Health and safety (hs) risks normalization in the construction industry: the SMEs perspective

Abstract

The construction industry is hazardous and experiences poor health and safety performance records; as a result of the abuse and negligence of health and safety policies. Emphasis is now on health and safety management as health and safety risks are now normalised in the construction industry by the actions of construction SMEs. The study assessed the factors promoting health and safety risks normalisation in the construction industry of Nigeria. The study sampled construction professionals and tradespeople, using a well-structured questionnaire and snowball sampling techniques. With a response rate of 72.61% and a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.916; percentage, frequency, Mann-Whitney U Test and factor analysis were used to analyse the gathered data. It was found that there is a low level of occupational health and safety policies application and performance in the construction industry. The poor health and safety performance is prompted by HS risks normalisation promoted by factors such as misconception of and unwillingness to invest in HS, informal and unstructured HS policies, medical issues and excessive workload, Planning and client unwillingness, management commitment issues, and unorganised HS culture. Also, there was no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the professionals and the tradespeople regarding 89.29% of the assessed variables. Commitment from the management and leadership of the SMEs and making of health and safety culture an integral part of the functioning of the organisations was thus recommended.

A Bibliometric Review on Safety Risk Assessment of Construction Based on CiteSpace Software and WoS Database

“…Cluster #11 is the "construction industry". Construction risk assessment contributes to a better understanding of the safety risks in the construction industry and, thus, to the construction industry's health [87,88]. Clustering #12 is "machine learning".…”

“…Such assessment factors include the soil type, foundation geometry, weight distribution of the structure, and material strength [105,106] #11 is the "construction industry". Construction risk assessment contributes to a better understanding of the safety risks in the construction industry and, thus, to the construction industry's health [87,88]. Clustering #12 is "machine learning".…”

The Impact of the Technicians’ Skills Gap on the Nigerian Construction Industry: An Investigative Study

“…Recent studies revealed that the Nigerian construction industry has the highest human rights abuses and other social problems such as lack of training on health and safety (H&S), risk assessment, ethics in construction related works, among others, compared to other countries (Adegboyega, et al, 2021). Ogundipe et al (2018) highlighted that lack of awareness on H&S issues among Nigerian construction workers is a major concern.…”