Impediments to Construction Safety Improvement

Abstract

Construction safety is one of the parameters for evaluating the success of a construction project. Evidence from the literature suggests that a poor health and safety (H&S) record is a matter of concern to project stakeholders. The benefits of improved H&S performance include, inter alia, increased productivity, reduced construction cost, reduced workplace accidents, and an enhanced industry image. This research seeks to determine major obstacles to project site safety in Nigeria. An understanding of these impediments provides an opportunity to develop strategies for H&S at construction sites. A questionnaire survey was used to address the objectives of the study, while descriptive statistics were employed to interpret the quantitative data obtained. The findings revealed that stakeholders’ lack of commitment, ineffective H&S regulations, and inadequate H&S training among construction professionals are the major obstacles to H&S performance. This study provides in-depth knowledge by highlighting the significant obstacles to H&S practice. The research is limited to Nigeria and did not secure enough evidence to generalise its findings. Therefore, similar studies are required in other developing countries to compare the impediments to construction H&S in those countries to the findings of this study.

Safety Management in Sustainable Construction Projects: A Conceptual Framework

“…Safety management has been defined as a promotion of good safety performance and safety culture (Grote, 2012). It has also been recognized as the use safety components to manage safety policy; safety resources and responsibilities; risk identification and mitigation; standards and procedures; human factors-based system design; safety training; safety performance monitoring; incident reporting and investigation; auditing; continuous improvement; and change (Grote, 2012;Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Lee & Son, 2021). These components should not only be seen as general standards but also be included in any safety management system (Grote, 2012).…”

“…At a later stage, safety management has been promoted as effective safety behaviors and practices (Okoye & Okolie, 2013). In other words, the safety management process must be well planned to enable construction site managers as well as workforces to not only identify and identify safety risks but also communicate effectively with each other during the construction processes (Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Lee & Son, 2021;Park & Hyeon-Jin, 2013). Moreover, Yiu et al (2018) have identified safety management to be the management of all functions associated with carrying on activities relates to the safety of personnel including organizing, planning, developing, and implementing safety policy.…”

“…In traditional construction sites, safety has required more hours of staff time than in any other setting (Kim et al, 2020;Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Lee & Son, 2021;Li et al, 2015;Liwång, 2020). The reason is that workers are likely to keep moving from one place to another to complete their work on construction sites, and thus it could be difficult to identify and track the possible hazards as well as the likelihood of their occurrence (Kim et al, 2020;Li et al, 2015;Lee & Son, 2021;Liwång, 2020).…”

“…In turn, this raises the importance of safety on such sites, to protect involved individuals from harm, or at least, reduce the rate of accidents linked to construction projects. In this concern, it has been argued that most of the accidents on construction sites could have been minimized and prevented with the adoption of consistent and adequate safety management: process, plan, education, training, and inspection (Kim et al, 2020;Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Liwång, 2020;Park & Hyeon-Jin, 2013). This drives the attention to the concept of safety management, as effective safety management reduces the likelihood of occurrence and the severity of any non-planned events or incidents, which could cause harm to project team members (Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Lee & Son, 2021;Liwång, 2020;Loushine et al, 2006).…”

“…Considering the arguments about the effectiveness of safety management in sustainable construction projects (Grote, 2012;Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Loushine et al, 2006;Marhavilas et al, 2018;Okoye & Okolie, 2013;Zacchei & Molina, 2020), the question on how to apply safety management components of tradition construction projects in sustainable construction project gains increased importance. The reason is that the relevant research in the last two decades has substantially discussed successful safety management in traditional construction projects (Kim et al, 2020;Kukoyi & Adebowale, 2021;Lee & Son, 2021;Li et al, 2015;Liwång, 2020), but did not address, efficiently, the issue of safety management in sustainable construction projects (Li et al, 2021;Loushine et al, 2006;Marhavilas et al, 2018;Okoye & Okolie, 2013;Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011;Zacchei & Molina, 2020) Therefore, this research will fill this gap by constructing a conceptual framework that aims to integrate safety management in sustainable construction projects, to produce safe sustainable construction projects. In particular, this systematic review will investigate the essential safety management components that are needed to produce safe sustainable construction projects, and illustrate the research outcome in an effective conceptual framework.…”