested that the construction industry has an unenviable safety record, there appear to be few marked initiatives on the part of the researchers or safety practitioners towards the facilitation of an in-depth study into the attitudinal aspect of safety in the United Kingdom construction industry. Previous literature on the subject of safety had been mainly concerned with the mechanistic aspects of safety, that is to say, they dwell on areas of accident prevention concentrating on guards, machines and methods, as well as accident statistics. Therefore, the specific objectives of this research are: first, to correlate the operatives' background and attitude towards safety with their accident or non accident records. Second, to determine the group of factors that has the most effect on site safety, utilizing the Factor Analysis Technique.