Best Practice of Reporting Accident and Safety Culture in Construction Site

Abstract

Safety and health management system implementation is an important part of the construction projects. This is because working in construction will extremely expose the workers to hazards. This paper discusses the best practices of reporting accidents safety culture in accordance with the laws of Malaysia and the causes of failure in reporting the accident. Many accidents that happen in construction sites fail to be reported to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia (DOSH). The research methodology was conducted through project case studies, document reviews, and interviews. Failure in reporting accidents gives a vague picture about the level of safety and health in the construction industry. Although the construction law requires that each construction site to have a safety and health officer (SHO), yet the law does not ensure that each construction accident was reported to the parties in-charge. Accurate and correct safety procedures could influence the number of accident statistics in construction sites and the improvements made in reducing the number of accidents occurred. Commitment from all parties involved in construction progress play a key role in ensuring that the safety and health at construction sites progresses well. Therefore, the causes of failure to report accidents and the factors affecting safety and health on construction sites are discussed in this paper to outline the best practices in accident reporting and provide guidance to meet the requirements of safety practice compliance at project sites in the future.