Negligent Use of Personal Protective Equipment by Construction Workers in Sri Lanka: Analysis of Individual Manifestations

Abstract

The construction industry can be identified as one of the main sectors in Sri Lanka where the majority of occupational accidents happen. When considering the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), occupational accidents have been significantly happened due to many reasons. Among those reasons, negligence of the use of PPE by construction workers has become prominent. Different factors can affect this situation. Among them, individual manifestations such as perceptions, beliefs, experiences and attitudes of the workers can make a significant impact. Hence, there is an emerging need to explore the reasons under these individual manifestations, which encourages the negligence use of PPE. This paper therefore aimed to analyse the individual manifestations to unveil the reasons behind the negligence of use of PPE by construction workers in Sri Lanka. A qualitative research approach was followed to achieve the aim of the study. Case studies were conducted using two SME construction projects. Fourteen semi structured interviews were conducted in both cases with managerial and worker level respondents. Collected data were analysed using code based content analysis. ‘Considering PPE as a disturbance’, ‘lack of experiences of the workers’, ‘poor education level of the workers’, ‘inadequate knowledge and skills of the workers’, ‘poor income level’, ‘age of the workers’, ‘number of dependencies’, ‘poor health condition’ and ‘different lifestyles of the workers’ were revealed through the empirical research findings as the key reasons under individual manifestations, which affect for the neglect usage of PPE by the workers. The knowledge generated through this study can be used in many ways by the industry practitioners to make safe working environment within the construction sites.

Building Construction Artisans’ Level of Access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and the Perceived Barriers and Motivating Factors of Adherence to Its Use

“…This study did not find the level of formal education to influence barriers and motivation for PPE use, contrary to other studies [ 31 , 32 ]. Most participants had attained only Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School certificates.…”

“…The high level of disagreement among participants with a few years of work experience regarding perceived barriers to adherence can be attributed to their lack of familiarity with the PPE. Dasandara and Dissanayake [ 31 , 32 ] reported similar variations in responses to PPE adherence among construction workers in Sri Lanka between experienced and new workers. Similar to perceived barriers, the agreement and disagreement with motivating factors for PPE use can be attributed to the above reasons.…”

“…Indeed, construction site supervisors in several studies on OHS in Ghana have admitted to incessant complaints about uncomfortable feelings associated with wearing their PPE in the hot sun [ 16 – 18 , 29 ]. Thermal discomfort in the use of PPE by construction workers has also been reported in Tanzania [ 34 ], Sri Lanka [ 31 , 32 ], and Egypt [ 6 ].…”

“…Similar to perceived barriers, the agreement and disagreement with motivating factors for PPE use can be attributed to the above reasons. Matured employees are identified as being more likely to use PPE [ 6 , 8 , 31 , 32 , 70 , 71 ]. According to Dasandara and Dissanayake [ 31 , 32 ], mature employees having more experience working in the construction industry are more aware of the potential risk they are exposed to while working and are more likely to use PPE.…”

“…The questionnaire was developed after reviewing the literature on similar studies [ 5 – 9 , 32 , 33 , 53 , 54 ]. Eric Kwadzo Adzivor is a construction safety professional and assisted with selecting the most appropriate factors on adherence and nonadherence in the Ghanaian construction industry obtained from the extensive literature review for the questionnaire design and development.…”