Management practices undermining health and safety in construction

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Date
2021-11-15
Authors
Kukoyi, P.O.
Adebowale, O.
Smallwood, J.
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Abstract
Increasing awareness of the importance of a healthy and safe work environment has contributed to the rising concern for the current unhealthy and unsafe practices in construction. Construction projects are complex, therefore, traditional methods of achieving the desired construction health and safety (H&S) objectives are fast becoming ineffective. Therefore, it is imperative to continue to rethink innovative ways to achieve H&S objectives during the execution of projects. The purpose of this study is to determine management practices contributing to H&S incidents during construction. The study entailed the administration of a questionnaire to gather data from 286 construction stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry. Mean scores (MSs) were used to rank the influence of management practices that contribute to H&S incidents. The study established that contractors’ poor H&S culture, unhealthy and unsafe practices largely influence H&S on jobsites. This correlates with the H&S attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values that management share at workplaces. The study concluded that poor H&S culture is a major challenge that undermines H&S performance in the Nigerian construction industry. To this end, the study proposed the need for the government to enact H&S laws that suit the peculiarities of the Nigerian construction.
Description
Conference paper
Keywords
Contractor, health and safety, incidents, management practices
Citation
Kukoyi, P.O.; Adebowale, O. and Smallwood J. (2021). Management practices undermining health and safety in construction. In In J. Smallwood & F. Emuze (Eds), Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference ‘The next 50 years’, Port Elizabeth (CM). 15-16 Nov. 2021.