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IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING SAFETY
PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
GUJARAT Pranav Patel
1, Dr. Rajiv Bhatt
2, Dr. Jayeshkumar Pitroda
3
Student of final year, M.E., B.V.M. Engg.College, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India1
Associate Prof., Civil Engg. Department, A. D. Patel Institute of Technology, Gujarat, India2
Assistant Prof., Civil Engg. Dept., B.V.M. Engg. College, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India3
Abstract: In India, the construction industry is the second largest industry after
agriculture and it calls for large involvement of labours and skilled performance on
construction projects. Safety of people is always a main objective for all stake holders to
take feedback from construction safety performance to develop rating of factors by RII
technique. Thus, it is essential to study and analyse the factors affecting on the safety
performance of construction sites. This study works on identification of factors affecting
on the safety performance of construction sites in Gujarat. A literature review and
structured interview were carried out in selected cities of Gujarat region. The safety
performance on the construction projects are divided into seven main categories covering
various aspects of site safety measurement with the help of expert’s opinion and study of
previous research work. A systematic approach is suggested to carry out ranking of these
factors by RII (relative important index).
Keywords: Construction, Safety Performance, India, Relative Important Index
INTRODUCTION
Construction industry is the second largest sector in India after agriculture industry.
The construction sector is labour intensive and, including direct jobs, provides
employment to around 33 million people. It is estimated that about 70 per cent of these
are employed in the infrastructure segment and remaining 30 per cent in the real estate
segment. According to industry estimates, the industry is expected to generate
additional employment of 47 million, with the total number of persons employed in the
sector reaching 83 million persons by 2022. The sector is critical for enhancing the
productive capacity of the overall economy.
Construction industry is considered as one of the most hazardous industrial sectors
wherein the construction is more liable to worker accidents. Despite of recent
development to improve safety on construction site, it still accounts for a
disproportionate number of occupants-related fatalities. In developed countries, there
are strict legal enforcement of safety in the construction industry and also in the
implementation of safety management systems which are designed to minimize or
eliminate accidents at work places. However, occupational safety in the construction
industry is very poor in developing countries because lack of safety regulations and
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standards, low priority of safety, lack of data on safety at construction sites, lack of
safety training, lack of safety promotion, and lack of documented and organized safety
management systems.
Construction industry is both economically and socially important. The safety record in
the construction industry continues to be one of the poorest. Research shows that major
causes of accidents are related to unique nature of the industry, human behavior,
difficult work site conditions, and poor safety management, which result in unsafe work
methods, equipment and procedures. The emphasis in both developing and developed
countries needs to be placed on training and the utilization of comprehensive safety
programs.
The construction industry is observed as a dangerous industry due to decentralization
and mobility. The decentralization means that the employees are separated by sites.
Mobility implies that employees in the construction industry move towards the
companies, sites, and positions more frequently (due to completion of the work) than
those in other traditional industries. Due to decentralization and mobility of the work
force, while the promotion of safety management and working condition is achieved in a
manner that is used by several industries to consciously improve safety performance,
they are inadequate in the construction industry.
Safety performance is more related to the human factors. It is especially important for a
construction company to improve its safety culture to achieve better safety
performance. A positive safety culture means the safety attitude and values of the
company are totally accepted by its employees.
OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
1. To prepare list of factors affecting safety performance on construction projects in Gujarat.
2. To suggest methodology for carrying out ranking of above factors.
NEED OF STUDY
The construction industry is considered as one of the most hazardous industrial sectors
wherein the construction is more liable to worker accidents. Despite effects to improve safety
performance on site it still accounts for a disproportionate number of occupants-related
fatalities. Construction projects in the Gujarat suffer from many problems and complex issues
regarding the safety performance on site because of many reasons and factors. In Gujarat so
many construction sites are running, but the safety related rules and regulations are not
strictly followed on site due to lack of lower priority, lack of safety regulations and standards,
low priority of safety, lack of data on safety at construction sites, lack of safety training, lack
of safety promotion, and lack of documented and organized safety management systems.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A number of studies have been carried out to determine the safety performance affecting
factors on construction sites.
Sawacha et al. (1999) studied factors influencing safety on construction sites: historical,
economical, psychological, technical, procedural, organizational and the working
environment. They also summarised that the operative's expectation of their supervisor's
safety attitude was relatively high and they see their superintendent's attitude towards safety
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as being a major source of influence upon their behaviour on site, awareness of hazardous
material is important than their handling, lack and training and skill are cause of accidents in
technical area, use of safety equipment is important rather than availability of same, the most
contributing factor is organization’s policy towards safety. [7]
Choudhry et al. (2008) explained a successful, modern safety, health and environmental
management system for a leading construction company and concluded useful information on
eight aspects of construction safety, including safety policy and standards, safety
organization, safety training, inspecting hazardous conditions, personal protection program,
plant and equipment, safety promotion, and management behaviour. The findings of their
survey provide practical knowledge to construction project managers and construction safety
practitioners in order to make their sites safer. [2]
De-chun et al. (2010) evaluated the current safety management systems in developing
country (i.e. China) and prioritize these steps with the consideration of various decision
criteria which can provide a useful guideline for related government agencies and project
managers to focus on the safety management program, might significantly contribute to the
improvement of safety record. [3]
El-Mashaleh et al. (2010) concluded the areas safety training, occasional safety meetings,
occasional safety inspections, unavailability of safety protection measures, and hesitance of
workers to use safety equipment, high labour turnover rates and non-compliance with safety
legislation which need to improve for safety at construction sites. [4]
Laryea et al. (2010) investigated in Ghana using first hand observation construction project
sites. The primary reasons are, a lack of strong institutional framework for governing
construction activities, and poor enforcement of health and safety policies and procedures.
Even though Government regulatory instruments for ensuring health and safety on
construction sites are set, contractors are not aware of it or do not consider it which leads to
mishap at construction site and concluded that workers and civil society should ensure and
demand the provision of adequate health and safety policies, procedures and provisions to
govern construction work. [5]
Charehzehi et al. (2012) concluded the factors influencing in the improvement of safety
performance at construction site are safety management error, poor training programs, human
element, act of god, outdated procedure and no clear monitoring policy and suggests a clear
procedure to develop safety performance by reducing risk and hazards. In addition, they
provided the steps to enhance the safety performance at construction site by creating safety
regulation, identify hazard, assess and evaluate risk, decide precaution, record findings, and
updating finding in relation to the work condition. [1]
Sunindijo et al. (2013) conceptualized safety management in construction projects and
concluded that the conceptual skill helps project management personnel implement safety
management tasks, which in turn promotes an onsite safety climate. The implication of this
research outcomes is that construction organizations should consider improving the
conceptual skill of their project management personnel. [8]
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology for present study contains two stages. The first stage
included a literature survey. The literature review was carried through books, conference
proceedings, articles, internet and international construction related journals. As the outcome
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of this phase, factors are identified which are directly affecting on safety performance on
construction site. These categories are: Self-protection category, House-keeping category,
Scaffolding Category, Access to height category, Organizational category, First aid category,
Fire protection and other general category.
The second stage includes preparation of survey questionnaire based on Relative
important index method based for ranking of safety performance factors. Relative Importance
Index (RII) of each factor can be calculated. A five-point likert scale measurement format in
which respondents are required to select a scale level of each item, ranging from strongly
disagree (scale 1) to strongly agree (scale 5) is used. Based on review of relevant literature all
the factors are categorised as given in below.
1. Safety policy 2. Management involvement
3. Safe opening procedure 4. Work place lay out
5. Safety organization 6. Health care facilities
7. Safety rules 8. Housekeeping
9. Machine guarding 10. Guard rail system
11. PPE compliance 12. Material handling
13. Lifting tools and tackles 14. General safety measure
15. Safety nets maintenance 16. Illumination
17. Electrical safety precautions 18. Maintenance of safety equipment’s
19. Fire control measures 20. Safety training to employees
21. Induction training 22. Job safety analysis
23. Work permit system 24. Training for special operations
25. Safety promotional activities 26. Emergency plan
27. Accident reporting system 28. Near miss reporting
29. Accident investigation 30. Accident and near miss reports analysis
31. Storage of flammable materials
An inspection of construction site and safety activities will be carried out. Civil engineers
will be interviewed for explanations on the things observed at various sites. The owner,
contractor and project manager/engineer will be involved to get feedback on survey
questionnaire with open ended questions to ascertain the extent of observations and to find
out in greater detail the reasons(s) underlying the observations. As a preference, building
construction sites constituting scaffolding operation and working on height operation are
selected.
A survey questionnaire is prepared for doing ranking of criteria. Survey questionnaire is as
given below.
DATA ANALYSIS
From available feedback of variety of construction professionals, ranking of factors will be
calculated use of following equations.
1. Relative important index (As described above)
2. Factor safety performance index:
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3. Safety performance category analysis
CONCLUSION
Safety on construction projects is main criteria for all stakeholders. Due to era of
mechanism, its importance and implementation is highly required. This paper reviews various
safety management related which as beginning. Then framework of factors affecting safety
performance on construction projects in Gujarat state is developed. A survey questionnaire is
prepared to develop ranking of these factors. Relative Important Index (RII) technique is
suggested to analysis. It is proposed to take feedback from various construction
professionals’ feedback on this survey.
REFERENCES
[01] Charehzehi, Aref, and Ahankoob, Alireza. “Enhancement of Safety Performance at
Construction Site”, International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology,
ISSN: 2231-1963, Volume 5, Issue 1, November 2012, 303-312.
[02] Choudhry, Rafiq M, and Fang, Dongping, and Ahmed, Syed M. “Safety Management in
Construction: Best Practices in Hong Kong”, Journal of Professional Issues in
Engineering Education and Practice”, ISSN: 1052-3928, Volume 134, Issue 1, January
2008, 20-32.
[03] De-Chun, Ning, and Jian-ping, Wang, and Guo-dong, Ni. “Analysis of Factors Affecting
Safety Management in Construction Projects”, International Conference on Management
and Service Science (MASS) 2010, ISBN: 978-1-4244-5325-2, 2010, 1-5.
[04] El-Mashaleh, Mohammad S, and Al-Smadi, Bashar M, and Hyari, Khalied H, and
Rababeh, Shaher M. “Safety Management in the Jordanian Construction Industry”,
Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, ISSN: 1993-0461, Volume 4, No. 1, 2010, 47-54.
[05] Laryea, Samuel, and Mensah, Sarfo. “Health and safety on construction sites in Ghana”,
Ghana. In: The Construction, Building and Real Estate Research Conference of the
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, ISBN: 978-1-84219-619-9, 2010.
[06] K. Mauleeswaran. “Evaluation of safety performance level of construction firms in and
around Erode zone”, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,
Engineering and Technology (IJIRSET), ISSN: 2319-8753, Volume-3, Special Issue,
2014, 1590-1596.
[07] Sawacha, Edwin, and Naoum, Shamil, and Fong, Daniel. “Factors affecting safety
performance on construction sites”, International Journal of Project Management, ISSN:
0263-7863, Volume 17, No. 5, 1999, 309-315.
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[08] Sunindijo, Riza Yosia, and Zou, Patrick X. W. “Conceptualizing Safety Management in
Construction Projects”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ISSN:
0733-9364, Volume 139, No. 9, September 2013, 1144-1153.
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
BIRLA VISHVAKARMA MAHAVIDYALAYA VALLABH VIDHYANAGAR
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE EVALUATION OF THE SAFETY PERFORMANCE
LEVEL OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN GUJARAT
Dear respondent,
This survey is part of an ongoing research work on “Evaluation of Safety Performance
Level of Construction Projects in Gujarat” for safety level measurement. As we need
opinion from various stakeholders of construction industry like owners, developers,
contractors, site supervisors/engineers and project managers, you have been selected as one
of our valuable respondents. Your responses will be used to decide the ranking of below
listed criteria which are responsible for safety performance level assessment. I assure you that
the collected data will be purely used for the academic purpose and will remain strictly
confidential. For any query or more details about the research work, you can contact us by e-
mail at: [email protected].
Thank you very much for your valuable response.
Pranav N Patel, ME student, Construction Engineering and Management Department, Birla
Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya, V.V.Nagar
EVALUATION OF THE SAFETY PERFORMANCE LEVEL OF CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS IN GUJRAT
PART 1 COMPANY PROFILE AND RESPONDENT DETAIL
(NOTE: Please (√) tick your answers.)
PLEASE FILL THE FOLLOWING DATA:
1. Name of the respondent :_____________________________________
2. Name of the company :_____________________________________
3. Position of the respondent :_____________________________________
4. Contact no :_____________________________________
5. E-mail ID :_____________________________________
6. Address :_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
7. Average No of employees in last 12
months
:_____________________________________
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8. Project/Site Location :_____________________________________
9. Type of Respondent:
[ ] Owner/Developer
[ ] Contractor
[ ] Project Manager/Engineer
11. Years of Experience in line of work:
[ ] From 0 to 3 years
[ ] From 3 to 5 years
[ ] From 5 to 10 years
[ ] More than 10 years
PART 2: Main Questionnaire
Factors affecting safety performance
This questionnaire is designed to study more about the safety management practices in the
construction industry and ways to improve safety performance in construction works.
SD D N A SA
Meaning Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Not Agree/nor
Disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
Please indicate by ticking (√) the appropriate column for the relative importance of each of
following criteria.
Please tick mark according to your point of view only in each row.
Sr.No Category Statement SD D N A Sa
1
SELF
PROTECTIO
N
CATEGORY
Workers normally wear safety
helmets in site
2 Workers normally wear safety shoes
in site
3 Workers normally wear gloves while
handling sharp and hot materials in
site
4 Workers normally wear goggles
when using cutting and welding tools
in site
5 Workers normally wear ear
defenders in noisy condition at site
6 Workers normally wear face mask in
dusty condition at site
7
HOUSE-
KEEPING
CATEGORY
Timbers with nails left in workplace
are cleaned daily
8 Fall openings are guarded through
barricades in site
9 Walkways, access routes and
staircases are cleaned for debris
10 Persons who are cleaning at heights
have throwing down objects
11 All tools and machinery are properly
stored and placed
12 Adequate lighting is provided at the
work site
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13 Stored water during work inside the
site is removed daily
14 Needed materials are stored safely
15
SCAFFOLDIG
CATEGORY
Scaffolds/ formwork are designed as
per the standards always
16 Working scaffold platforms are
checked for good condition everyday
17 Guardrails are good on working
scaffold platforms are checked every
day
18 Scaffold boards are placed correctly
is checked everyday
19 Personnel working at heights are
climbing up or down the outside of
scaffolds
20
ACCESS TO
HEIGHT
CATEGORY
Overhead power lines are removed
before start of project
21 Mobile tower scaffolds are checked
for safety everyday
22 ACCESS TO
HEIGHT
CATEGORY
Safety net and safety belts provided
for working on height
23 Equipment’s used for lifting are
maintained properly
24 Ladders are checked for safety
everyday
25
OTHER
GENERAL
CATEGORY
All near-miss incidents and accidents
are reported and investigated in site
26 About the system of internal safety
inspection during construction
27 About the safety induction training
for emergency on site
28 Whether safety-signs are placed in
hazardous place in site?
29 About substance abuse testing
program on this project
30
ORGANIZAT-
IONAL
CATEGORY
Company/organization has its own
Safety policy
31 Safety training provided by
organization is sufficient
32 Higher level management have good
attitude towards safe work
environment
33 Provision of necessary safety
equipment is satisfactory
34 Distribution of safety booklets
35 Provision of site safety
representative
36 Management-workers co-operation
(safety meeting held at site)
37
First aid stations provides with
supplies and equipment.
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38
FIRST AID
The expiration dates of supplies
checked monthly. Expired supplies
discarded.
39 Availability of trained medical
personnel
40 Injuries promptly and properly
reported to higher authority
41
FIRE
PROTECTIO
N
Fire extinguishers provided, charged
and identified easily
42 No Smoking@ signs posted
43 For flammable and combustible
material separate storage area
44 Fuel containers properly labelled
Please your response back to us by email or by post (return cover is also sent to you) after
attending all questions.
Thank you for sparing your valuable time. Your feedback will be used to generate weighting
to factors affecting for safety performance of construction projects/sites.
Your additional remarks / suggestions:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Thanking you for giving valuable feedback and becoming part of my research work.
REPLY SENDING ADDRESS:
Pranav N. Patel
B-301, Ramdev Appartment,
Opp. Gangaba Panchal Chhatralaya,
Karamsad Road,V.V.Nagar,
Anand 388120 (GUJARAT)
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph No: 09909765333