REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:
Conceptual Framework
Theoretical Framework
Empirical framework
2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The Nigerian Construction Industry
According to Dantata (2008), the construction sector is a key sector for the Nigerian economy. The building sector, according to DBIS (2013), is defined as: (i) building contracting industry; (ii) provision of building related professional services; and (iii) building related products and materials”. The building industry is a system containing all the practitioners including the clients, the contractors, sub-contractors and consultants, and those in the manufacture, supply and distribution of building materials. It also includes the building training schools from technical to research institutes, to polytechnics and to universities.
The construction industry can be divided into three major segments. These include; building of building by Building Contractors, or General Contractors. These contractors build residential, industrial, commercial, and other buildings. The second category is the Heavy and Civil Engineering building Contractors that build sewers, roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, and other projects. Specialty Trade Contractors who perform specialized activities relating to building such as carpentry, painting, plumbing, tiling, and mechanical and electrical works form the third segment. Those that lease heavy earth moving equipment, plant and machineries for building purposes are also in this category (Austin et al, 2003).
Construction industry in Nigeria is neither organised nor controlled. There is no clear cut between the contractors and some of them are just in business to make profit irrespective of the nature of work (Oyedele, 2012). In 1985, Julius Berger Nig Plc, a major player in the building market in Nigeria, supplied Mercedes Benz saloon cars to the federal government. Though major building companies in Nigeria segregate jobs by scope, internationally, market segregation has gone from scope to specialization in the industry. For example, Redrow, popular United Kingdom builders, will not go out of residential buildings building and Lang O’Rourke will not do anything other than Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
The Nigerian construction industry major players are the foreign ones. According to Nnabugwu (2013), the federal government has warned indigenous building companies in Nigeria to desist from recruiting foreign labourers as it is against the tenets of building local capacities. The federal government is culpable in lack of local capacities building of indigenous contractors by giving preference to foreign companies in the award of her major jobs.
The construction industry is very sensitive to economic change. It is the first sector to notice economic depression, without government intervention, in any nation and the last to enjoy economic boom, without government interference. It therefore, requires heavy financial back-up either from government, infrastructure bank and/or the industry. The construction sector in the UK has been affected disproportionately since the recession of 2008. In 2007, the construction sector accounted for 8.9% of the UK’s GVA but by 2011 the sector’s contribution had decreased to 6.7%. In early 2012, the construction contracting industry in the UK returned to recession for the third time in 5 years.
The Nigerian construction industry is not controlled as anybody can build any structure without government knowledge or observance of building code stipulations. This practice has led to incessant building collapse with great casualties in Nigeria (Nwachukwu, Emoh and Egolum, 2010) despite the promulgation of National Building Code 2006. In the seventies and early eighties, major construction jobs were done by expatriate (foreign) contractors who observed ethics of the profession. Buildings were not erected on natural drainages because of the future implication and the integrity cost to the builders/contractors. Nowadays, there are many ‘emergency contractors’ (both foreign and indigenous) in the industry who lack integrity and do not observe ethics.
The industry is underfunded. Major players in the industry have cried loud about this underfunding of the construction industry in Nigeria and have suggested setting-up Bank of Construction like Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA). This underfunding led to wide national road infrastructural gap and 17million housing deficit as at 2011 (World Bank report, 2012). The industry is unprofessional (NIOB, 2014). There are many non-professionals bragging as contractors in Nigeria.
Dantata (2008) stated that “with double digit growth rates in the last 3 years, the construction industry has outgrown all other sectors of the Nigerian economy. However, its contribution to the Nigerian GDP and employment of labour are still very low. Despite its impressive performance, the industry faces a significant number of challenges including lack of local skilled labour, power shortage, the unavailability of materials, and the unethical practices that are very common in the industry”. The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) which is viewed by construction employers as the best approach to tackling the skills crisis (Mackenzie, Kilpatrick and Akintoye, 2000) is not practiced in Nigeria.
Nigeria construction industry is laden with vertical, lateral and diagonal adversaries. Vertical adversary exists between contractors and sub-contractors or site manager and tradesmen. Lateral adversary exists between clients and contractors or bricklayers and plumbers and electricians and carpenters. Diagonal adversary exists between manager in a mechanical consultancy firm and tradesmen in an electrical consultancy firm and vice-versa or between a manager in the general contractor’s firm and a lower cadre staff of the consultants or the manager of a consultancy firm and a tradesman.
The industry is primitive which allows several opportunities to exist especially in the building materials manufacturing, supply chain management, ICT, education, and subcontracting sectors without tapping. Akintoye and Black (2000) opined that “it appears that construction supply chain management (SCM) is still at its infancy but some awareness of the philosophy is evident”. The suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors are not integrated and lack team-work, team-spirit, team-players and are not team-oriented which considerably affect team-focus and team-goals. The industry is slow in adopting change and has not fully adopted project management (Oyedele, 2012), LEAN operations, Six Sigma, Marketing Management, Quality Management, Strategic Management, Contracting Management and e-commerce.
It is highly litigious and has high appearance record in Nigerian courts. The construction industry in Nigeria has high rate of entry and exit by contractors according to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records. The industry also has high turnover of employees. According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN, 2011), Mr Babatunde Liadi, the Secretary General of The National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, opined that “40,000 members of the union have been thrown into the labour market in the past two years because of abandoned projects. He cited the Sango-Ota road, the bridge on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway and the Abuja-Lokoja Road as examples of abandoned projects” which have rendered construction workers jobless.
Construction project finance in Nigeria is majorly a public affair with government controlling over 80% of construction start (Oyedele, 2013). Apart from construction of building and offices where the private sector contributes meagerly, major construction works like construction of roads, bridges, dams and extensive residential estates like Gwarimpa Estate Team 1 to 7, rehabilitation of Rainbow City in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, are only done by governments.
The life-span of construction projects in Nigeria is unpredictable. There are many abandoned projects all over due to improper planning, litigation and lack of finance. Construction projects suffer from “capital flight, capital stagnation and capital sink” (Oyedele, 2013). Capital flight occurs due to imported materials and imported technical inputs into construction projects. Capital sink occurs due to bad planning, mis-procurement, wrong location of projects and over-design in construction. Inflated contract sums and abandoned projects due to bad cash-flow are all parts of capital sink. Capital stagnation occurs where a project has a time over-flow more than necessary. There is also no succession plan in Nigeria public projects leading to a lot of abandoned projects and completed projects not utilized. The law that will make it compulsory for a successor in government to carry on the projects of his predecessor is not in operation.
Health And Safety
A safety work environment is an environment free of hazard and risk to workers .The concept of industrial health and safety is essential in reinforcing occupational health. However, work place environment is not totally free of risks and hazard thus providing an enabling environment that promotes well being of workers is very necessary for employees’ performance. As noted by (WHO 1999), the healthy organization acknowledges all the elements of occupational health and safety in developing policies and programs for the wellbeing of its employees. Workers are happy and exhibit high spirit of satisfaction and motivation when the work condition they are is total free of hazard and safe from any form of organizational risk and injury. According to the discussion of Health and Safety Executive, (2004) industrial accident arises due to workers people’s involvement with their work. Given the current reliability of the technical systems, the attention now is on human causes of accidents. It is estimated that up to 80% of accidents may be attributed, at least in part, to the actions or omissions of people .thus , according to (Wameedh A.Khdair, 2011) , for organization to improve the quality of safety and health for all employees, organizations should implement a systematic, comprehensive safety program and health training program for new employees. To improve the awareness to hazards and help provide orientation to new and old workers the essence of safety and health quality systems.
Health and Safety is an inevitable aspect of manufacturing and this is so because the only time an employee will perform his duties is when the employee is in good health and is sure of a safe working condition. This boils to the fact that a worker will perform his duties to the fullest only when he is sure that even when an accident occurs he will be taken good care of. One of the most important things that an employer should provide to his employees is safety even at a low risk site. At sites where heavy machinery is being used; it is certain that the level is higher because of the mechanical movement of parts of such machinery and therefore for the employee that will be monitoring or operating such machinery will be exposed to accidents. In a case like this, it should be known that the level of safety that will be provided will be much more than that of a site where ordinary hand tools are been used. Based on the above, we now understand that the level of Safety and Health protection will be higher nowadays because of the rapid mechanization of the manufacturing industry and the accidents that may occur will definitely be more fatal. Health concerns of an employee ought to be valued more than any other thing in an organization; there is an adage that says “health is wealth.” All other factors involved in the running of an organization all depends on man, both money, material and machines are to be spent, utilized and controlled by man. It is of great importance to note that the state of health of an employee is directly related to his level of performance, therefore a healthy worker is a productive worker. According to Goetzel (1999), improving employees Health and Safety practice at work, is directly related to their productivity and profitability of organizations. Also Oxenburgh et al. (2004) said “the health and safety of all employees is closely linked to the company‟s productivity in all workplaces”. Muchemedzi and Charamba (2006) define occupational health as a science concerned with health in its relation to work or working environment. According to Webb (1989), a central belief in most of the occupational medicine/health promotion literature is that people perform better when they are physically and emotionally able to work and want to work which in turn leads to higher productivity. More substantial links between the implementation of health and safety programmes and their beneficial impact on a business's productivity and profits are emerging both directly (such as reduced sick pay and compensation claims) and indirectly (for example, reduced absenteeism, improved corporate reputation and reduced staff agitation). Webb (1989) also studied a workstation change and found out an increase of 1000% in productivity within less than three months. These changes are mechanical and physical, for example a change of postures to reduce physical strain of work and use of appropriate machinery for some tasks. Improving the fit between humans and tools inherently means a more effective match, good design permits more output with less human effort (MacLeod, 1995). Improving the quality of the workplace environment promotes productivity and companies need to undertake Occupational Health and Safety practices that achieve this. A workstation change can increase productivity; however, it is misleading to conclude that this change results in the improvement of occupational health and safety standards. New machinery can also be hazardous to health. For instance, a noisy machine may be replaced by a new machine that is more efficient but produces dust. This shows a mere shift from one hazard to another. A workstation change can cause increased efficiency and productivity leading to an ignorance of the resultant occupational health and safety implications. It is therefore misleading to conclude that a workstation change improves occupational health and safety standards in light of the increased productivity. Some workers experience back, neck, leg or arm pain discomfort. There is now a recognition that safer and healthier workplaces translate into increased productivity, more job satisfaction and stronger bottom-line results.
Health and Safety Management
Effective H&S management has been identified to have direct impact on H&S performance and resultant reductions in the number of incidents (Lingard and Rowlingson, 2005). According to Fewings (2013), good H&S performance in the construction industries of developed countries can largely be attributed to systematic implementation of H&S management practices stipulated in H&S management systems (Fewings, 2013). Gallagher (1997) further identifies the need for the adoption of the following practices in order to improve H&S performance: high level of senior management commitment; occupational health and safety (OHS) responsibilities known; encouragement of supervisor involvement; active involvement of a H&S representative who has a broad role; effective OHS committees; planned hazard identification, risk assessment and hazard elimination control; and comprehensive approach in inspections. In order to effectively implement H&S management practices there is a need for the adoption of an appropriate H&S management framework/system. One of the most commonly cited frameworks is the UK Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) framework for managing H&S (HSE, 1997). The key elements in this framework are H&S policy, planning, organising, risk assessment, implementation, measuring performance and review (see Table 1). This framework is similar to the BS OHSAS 18001: 2007 (BSI, 2007) and it has recently been revised to follow Deming's plan-do-check-act model (HSE, 2013) as shown by Table 1. Similar elements to the HSE's (1997, 2013) frameworks have also been shown by other H&S management models including the International Labour Organisation guidance (i.e. ILO OSH 2001) (ILO, 2001). Several studies have highlighted the importance of the above elements to H&S (e.g. Kheni et al., 2008; Cheng et al., 2012; Manu et al., 2013; Agumba et al., 2013; Hinze et al., 2013). With regards H&S in the Nigerian construction industry, studies have mainly focused on other aspects of H&S such as regulations or performance (e.g. Ezenwa, 2001; Idoro, 2004; Umeokafor et al., 2014). It is therefore unclear the extent to which the elements of H&S management and their associated practices are implemented by contractors in Nigeria. This study therefore investigates the H&S management practices implemented by contractors in Nigeria.
Historical Background Of Safety Management In Constriction Site.
Over the past three decades, the Nigeria construction industry has experience a very high level of industrial accidents, more than any other industries. The Nigerian institute of safety professionals (NISP) was inaugurated in August 1980 as Nigeria society of safety professionals (NSSP) during the annual conference of the National Industrial safety council of the Nigeria (NISCN) as a professional technical arm of the NISCN, NISCN- is a tripartite body comprising the governments of the federation (represented by Director of practices, Federal Ministry of labour of productivity), Employers represented by the Nigeria employers consultative.
The institutes will assist in the control loss of lives and properties and damage to the environment ensuring from mishaps.
Therefore, we need to develop, promote, inculcate and encourage safety knowledge and technical know-how, and enforce standards and ethics in the practice of safety in Nigeria among members both individual and corporate harnessing and directing the energies of skilled manpower to protect our resources as for the benefit of our country, Nigeria.
The institute’s major policy thrust is to develop and nurture, dynamic, effective and efficient safety services and practice in Nigeria through training, examination, certificate, recognition, supervision and discipline of safety personnel and consultants. It is also the institutes mission to constantly research and review current safety standard, principles, organization and methods in collaboration with similar international in Nigeria.
At the same tine, the increasing professionalism in the management of projects has placed more and more emphasis on safety, health and welfare issue. The government has also raised the awareness through a series of measures. Although the over all accident rate dropped down the level of fatalities was still unacceptable Lingard and Johnson (1994) upwards that the annual accident rate per 1000 workers was twice its Us counterpart, more than 20 times that of Japan and nearly 30 times that of Singapore.
In recent years, the Nigerian Government has been involved in combating the poor safety programme in Building construction sister. Government has introduced a series safety programme, which consist of both incentive we and mandatory schemes in order to nourish a better safety culture in the institution of safety is to advance the interest of safety management in Building construction site.
Effective safety management will assist Gatson Builders Nigeria Limited to anymore on its management policies, methods of constriction to reduce material wastage and resources and then enhance efficiency in building constriction works. Training programme will be organized by the management of Gatson Builders, to elevate the knowledge of workers and also create a forum for skill acquisition.
Gatson Builder is an autonomous construction company established and the corporate affairs commission (CAC) to operate within the country as an indigenous constriction company. The managing director is a girl Engineer by profession and some years of experience from so many expatriates.
The issue about safety management started during the pre-design stage of the project through proper site instating soil investigating, soil investigation and analysis. Also in the design stage, the Architect should design a build able, serviceable and maintainable structure to reduce alterations during constriction. The bill of quantity (BOQ) and pricing and estimation analyses for the project will be done by a lost economic or experts to ensure that fund allocated for the project will be enough up to the completion stage to avoid abandonment. Professional should be engage in the constriction stage and quake to be discourage to avoid failure or collapse of the project.
Safety Management Practices
Establishing a safety and health programme at job site is one of the most effective ways of protecting the most valuable asset: your workers. Losing workers to injury or illness, even for a short time, can cause significant disruption and cost—to you as well as the workers and their families. It can also damage workplace morale, productivity, turnover, and reputation (OSHA, 2016). Bluff (2003); Needleman (2000); La Montagne et al. (2003); and Indian Council of Medical Research (2003) uniformly recommended that construction firms adopt safety system that seeks to prevent the occurrence of accidents rather than essentially managing accident cases and victims by paying medical bills and compensation. Similarly, OSHA (2016) stated that finding and fixing hazards before they cause injury or illness is a far more effective approach. Doing so avoids the direct and indirect costs of worker injuries and illnesses, and promotes a positive work environment. The “find and fix” approach to workplace hazards refers to the “Hazard Identification” and “Hazard Prevention and Control” core elements. Because of the wide variety of site conditions, these two core elements should be implemented on a site-specific basis in order to effectively detect and correct hazards. The core of such safety management system as highlighted by Bluff (2003) includes “systematic identification of hazards, assessment and control of risks, evaluation and review of risk control measures” to ensure that they are effectively implemented and maintained. Needleman (2000) on the other hand recommended that an effective safety system management requires management commitment to Occupational Health and Safety administration (OSHA); assignment of responsibilities; OSHA procedures; OSHA communication mechanisms; hazard identification, prevention and control, accident investigation; OSHA training; documentation and evaluation of program effectiveness. Bluff (2003) further opined that if such safety management system would be effective then responsibility must be designated to competent safety personnel who will determine and implement the required preventive measures; that workers will actively be involved; and that procedure are documented and repeatable. This implies that an effective safety management system requires the implementation of core structures and processes and action by key players.
Safety Policies, Programmes and Practice
Safety policies are the written principles and directives for course of actions to be adopted and also followed by a given company in tandem with best practices of ensuring the protection of lives and properties as well as productivity. This was acknowledged by Jain and Rao, (2015) every company must have a written safety policy. This policy document refers to the principle and directive for course of actions to be adopted and also followed by the said company. Jain, et al., (2015) further noted that policy supersedes rules and practices which emanates from the company’s policy document with the following features forming the components of the policy:
1) spelt out long range objectives of the company;
2) every management level personnel without exception must believe in the policy;
3) the policy should be accepted and committed at every level in the company, for the purpose of daily actions;
4) the scope for decisions and descriptions at lower management levels should be indicated in the policy; and,
5) safety policy should form a major part of a company's management policy
Jain and Rao as cited by Mopho (2020) reasoned further that safety policy should include the following: there should be intent and desire of management to achieve safety of personnel and plant. This has to do with management active concern with regards to safety;
a) The scope of safety activities to be covered;
b) Organizational responsibilities and accountability;
c) Safety authority;
d) Safety documentation;
e) Rules, acts including standards; and,
f) Safety audit team (external and internal) safety auditors.
To buttress the foregoing, Astutis (2017) affirmed that every organization employing people in jobs of a physical nature and/or in potentially hazards conditions is required to have an integrated safety policy. This was substantiated in the thinking of Muiruri and Mulinge, (2014) who observed that site managers in the construction will have a written safety policy for the use of their enterprise/ organization, this will enable them to set out the safety and health standards with objectives to achieve it. The policy will make provision for an authority to be bestowed or conferred with the responsibilities of management and supervision to workers at all levels to see that they are carried out. They went further with the view or opinion that construction safety policy is something that must be developed by every site manager including the operating company before beginning any construction work. In their point of view, (Mopho, 2020; Astutis, 2017; Muiruri &Mulinge, 2014) states that, after developing the safety plan, it should be used as training program that every worker on construction site should partake in the training before embarking on any job on construction site irrespective of how simple their role may be. Meetings on construction sites, for example, tool box meetings or pep-talks are essential to the end that safety policies will be placed side by side with ongoing training and retraining for capacity development.
Safety and Workplace Safety
Safety is connected with people’s life and property including the general situation of development and stability. Safety encompasses the prevention of accidents, promotion of occupational health, prevention of environmental pollution including security of workplace and equipment. It deals with freedom from hazards or conditions (situations) that have the potential (enablement), to cause injury, disease, economic loss or damage to properties and environment inclusive. As substantiated by Anupama and Pratibha, (2010) safety is the state of being safe. Anupama, et al., (2010) further posited that safety is the state of being certain that adverse effect will not be caused by some agents under defined conditions. In the point of view of Anupama, et al., (2010) safety was defined as any method or technique or process which can minimize unwanted events (accident). In an industrial concern, safety may be referred to as a method, technique or process of industrial safety. As acknowledged by Mopho (2020) as well as Anupama, et al., (2010) industrial safety is the science and art of identifying, evaluating and controlling workshop hazards. It includes measures to prevent human exposure to chemical and physical agents as well as faulty or unsafe work practices.
Health And Safety In Nigerian Construction Industry
Nigeria, being the most populous country in Africa and also the largest economy in Africa (World Bank, 2016), its construction industry plays an important role in the nation’s economy. In 2012 the sector’s contribution to national gross domestic product stood at 3.05% and in that same year the sector employed circa 6.9 million workers (National Bureau of Statistics, 2015). In spite of the socio-economic significance of the construction sector, it has an enviable reputation in terms of occupational health and safety. Accident and injury rates in developing countries like Nigeria are generally considered to be higher than in the developed countries (see Hämäläinen et al., 2009). This has been attributed to a lack of appropriate consideration of H&S management measures or practices in construction project delivery process (Belel and Mahmud, 2012). Despite being a party to the Geneva Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981, Nigeria continues to lag behind in the implementation occupational H&S practices (Adeogun and Okafor, 2013). According to Idoro (2011) contractors with the best safety records in Nigeria still record substantially high numbers of injuries on their sites. A survey of 42 Nigerian contractors revealed such poor performance with rates such as 5 injuries per worker and 2 accidents per 100 workers even among some of the best performing firms (Idoro, 2011). According to Ezenwa (2001) these figures are often even worse in practice as a result of a culture of under-reporting and concealment. Other studies have further highlighted a high prevalence of non-compliance with safety regulations that require organisations to report accidents (Diugwu et al. 2012).
Whilst there have been occupational health and safety legislations governing work and work environments in Nigeria (e.g. Factories Act of 1990 and Employee’s Compensation Act of 2011), some have attributed the poor safety performance to dysfunctional H&S laws and regulations (Diugwu et al. 2012). Compliance to and enforcement of occupational health and safety legislations have generally been described as poor (Idubor and Oisamoje, 2013; Okojie, 2010). Idoro (2004) also linked the country’s poor H&S status to lack of concern, lack of accurate records and poor statutory regulations. Furthermore, these studies have generally highlighted the limited scope of H&S management by organisations which could be contributing to the poor H&S performance.
Level of Implementation of Safety Practices
Nigerian construction firms especially the multinationals which seem to have inherited safety policies and systems from their parent companies yet record of repeated cases of accidents and injuries some of which include falls from height, trapped by something collapsing or overturning, struck by a moving vehicle, contact with electricity or electrical discharge, struck by flying/falling object during machine lifting of materials, contact with operating machinery or material being machined, exposure to hot or harmful substance or fire outbreak that engulfed their entire office premises (Consultant Ltd. 2011 cited in Samuel, 2014). Most often, the problem is not the level of awareness of importance of safety neither is a safety policy absent but it is more related to poor or lack of implementation of safety programmes and systems, as it is with many other key players in the Nigerian construction industry (La Montagne et al., 2003; Indian Council of Medical Research, 2003). Abdelhamid (2000) and Shamsuddin, et al., (2015) added that worker omission is the cause of construction injuries and can be view under behavior and human factor approach. Behavior approach underscores that construction workers 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 makes suggestion that workers are the original victim of construction fatality not because of individuals’ unsafe behaviour rather, the emphases was on the working environment settings. Procedures and programmes of safety management system of construction firms are naturally expected to lead to highly safe construction sites if they are well followed and implemented. Research studies however, claim that accident and injury rate in many developing countries such as Nigeria is considerably higher than in Europe, U.S. and Australia (Idoro, 2004 & 2007). Koehn, Ahmed and Jayanti (2000) in Bust, Gibb and Pasquire (2004) reported that statistics has shown that there are 8 or 9 times as many fatalities and accidents on construction sites in developing countries than in industrialized developed regions. This is similar to the claims of Awodele and Ayoola (2005), Smallwood and Haupt (2005) that not less than hundreds of construction workers are being killed each year and many more rendered permanently disabled on Nigerian construction sites. It is either the installed safety management system is poorly managed or the safety system is not adequately addressing all the relevant safety issues involved in each construction project and site thereby making workers on site highly prone to accident. 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, Awwad, El Souki & Jabbour, (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, Ani, Ismail and Ibrahim (2015) argued that workers’ knowledge and understanding of safety at work setting remained vital in promoting safety among themselves on construction site. Matthew (2013) noted that construction company should provide awareness particularly on each project, that covers an outline of the project, a top to bottom survey of the safety necessities and desires, clearing arrangements and systems, disciplinary activities, substance manhandle testing policy and proactive management methods needed for the project. The study of Kolawole (2014) in Minna, north central Nigeria submitted that that site workers embraced “safety training” as this enhances their performances and reduced accidents on site and also government did not have well defined safety act for construction activities. Agwu (2012) conducted a study on total safety management (TSM) an approach for improving organisational performance in six selected construction firms in Nigeria. They include: (Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Setraco Nigeria Ltd, Fourgerolle Nigeria Ltd, Arab-Contractors Nigeria Ltd, Dantata & Sawoe Nigeria Ltd and Costain Nigeria Ltd). The outcome of the research suggested that integration of total safety management as part of the organisational policy would lead to improving safety practices on construction projects. The essence of total safety management practices in Nigerian can be sustained if the operatives maintain good attitudinal behaviour and structural modifications in management of construction safety. Okoye, Ezeokonkwo, and Ezeokoli (2016) study recommended that, knowledge and compliance with health and safety practices alone cannot achieve optimum project performance, it would require safety culture which encompassed other factors such as: management commitment, workers’ involvement and strict enforcement of safety regulation should be adopted.
Significance Of Safety Management In Building Construction Site.
Safety management in Building construction site is of enormous importance to the entire construction and it begins from the pre design, design stage, construction stage up to the completion of the project to assist both the client and the main contractor.
it provides an information to the workers and the construction and on how to be an guide against any practice that may cause accident or injury during the construction process.
the safety protective wears or attire like the land at helps to protect and prevent lead injury from falling objects or from letting the head of the employees or workers.
the application of safety management during construction will ensure appropriate construction methodology is adopted to increase efficiency of the project.
the health, life of workers and constructional materials are protected throughout the construction projects.
it helps to control infections and pollution on the construction site by ensuring that workers put on their safety glasses or goggles to safe guard and protect the eyes against saw dust and debris from affecting his sight.
it provides instructions and education to workers in different operatives to enhance and improve in their methods of executing tasks.
it helps to reduce waste of building construction materials and to maximize profit by the main constructor.
it assist the main contractor and its crews to finish the project within an agreed stipulated time agreed up in the contract document.
it helps to reduce accidents and injuries during and after the construction periods when all the safety protocols are observed and obeyed in accordance to statute.
It ensures that the right type of material is used and also an adequate estimation of cost is properly analyzed to assist in the project delivery.
Government Regulations And Legislation.
Although any form of legislation all first seems completed, impact, the law is straight forward. It was formulated by Government to help reduce to provide safe working condition. Health and safety legislation basically requires employers to put in place control measures to ensure that the five basic criteria are met.
These criteria are known as the employers duties requiring employers to;
Ensure that work equipment that has been provided is safe and is maintained in a safe condition.
Ensure that people are provided with adequate information, instruction and training in the tasks that they are being asked to perform.
Ensure there is good access to and from the workplace and in particular, ensure that recap routes are clear from debris and that good house keeping standards are maintained.
Ensure that people are provided with adequate information, instruction and training in the tasks that they are being asked to perform.
Ensure that the working environment is kept safe and healthy.
A regulatory body was formed in Nigeria to look after the issue of management in all the construction company operating in the country and to reduce the trend of building of building structural collapse. The Nigerian society of safety professionals (NSSP) through its wring and associates Nigeria institute of safety professionals (NISP) was formulated to enhance professionalism and the quality of work declared at every instance.
Legislation is a government policy put imp lace to check mate the activities, movement, working conditions within the country and its environs. With over 5 million people working in the construction intensity in the Nigeria and with over 3000 people having been killed whistle at work in the industry over the last 25 years, there are always improvements which can be made with regards to health and safety and despite the fact that many improvements have been introduced during that period and continue to be made, there are so many hazards and risks to consider when working on a construction project that health and safety needs are paramount.
There are cases of binding collapse within the country due to professional negligence and inadequate safety management. It is because of thee on going menace that lead to the establishment of legislation and regulatory body’s to check for safety of both material and mean during construction proceedings. There are numerous pieces of health and safety legislation which construction site must adhere to and specific legislation relating to the industry itself-some of them are the construction (health safety and welfare) REGULATIONS 1996 (CHSW) and the construction (design and management) regulations 1994 (CDM).
Regulations are rules, policy, formulations and laws set aside by government to monitor the activities of workers in the construction site attitude and sections of employers towards their employers during construction process. In most cases, there sure certain types of accidents that need to be reported to the Health and safety Executive (HSE) or the local planning authority. These statutory reportable case are found in a piece of health and safety law known as the Reporting of injury disease and dangerous occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).
The law requires employers t0 report certain accidents by telephone or via the internet with in 24 hours of the accident occurring. Also, the accident should be reported to the authority on a special form and submitted within 7 days of the accident.
The primary price of legislation which relates to the control of infections diseases at work is the control of substance hazardous to health regulations 2002 (COSHH) and covers any micro- organism which could cause infection, allergy, toxicity or any other danger to human health.
There are many biological agents which make up a list drawn up within the regulations and they are each classified into four (4) hazardous groups with HG4 being the most Hazardous. On the basis of each of the four grouping there are then appropriate regulations and guide lines which must be adhered to in terms of their control and containment. In addition to COSHH, there is also other health and safety legislation allergy, toxicity or any other danger to human health.
There are many biological agents which make up a list drawn up within the regulations and they are each classified into four (4) hazardous groups with HG4 being the most Hazardous. On the basis of each of the four grouping there are then appropriate regulations and guide lines which must be adhered to in terms of their control and containment. In addition to COSHH, there is also other health and safety legislation
In place when or coming into contact with potential harmful micro- organisms or biological agents in areas such as working with genetically modified organisms, legislation with regards to cooling towers and evaporate condensers, anthrax prevention and the infections micro organisms.
Some other bodies are also involved in administering and enforcing health and safety matters regarding construction works.
There are a good number of professionals and their regulatiry bodies in the building constrction industry. These regularity bodies make sure that professional institution work with specification provided to upheld professionalism and quality to work produced at the end of each project land over. Some of these regulatory bodies and their institutions are;
ARCON-Architect Regulation Council of Nigeria which regulates the works and activities of architecture that is Nigerian institute of Architectures, CORN- Council of Registered Builders of Nigerian Regulates the Nigerian institute of building (NIOB), COREN- council for the regulation of Engineering in Nigerian regulates the Nigerian society of Engineers (NSE), QSRON as Quantity surveyors registration of Nigeria regulates the Nigerians institute of quantity surveyors and all their activities, CRESV as council of Regulation of Estate surveyors and valuers, TOPREC as town planner regulation council regulates the works of the professional bodies and its regulations.
All these regulatory bodies were authorized and supported by government before their formations and establishments.
Under the health and safety (first Aid) regulation 1981, revised in October 2009, all employers have a duty to provide adequate first aid arrangements for employees and this includes, small business ( less than five employees) and the self employed like private building contractors
Working At Height Regulations.
The working at height legislation (2005) contains the central principles, which will be a useful introduction to new comers. Although the regulations were put into place in 2005, the guidelines are largely common sense. For instance, work must be planned and supervised appropriately. Equipment must be checked before use and Seaford ladders must be used with safety precautions in place. ( like guard rails). Anyone working at height or employing people to work at height should be aware of the basic legislation.its designed to avoid fatalities on the job.
The international labour organization adopted the safety and health in construction convention (No 1 167) and its associated recommendation (No 175) 1988. as a complement to these standards, the code of practice on safety and healthy in construction was approved in 1992. in line with the newest trends in occupational safety and healthy (OSH) management, the ILO developed the guidelines on occupational health and safety management applicable to all sectors and particularly useful in the construction industry as they highlight issues relating to subcontracting.
Essential areas of responsibility set out by the regulations are as follows;
1. Planning:
As LEADER OR EMPLOYERS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANNING supervising and monitoring the work at height. This includes duties such as checking the equipment, and stopping work in poor weather. The employers must also ensure that the person doing the work is competent to do, or is being trained by a competent supervisor.
2. Fall Presentation:
The leader or employers is responsible for taking measures to prevent falls. This includes providing safety equipment to minimize the distance and consequences of a fall.
3. Choosing Equipment:
Where it isn’t practical for work to be carried out from a place or work equipment must be selected to ensure the employee is not put at risk. The choice of equipment will depend on distance negotiated, duration and frequency of thee work, and it should also be chosen with emergency evacuation or rescue in mind. To fulfill their duties employers should be able to show that they have considered all of the potential risks and made an informed decision. The regulations specifies certain equipment or systems for different working situations – check them for more information about your particular area of work.
4. Cordoning The Danger Areas:
The employer is responsible for identifying danger areas, such as the ground below and around a scaffold, where people may be harmed by filling objects. The areas should be properly equipped and also clearly marked for employees and the public.
5. Regular Inspection:
Employers are responsible for meeting the complex inspection requirements laid out in the working at Height regulations. Equipment and sites must be regularly inspected and checked before use.
6. Employee Reporting:
An employee or trip member has the responsibilities of properly using equipment and for reporting any situation or equipment that he find to be risky and faulty in other avert accidents and other related work injuries.
Components of H&S training practices capable of enhancing safety awareness among construction workers
The activities of the construction industry have raised serious H&S concerns amongst governments, H&S stakeholders, H&S professionals and researchers over the past few decades (Kheni, 2008). In addition, Agumba and Haupt (2014) reported that H&S performance measurement can be broadly classified in to two: lagging indicators and leading indicators or positive performance indicators. Unfortunately, the construction industry continues to greatly depend on the traditional lagging indicators such as accident and workers compensation statistics. With the use of leading indicators, a more thorough and constant surveillance is required than when lagging indicators are used. Changes can be made and interventions introduced early to redress the weakness before accidents occur as a result of the adoption of leading H&S indicators in construction. Hence, the use of leading indicators instead of lagging indicators is increasingly advocated (Gambatese, Behm, & Hinze, 2005). It was therefore established by Agumba and Haupt (2014) that for H&S performance to improve, the corporate H&S culture should comprise H&S commitment, H&S, subcontractors involvement, H&S accountability and disincentives and above all H&S training. Past researches have shown that certain training practices can lead to improved H&S performance and therefore constitute good H&S practices.
Strategies for reducing the rate of accidents, injuries and fatalities on construction sites
H&S has been identified as a parameter which should be used along with the traditional parameters: cost, quality and time, to measure the success of projects. The reasons for considering safety and health are human factor, legislation and financial issues (Adan, 2004). According to Grace et al. (2014), the following H&S Measures are proactive strategies for reducing the rate of accidents, injuries and fatalities on construction sites: Site Layout and Planning; Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); First aid Kits and Accident Reporting; H&S Warning Signs; and Safety Policy. Peter et al. (2016) shows that there was a lack of commitment from the government, the insurance company, the labour ministry, the owners, consultants, and the contractors to improving safety performance on the construction sites. Although calls have been made to the stakeholders in the industry to improve their H&S performance, the number of fatalities and injuries arising from construction activities across the country as at today is highly worrisome. Peter et al., (2016) suggested a shift in thinking where the focus is on those actions that can lead to good safety performance, for a better approach is to focus on proactive efforts dealing with the factors responsible for such accidents and injuries and how to control them.
Factors Influencing Non-Compliance With Safety Practices On Construction Sites.
The significance of occupational safety regulations has been taken seriously due to individual acceptance that construction accidents is an unavoidable act due to the characteristic of activities involved on project sites, thus making non-compliance with operational health and safety a common believe (Smallwood, 2002). Although many authors have worked on health and safety management on construction site, yet adequate consideration have not been lent to compliance with safety procedures which is fundamental to workers output. Olutuase (2014) studied safety management in the context of Nigerian industry with an intention to compare level of compliance with the international standards. The study outcome established existence of safety regulations in the management of construction projects. However, the system seems to be poorly characterised by ineffectiveness and poor documentation. The study called for urgent attention on construction managers to strictly adhere with the provisions safety regulation requirements for site management. Ismail, Doostdar and Harun (2011) appraised factors influencing the implementation of safety management system for construction sites with specific focus on skilled labours. It was suggested that personal awareness and communication were the most influential safety management factors. It became imperative for the site managers to conduct enlightenment programmes among their workers to build safety consciousness in them. The study recommended the use of personal protective gadgets, reduction of manual work without neglecting the appropriate use of equipment and tools. Umeokafor et al., (2014) unearthed reasons regarding non-compliance with health and safety requirement in Nigerian construction sites, as owner’s impact and weak implementation. The study concluded that, safety personnel should consider importance of implementing safety provision to attract construction manager and contractors in building a robust safety management on construction site, while client should use health and safety records as a required document for prequalifying contractors. Okoye, Okolie and Aderibigbe (2014) conducted exploratory study on the cost of health and safety performance of building contractors in south-east Nigeria and the correlation between the cost of performance and projects outcome. Similarly, it also supported opinion of the construction practitioners that, implementation of programmes and policies regarding safety management would resort in increasing the overall project cost. Famakin and Fawehinmi (2012) opined that inclusion of health and safety policies and programmes at the design stage, up through the completion stage is critical to project delivery.
2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Safety Theories of Accident
Occupational safety theories of accident, models and metaphors by Swustes, Gulijk, Zwaard and Ostendorp (2014) and a literature review in three decades since World War II, in the United State Britain and Netherland include the following highlights:
1. In safety science, the medical domain became dormant after World War II
2. The theory of task dynamics; and the hazard banner-target model were developed.
3. Cause of accidents shifted from worker behaviour to task and managerial causes.
4. Complexity in process and military industry created disasters and risk assessment as tools.
5. Accident proneness remained popular in the professional safety domain
According to Swuste, Gulijk, Zwaard and Ostendorp (2014) point of view and their research findings; the accident process theory still remains popular in the professional safety domain in the Netherlands. Based on the perception of Swuste, et al., (2014) as earlier stated Mopho (2020) concurred that safety theory can be reasonable to be an accident theory that linked safety and productivity. Elaborating the opinion of Swuste, et al., (2014), Mopho (2020) noted that incorporating a fuller accounting of tasks, the entropy model of accident causation demonstrates that safety and productivity are bound together. To buttress the point being made by Mopho (2020) in tandem with Swuste, et al., (2014) the analogy of every firm that uses technology, people and the work site to generate a product or service was perceived as sacrosanct to the entropy model of accident causation in safety practices on account of the fact that when the process of safety practices is being undertaken these factors interact. The model according to Mopho (2020) in tandem with Swuste, et al., (2014) begins in section (1) by creating an organization in an ideal context. The firm consistently operates with perfect safety production output and system quality. All the factors here are fully and effectively utilized. In this scenario the accident rate and level of risk is zero. Ideally and in reality, however, firms operate as natural systems subjects to universal laws that cause system factors to degrade with time. For example, technology can suffer wear and tear, the physical environment becomes unstable or untidy, and infrastructure corrodes disclosed (Mopho, 2020; Swuste, et al., 2014). Now, that, each time a process is carried out, deviations may occur that have the potential to introduce additional hazards (Mopho, 2020). Workers also experience degradation in the form of fatigue, variable vigilance/concentration or loss of physical capacity. Entropy is shown in section (2) of their findings as the downward dashed lines for each system factor. Running counter to the firm’s interventions, system factors have a tendency to deteriorate or shift to a state that as system factors degrade, the probability of an accident rises exponentially, shown by the red lines. Mopho (2020) therefore posited that concurrently, the firm's ability to produce output at the same rate is put at risk because the quality of system factors also affects productivity. Mopho (2020) gave an example with the probability that if people (workers) are ill or fatigue, they cannot work efficiently. Also, if equipment is not maintained it cannot generate optimum levels of output. The model shows that degradation has a negative impact on organizational safety and performance, (Swuste, et al., 2014). On Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management, logically, it becomes obvious to ask, what are the characteristics of an OHS management system driven by the Entropy model? First what comes to the fore is, the perspective of “unsafe acts” versus “unsafe condition” proposed by other models and is replaced with a focus on systems quality, was the viewpoint of Swuste, et al. Based on the foregoing, researchers position, there is much less emphasis on human error as the cause of accidents. It acknowledged that employees do not want to be injured at work and that they rarely knowingly act in an unsafe manner on their own volition. In Mopho (2020) as well as Swuste, et al., (2014) point of view, unsafe acts are usually symptoms of systemic problems such as insufficient skill-based training, work pressures or excessive demands from the task on the environment. They also reasoned that emphasis on worker fallibility or capability can hinder companies from exploring fully the underlying parameters that can lead to incidents. Human error is not excluded from the model because the quality of human resources contributes to the level of risk (Mopho, 2020). It may be found for instance, that an accident is caused primarily by lack of workplace specific skills (a residual risk) or by the worker operating equipment under the influence of medication (an entropic risk). Their argument is that the Entropy model allows the behavioural aspect of safety to be classified. Ideally, behavioural safety management should address the risk associated with human resources and the organizational culture that defines acceptable behaviour (Mopho, 2020; Swuste, et al., 2014). The primary objective of the culture is to develop employee competence and vigilance. In the observed thought of Swuste, et al., (2014) a “safe worker” operates in a safety culture, therefore, it can be defined as someone who: is educated about residual risk; is vigilant because of residual risk; work safely and efficiently to keep entropic risk low; is informed of changes in entropic and residual risk; and has the knowledge and opportunity to make suggestions that contribute to improve safety (Mopho, 2020; Swuste, et al., 2014).
Abraham Maslow theory of needs hierarchy.
Safety constitutes one of the essential human needs, as postulated by Abraham Maslow in his theory of needs hierarchy. Feeling safe at work ranks as a very important factor in job satisfaction, (Kreitner, 2007). In attempt to satisfy this need certain organizations incorporate into their policy thrusts, guaranteeing workers‟ safe work execution under a climate capable of enhancing the physical, mental, and emotional conditions. Organizational policy of this nature is often categorized under health and safety. Under work environment, Hall and Goodale (1986) describe employee health as the absence of illness or disease resulting from the interaction of employee and the work environment. In general term, health means a state of complete physical, emotional, mental, and social ability of an individual to cope with his environment, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (Hippocrate, 1981). Health is the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life, promoting physical and mental health, sanitation and personal hygiene, control of infections and organization of health services (Lucas, 2001).
On the other hand, safety means freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss (Aswathappa, 2004). He described industrial, occupational or employee safety as the protection of workers from the danger of industrial accidents. Safety can as well be referred to as the absence of injuries due to the interaction of the employee and the work environment (Lucas, 2001). In a general perspective, safety means condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injuries or loss. Hence, safety policies may encompass activities directed at either reducing or complete removal of hazardous conditions capable of causing bodily injuries. Organizational safety policy, according to Aswathappa (2004), specifies the company‟s safety goals and designates the responsibilities and authority for their achievement.
Two-factor Theory
The two-factor theory (also known as Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and dual-factor theory) states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction, all of which act independently of each other. It was developed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg.Feelings, attitudes and their connection with industrial mental health are related to Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation. His findings have had a considerable theoretical, as well as a practical, influence on attitudes toward administration (Herzberg, Frederick; Mausner, Bernard; Snyderman, Barbara B. (1959). According to Herzberg, individuals are not content with the satisfaction of lower-order needs at work; for example, those needs associated with minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. Rather, individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. This appears to parallel Maslow's theory of a need hierarchy. However, Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory by proposing a two-factor model of motivation, based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics leads to dissatisfaction at work. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. This theory suggests that to improve job attitudes and productivity, administrators must recognize and attend to both sets of characteristics and not assume that an increase in satisfaction leads to decrease in dissatisfaction.
From analyzing these interviews, he found that job characteristics related to what an individual does that is, to the nature of the work one performs apparently have the capacity to gratify such needs as achievement, competency, status, personal worth, and self-realization, thus making him happy and satisfied. However, the absence of such gratifying job characteristics does not appear to lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Instead, dissatisfaction results from unfavorable assessments of such job-related factors as company policies, supervision, technical problems, salary, interpersonal relations on the job, and working conditions. Thus, if management wishes to increase satisfaction on the job, it should be concerned with the nature of the work itself — the opportunities it presents for gaining status, assuming responsibility, and for achieving self-realization. If, on the other hand, management wishes to reduce dissatisfaction, then it must focus on the workplace environment policies, procedures, supervision, and working conditions. If management is equally concerned with both, then human resources managers must give attention to both sets of job factors.
2.3 EMPIRICAL REVIEW
Peter, Grant, Rodgers and Dennerlein (2018) carried out work on a cluster randomized controlled trial of a total worker health intervention on commercial construction sites.Matched pair cluster randomized controlled trial conducted on ten worksites five intervention (n=324) five control sites (n=283); workers surveys were collected at all sites pre and post-exposure at one- and six months. Linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on pain and injuries, dietary and physical activity behaviours, smoking, ergonomic practices and work limitation. They used worker groups and manager- interviews to supplement the evaluation after controlling for matched intervention and controlled pairs as well as covariates at one month following the ergonomic program, they observed a significant improvement in ergonomic practice (B = 0.20, P = 0.002) and a reduction in incidence of pain and injury (OR = 0.58, P = 0.012) in the intervention group. At six months, they observed differences in favour of the intervention group force reduction in physically demanding work (B = 0.25, P = 0.008) increased recreational physical activity (B = 35.2, P = 0.026) including higher consumption of fruits and vegetables are barriers to intervention implementation. In another research work carried out by other researchers Oakman and Newpane (2017) in synergy with Proper and Nyard on workplace intervention to improve work ability; a systematic review and meta-analysis of their effectiveness; they used in their work argument or statement, work-based interventions focused on individuals, the workplace, or multilevel (combination). They used work ability index (WAI) or the single-item work ability score (WAS) to measure outcome of work ability, the work under review, to synthesize the results grade (grades of recommendation, assessment, development and evaluation) criteria was used to assess evidence quality and impact statements, were developed to synthesize the results. The above researchers reasoned that meta- analysis was undertaken where appropriate. Their results showed that they reviewed 17 randomized control trials (comprising 22 articles) multilevel interventions (n=5) included changes to work arrangements and causes with supervisors, whilst individual focused intervention (n=12) involved behaviour change or exercise programs. They identified only evidence of a moderate quality for either individual or multilevel interventions aiming to improve work ability.