SAFETY MANAGEMENT FOR HIGH RISE PROJECT IN NIGERIA CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The effectiveness of the construction industry can only be enhanced by repositioning the construction health and safety regulations to safeguard the health of the workers and the entire community. This study seeks to assess the views of consultants and contractors about the impact of construction health and safety regulations in Nigeria. Data was collected using the questionnaire survey distributed among construction professionals and statistical tools employed include tables, and percentages. The study revealed that construction health and safety is still perceived to be more important than the traditional project parameters in the form of cost, time and quality.

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the study

Construction industry in any country is associated with vital contributions to national economic development through strategic planning, design, and construction in transforming various production processes into constructed facilities (Isa, Jimoh, and Achuenu, 2013). The industry is unique among all other sectors because it provides the necessary infrastructures that stimulate national development (Jackman, 2010 and Olanrewaju and Abdul-Rashid 2015).In Nigeria, approximately 25% of the Nigeria’s workforce were attributed to construction industry (Ibrahim and Musa-Haddary, 2010). Construction industry is also viewed as labour intensive because labour cost amounts to 40-65% of the overall cost of a project (Rao, Sreenivasan and Babu, 2015).  Therefore, the labour intensive nature of the industry will demands more human involvement at the production stage. However, the industry compared with other sectors of the economy, due to some  casualty suffered in execution of building projects across the globe, has made the construction industry the most dangerous or highly hazardous industry in view of (International Labour Organisation, 1999; Smallwood and Haupt 2002).

Several codes and regulations have been in existence to provide  management of health and safety at work. Recently, Nigerian National Building Code empowered registered builder to prepare health and safety plan among other builder’s document in minimizing and managing causes of accident during the construction stage. In the same vein, there are stand out obligation explicitly highlighted in the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations on the stakeholders engagement in execution of project management, and it also seek the support of the client, designer, CDM coordinator, and principal coordinator construction projects. The goal and essence of establishing safety practices’ code and regulations on construction site is to focus on preventing, eliminating, curbing, limiting and total eradication if possible the occurrence of accidents and injuries during and after the construction processes and as well train site operatives on safety programmes that will put all of these into place. The degree of confidence that accidents will not occur throughout the duration of construction projects may not be ascertain from the inception, but compliance with these specified safety practices will enhance site safety, it will eliminate the causes and reduce the negative impact as well as the level of damage to parties involves. Hinze (1997) asserted that enabling work settings enhances workers productivity at a reduced cost but increase in profit margin.

Ayangade (2000) indicated that `the industry is a project-based firms that comprises many parties working together towards achieving common goal. Moreover, the means of achieving this goal is characterized by hazards which pose threat to workers life. Muiruri and Mulinge (2014) noted that the complexities of activities required in the building production process pose different challenges to workers health inherent risks in the production stage. (Smallwood and Haupt 2002) viewed accidents as part of the building production process that is unavoidable because construction industry is inherently dangerous, therefore, compliance and good safety management will forfeit the impact of safety regulations. Factors adding to occurrence of construction fatalities were known as the uniqueness of the sector that differentiates it from other industries. This uniqueness include: short life span of projects, location are differs from time to time, workers turnover is high, large number of unseasonal workers which are not familiar with construction processes, workers turnover, high rate of small firms and self-employed workers(Safety Manual for Construction Handbook). These accidents do not only result in pain and physical damage to the workers but also reduce productivity, time, and quality performance, thereby pose treat to project success and escalate production cost (Muiruri and Mulinge, 2014).

Diugwu, Baba, and Egila (2012); Okolie and Okoye (2012), Idubor and Oisamoje (2013) and Umeokafor, Umeadi and Jones (2014) contend that the numbers and magnitude of accidents occurring and recorded on construction sites in Nigeria underscored low level of safety practices. According to Dodo (2014) occupational safety is an integral part of construction operation due to the uniqueness of the industry, different trades and skills are needed to be carried in a safe environment, however individual’s contributes determine the successful out come of the projects. The authors further stressed that compliance/ good  management with health and safety regulations remains one of the integral parameters to which successful projects delivery can be obtained. This fact is buttressed as health and safety plan/policy is one of the parameters in prequalifying suitable contractors for the award of construction projects in Nigeria (Windapo, 2013 and CDM, 2015).

This dissertation is out to assess safety practices of the construction operatives in Nigeria, it will focus on the effects of safety wear on workers operation. Possible strategies to tackle all the identified problems during the literature review will be recommend at the completion of the work.

1.2     Statement of the problem

Construction accidents remained an ongoing concern in the developing countries, despite the level of awareness in promoting safety practices over the decades. Safety practice is anchored on workers behavior regarding safety provisions, conducts that guides workers attitude in caring out their tasks at work in order to reduce or even eliminate accidental losses and injuries and maximize the nominated objective of the organization (Umoh, 2013).

Many studies have gone down the line on the subject of construction safety provisions, practices and implementation/enforcement but focus have been on the cause of accidents, condition of work settings, workers attitudes, and provision of health and safety training (Aniekwu, 2007; Ismail, Doostdar and Harun, 2011; Olutuase, 2014; Umeokafor et al., 2014; Dodo, 2014). Alinaitwe, Mwakali, and Hansson (2007) studied factors affecting productivity of building craftsmen and found out that improper supervision and inadequate skills among workers are the most significant factors affecting workers productivity. But there exist limited study on safety practices and workers operations performance. Also,in the construction industry how safety practices affect workers productivity are less documented especially in the developing countries like Nigeria(Umoh, 2013).

Unsafe practices have been pronounced among the workers on construction sites. Clark (2006) reported that failure to adhere with the required safety procedures and as well take precautions against hazards such as wearing safety wears are common on project sites. Awwad, et al., (2016) added that safety practices lack necessary implementation due to absence of proper monitoring system, low level of safety awareness and inadequate support from safety managers. Che Hassan, Basha, Wan Hanafi (2007) and Shamsuddin et al., (2015)argued that workers knowledge and understanding of safety at work setting remained vital in promoting safety among themselves on construction site.

One of the top hill always confronted by any construction company is the frequent occurrence of accidents during construction stage, Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) and Shamsuddin et al., (2015) argued that workers omission amounts to cause of construction injuries and this was explained as behavior and human factor approach. Behavior approach underscored that construction operatives are the original reason for fatality due to their unlimited number of costly mistakes at different stages of building production process. However, human factors approach argued that not because of individuals’ unsafe behaviour rather; the emphasis was on nature of workplace settings. However, what remained unknown is how safety practices affect workers output. To ensure optimum productivity of the workers, adequate safety gadgets couple with other necessary safety training must be provided for the site operatives to safeguard them against the possibility of any work related hazards. Though workers related hazard is not a new phenomenon at work, as this has been established in some of the past studies. What remain new is the persistence of accidents and how safety practices are violated in the management of construction project.

Looking at the side effect of construction related injuries on workers and the project success, safety practice should be an integral aspect of project management and must be given high priority by the construction participants to ensure human safety against the frequent occurrence of accidents on construction site. Consequently, given the size, the contributions and importance of construction workers in achieving project objectives in the industry, research on safety must go beyond appraising traditional causes of safety problem rather proactive approaches that focus on the unsafe behaviours exhibited by workers before it result into accident. It is against this identified gaps in construction safety practices literature in Nigeria, this study will be focusing on the effective use of safety wears and workers productivity in a bid to reduce causes of accident on construction sites.

1.3     Objectives of the study

The aim of this research is to investigate the level of compliance to safety in high rise construction project with special focus on safety at construction process in Nigeria.

In achieving this aim three (3) objectives has been outlined;

1. To investigate the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high risk construction projects of Nigerian construction industry.

 

2. To investigate the factors that prevents the compliance to safety practices in high risk project of Nigerian construction industry.

 

3. To recommend appropriate ways to improve the compliance to safety practices in high risk construction of Nigerian construction industry.

 

1.3     Research questions

This study proposed following research questions to give direction to the study.

1. What is the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high risk construction projects of Nigerian construction industry?

 

2. What are the factors that prevent compliance to safety practices in high risK construction projects of Nigerian construction industry?

 

3. What is the appropriate ways to improve the compliance to safety practices in high risk construction project of Nigerian construction industry?

1.4 Research hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;

H₀: the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high risk construction projects of Nigerian construction industry is not effective

H₁: the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high risk construction projects of Nigerian construction industry is effective

Significance of the study                                                                          

In bid to determine the outcome of the various projects executed, construction operatives plays very significant roles Therefore, efforts should be directed at alleviating the effect of work hazard and risk because workers are always at the receiving end and vulnerable to accidents in a bid to ensure their daily target are met. Therefore, this study when concluded will be addition to past researchers effort in addressing safety practices during the execution of construction projects in Nigeria and as well will provides lasting solutions to the challenges confronting  management and compliance with safety practices in management of building production process. It will also provide further suggestion and solutions to construction stakeholders on measures to upgrade safety practices on construction projects.  This research will also be of great significance to academia and practitioners in the field of construction management by exploring inadequacies and inefficiencies in occupational and health safety compliance in the Nigerian context. In addition, exploring the potentials for more studies to be conducted towards formulating comprehensive frameworks for ensuring safety compliance most especially in high rise building construction.

 

1.8     Study scope and limitation

The study scope comprises medium scale categories of construction firms that operate in Lagos State. The choice of Lagos State was based on its fast growing in development and increase in the demands for housing unit both for residential and industrial purposes.The State in recent time have welcomes heavy investment which includes: Eko Atlantic city, Lekki free trade zone,Dangote petroleum refinery, Lekki deep sea port and Island international airport(Ogunde, et al., 2017). Fagbenle, Adeyemi and Adesanya (2004) & Olaleye (2008) added that eighty percent (80%) of the Nigerian construction contractors that registered with the Federal Registration Board of Nigeria have their addresses in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. It is also believed that Lagos state fairly represent an open market of construction industry for all the sundry, and the fact that the city has suffered building collapse and casualty resulting to loss of life, litigation, regulatory actions, pains, injuries, delayed schedules, loss reputation and loss of property among others.

Scope of Research

The research will focus on the safety management for high risk construction project at construction stage, in kwale, Delta state of Nigeria has various construction development taking place to achieve the target  of the construction of some modular refineries’ and lubricating plants,  this will be selected due to the high number of construction activities going on, which are predominantly high-risk projects associated with both industrialized and conventional concept of construction

Iwuagwu (2011).The research will concentrate on high risk construction project in Nigeria from one to thirty story(1-10) building.The work is to consider Contractor, Site Superintendent, Safety officer, Consultant, Managing Partnersas

respondent. It is justified by Oladapo(2007)

 

1.9     Definition of Terms

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH):is defined according to Alli (2008) as the study of the expectation, acknowledgment, assessment and control of hazards emerging in or from the work environment that could impede safety of operatives.

Safety policy: is a strategy and commitment together with the arrangements on ground to create adequate safety education among workers on hazards related to their work and the role an individual/person needs to play at work settings in ensuring healthy working conditions. The goal and essence of establishing safety practices’ code and regulations on construction sites is to prevent, eliminate, curb, limit and total eradication if possible, the occurrence of accidents and injuries during and after the construction processes and as well train site operatives on safety programmes that will put all these in place.

Health: Health, as defined by Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English, is a point of well-being both in body and mind and free from unknown injury. It is also defined according to Hughes and Ferret, (2005) as the assurance of the body and psyche of individuals from anticipated injury coming about because of materials, procedures or strategies utilized as a part of the working environment.

Safety: AccordingGray (1990) safety is key to achieving success in construction project, is a state of being free from harm. In other word Safety is a state of being secured from accidents, hazard, injury or death due to measures put in place to prevent such from happening.

Accident: Accident is therefore an impromptu occasion that resort into injury of individual or damages to property, plant, materials or environment or loss of business opportunities (Hughes and Ferrett, 2011).

Productivity:Jarkas and Bitar (2012) define productivity as the ratio of using total input such as labour, materials, equipment, energy and capital to produce total output based on two measures.

Site operatives: Site operatives in this research work are refers both skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers engaged in the physical construction of a building

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