Improving Safety Management at Willmott Dixon

This assignment explores the current state of safety management at Willmott Dixon, a construction company. It reviews relevant literature on safety management in the construction industry and identifies areas for improvement. The report suggests implementing different safety management plans, enhancing uniform systems, and demonstrating safety signs to increase awareness among workers.

Safety management in
construction industry

Table of Contents
Section – Introduction.....................................................................................................................1
Background of research...............................................................................................................1
Aims and objectives of research.................................................................................................1
Research questions......................................................................................................................1
Research rationale.......................................................................................................................2
Section – Research plan .................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................2
Research plan in terms of system of inquiry...............................................................................2
Description of one of inquiry methods in detail.........................................................................3
Week by week activities using annotated diagram.....................................................................3
Literature review ............................................................................................................................4
Introduction ................................................................................................................................4
Necessity of safety management in construction industry..........................................................4
Ways of maintaining safety at construction work place in Willmott Dixon...............................5
Impact of safety management on the performance of Willmott Dixon......................................6
Conclusion and Recommendation...................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................7
Section - References .......................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................8

TITLE :-
“ To determine the impact of safety management in construction industry : A case
study on Willmott Dixon”
Section – Introduction
Background of research
This is an important section of project that shows the reason of doing research. The
current investigation is based on a construction sector where by impacts of safety management
going to be described in detail. Here whole things are designed in context of Willmott Dixon
which is a famous privately owned construction company, having its headquarter in United
Kingdom. They have various business streams such as residential development, construction and
property support services. They are giving employment to around 3,203 workers that means they
are also obligated to care after such a large number of people (Zhang and Hu, 2011). For this, it
is very important to implement different kinds of safety measures at the working place as
numerous of dangers or hazards emerge there on regular basis. Therefore, the present research is
focusing on the importance of offering security and safety to employees in such a danger prone
area of construction.
Aims and objectives of research
Before staring any project, it is essential to design some aims and objectives so that rest
work can be completed in the same direction. Thus, some of the key aims and objectives
regarding this investigation is mentioned below :
Aims :
“ To determine the impact of safety management in construction industry : A case study on
Willmott Dixon”
Objectives :
 To minimise the chances of injury at construction sites
 Offering a healthy and danger free working environment to work forces
 To find out the impact of safety management at Willmott Dixon
Research questions
 What is the need of safety management in construction industry?
 Explain the ways of maintaining safety at construction work place in Willmott Dixon.
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 What is the impact of safety management on the performance of Willmott Dixon ?
Research rationale
This part determines the importance and scope of research. This project is very important
as it provides several ways of maintaining safety and security at the work place as so many
dangers exist at construction sites such as fall down from height, slipping, head injury and many
more health problems. Therefore, Willmott Dixon ought to enforce various safety plans at their
official location in order to safeguard their personnels (Yu and et. al. 2014). Researcher is taking
help of surveys, interviews, questionnaire, etc. for drawing the effects of implementing safety
management at the construction sites. Thus, they are filling the gap between the existed literature
by carrying out such new experiments. Therefore, investigator is attaining success in gathering
current information in terms of given topic and also collecting feedbacks and views of workers
who are still working in Willmott Dixon regarding maintenance of safety at official sites.
Section – Research plan
Introduction
This section of research is explaining different types of approaches for doing proper
investigation. There are mainly three types of research approaches that are induction, deduction
and abduction. These are referred as process of reasoning that can be used for drawing
conclusion and making predictions or constructing explanation.
Research plan in terms of system of inquiry
These three types of research approaches are also known as system of inquiry. Deductive
reasoning simply starts with assertion of common norms and proceeds from there to an insured
particular conclusion. In this technique, if the actual affirmations are true then it conclusion
should also be true. This method is called as aimed and testing theory (Santos and et. al., 2013).
It commonly starts with a hypothesis. The main difference between a deductive and inductive
reasoning is that first one is inter related mostly with quantitative research, where as the latter
one is associated with qualitative research. On the other hand, inductive reasoning generally
begins with observation which are limited and specific in scope to the broader generalisation and
theories. Thus, it is also known as bottom up approach. It is concerned with coevality of new
theories that may arise from the data. It is often refereed to in research literature and is
considered as grounded theory.
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Apart from this, abductive reasoning normally starts with an uncompleted set of
observations and carry out to the probable expected thought for the collection or set. This kind of
approach yields the type of day-to-day decision making which does its best with the data existed,
which remain in – completed. This is to be noted that it do not guarantee the conclusion.
Description of one of inquiry methods in detail
It is to be noted that research has taken inductive approach for doing investigation as it is
considered as one of the best method of exploring data and carrying out conclusion. The
investigator is going to conduct interviews of specific number of workers who are currently
working in Willmott Dixon. They are taking sample size of 20 people and collecting their
feedbacks so that they can draw correct conclusion and recommendation at the end of report.
Here whole work of researcher is based on the observations and concepts. But this is to be noted
that no hypotheses or theories will be applied at the beginning of investigation. Thus, researcher
is free for changing the direction for the study even after the setting of research processes. This is
important to stress that inductive technique does not show any type of irrespective of theories at
the time of designing research objectives and questions. In – stead of this, this method aims to
create meaning from the collected data set for identifying patterns and relationships in order to
generate a new theory. Still, inductive approaches do not bound investigator from utilising
existing concepts for making the research questions and its exploration.
Week by week activities using annotated diagram
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Literature review
Introduction
This section is very important for this research as this is used for gathering relevant
information regarding the topic of research. Here, different views of authors or scholars are taken
in context of importance of safety management at working site in a construction industry.
Researcher here take help of secondary sources like internet, newspapers, books, journals,
articles, etc. By using these resources, investigator can accumulated correct information in taking
care of essential facts and figures.
Necessity of safety management in construction industry
According to Reese (2015), it is recorded that multiple accidents take place in
Construction industry, which may be in the form of loss of money or human life. Hence, there is
a need of safety measures to be implemented to control the misfortune. This aspect should not be
consider lightly. In actual fact safety obligations should be highlighted in construction sites to
reduce the loss and injuries. Every employee in the construction site should be well informed of
the risks associated with that place. Hence, they need to be educated and trained with the rules
and regulations which will help them to hamper danger and damage. On the other hand, Pink
Tutt and Dainty (2012) says that Willmott Dixon have drafted proper safety system for their
workers. They have separate site manager who looks after the health standards to reduce
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collision and accidents. He is also responsible that all the workers should know how to use each
equipments like aerial lifts, trucks, electronic machines on the construction site. For this purpose
regular examination of the work place should be conducted to ensure that the work is performed
properly without any hindrances. Moreover, good health and safety guidelines help the company
to accomplish their tasks in given time frame and leads to establishment of positive relationship
with their clients. As employees are the important asset of any of the organization hence, their
safety is at priority thought that managers are also responsible in checking that all the machines
in the plant is working properly and is in secure working conditions. They provide safety tools to
the workforce in order to use it whenever the necessity arises.
Ways of maintaining safety at construction work place in Willmott Dixon
According to the views of McGeorge and Zou (2012), Willmott Dixon should supply
various safety and health courses to their members such as:
Safety tools- This is the one day course of safety measure which give knowledge about various
tools to leaders which they can use on construction site.
Programme for Site manager- This is the five day programme in which site manager of the
company is trained to handle the health issues on the work place in agreement with current rules
and regulations.
Scheme for Supervisors- It runs for two days in which team leaders, first line managers, foremen
are trained with safety, health and environmental aspects.
Construction Skills Certification Scheme(CSCS)- It is included in the policy that all the workers
are authorized to the CSCS scheme.
On the other hand, Han and Lee (2013) stated that Willmott Dixon also have the policy of proper
uniform system for the workers. Like workers working in the construction site is instructed to
wear hard hats every time whenever they are working in danger zone areas of the work site.
Demonstrating the safety signs to make awareness in the workers. Posting Emergency exit to
various doorways helps the staff members to escape when ever the emergency condition takes
place in the working area. The safety measure also includes proofing the whole building which
involves rubber padding, de icing the stairways in the office area, mats to protect slippery
footings which helps in gaining the peace of employee's minds.
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Impact of safety management on the performance of Willmott Dixon
Through applying various safety measures at Willmott Dixon their performance have
increased at higher level. As per the viewpoint of Dong and et. al. (2011), firstly, waste
management have achieved at construction sites. The waste is directly linked to the amount of
work perform in the industry. More the work is done, the more waste is produced. These wastes
are very harmful hence proper management should be done to overcome the harm associated
with it. On the contrary, Eriksson and Westerberg (2011) says that recycling is also the best way
to re - use the waste which can be again put in use by the industry. Proper implementation of the
safety measure also leads to the reduction in number of accidents and hazards as rules and
regulations are followed in proper manner hence the performance rises in a subsequent manner.
The project is completed in a given time which leads to the fulfilment of client's request and
hence they remain happy with the company's performance. This is the main aim of the
organization to increase their performance from one year to next year so that they can able to
establish the successful image in the market place along with their competitors. Thus, it can be
said that management of safety and security is impacting positively on the working of cited
corporation and helps them in increasing trust of their employees on them. Thus, Willmott Dixon
can also improve employee relation by making positive and healthy relationship among their
work forces.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusion
From the above based report, it can be concluded that it is very important to maintain
safety and security at construction sites as numerous of risks are present there. For instance,
Willmott Dixon should enforce some safety plans at their working place so that they can
safeguard their personnels and offer them proper care so that they do not face any kind of danger.
Company can do appropriate management of wastes in order to keep a healthy working
surroundings. Some of the techniques that can be utilised by cited firm are programme for Site
manager, scheme for supervisors, construction skills , certification scheme, etc. for creating a
better work place that would be free from every kind of dangers. In addition to this it can
summarised that these safety schemes has been impacting positively on the performance of
venture and are proved to be very beneficial for every firm.
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Recommendation
After carrying out this research, investigator has provided some of the suggestions to the
Willmott Dixon so that they can do further modification in their strategies and create positivity at
working place. Some of the recommendations are mentioned below :
 Willmott Dixon should implement different safety management plans which has been
explained in this report . For example, they can establish different programme for Site
managers, schemes for supervisors, certification scheme, construction skills , etc. in order
to make their personnels so much capable or talent that they can manage all the risks by
their own.
 Willmott Dixon also have the policy of proper uniform system for the workers. For
instance, individuals working in the construction site is instructed to use hard hats every
time whenever they are working in danger zone areas of the work site. Demonstrating the
safety signs to make awareness in the workers.
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Section - References
References
Books & journals
Dong, X. S and et. al., 2011. Injury underreporting among small establishments in the
construction industry. American journal of industrial medicine. 54(5). pp.339-349.
Eriksson, P. E. and Westerberg, M., 2011. Effects of cooperative procurement procedures on
construction project performance: A conceptual framework. International Journal of
Project Management. 29(2). pp.197-208.
Han, S. and Lee, S., 2013. A vision-based motion capture and recognition framework for
behavior-based safety management. Automation in Construction. 35. pp.131-141.
McGeorge, D. and Zou, P. X., 2012. Construction management: new directions. John Wiley &
Sons.
Ness, K., 2012. Constructing masculinity in the building trades:‘most jobs in the construction
industry can be done by women’. Gender, Work & Organization. 19(6). pp.654-676.
Pink, S., Tutt, D. and Dainty, A. eds., 2012. Ethnographic research in the construction industry.
Routledge.
Reese, C. D., 2015. Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach. CRC
press.
Santos, G and et. al., 2013. The main benefits associated with health and safety management
systems certification in Portuguese small and medium enterprises post quality
management system certification. Safety science. 51(1). pp.29-36.
Yu, Q.Z., Ding, L.Y., Zhou, C. and Luo, H.B., 2014. Analysis of factors influencing safety
management for metro construction in China. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 68,
pp.131-138.
Zhang, J. P. and Hu, Z. Z., 2011. BIM-and 4D-based integrated solution of analysis and
management for conflicts and structural safety problems during construction: 1.
Principles and methodologies. Automation in construction. 20(2). pp.155-166.
Online
Safety management and construction sites. 2017. [Online].
<https://safetymanagementgroup.com/contractor-safety-management-process-csmp/>.
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