Business Research Methodology: Hazards and SOPs for Construction Firms

This report delves into the hazards encountered by construction companies, using ABC Construction Limited as a case study in Melbourne, Australia. It examines physical hazards, such as noise, vibration, and machinery injuries, and their impact on workers and society. The report highlights the significance of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 in mitigating these risks and outlines the responsibilities of construction companies. It also analyzes Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for hazard management, including steps for assessing existing SOPs, identifying objectives for new ones, and enforcing them. The report further emphasizes the importance of employee training, skill assessments, and adherence to legal frameworks to ensure workplace safety and reduce accidents. The document includes a detailed analysis of the key steps involved in developing and implementing effective SOPs within a construction environment, focusing on employee training, skill assessment, and the critical role of safety officers and management in ensuring compliance and minimizing risks.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Business Research Methodology
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Part A
Answer to question 1
The main discussing matter of this report is to analyse the hazards that a
construction company has to face while running their business. ABC Construction limited is
company here. The company has been established in 1970 and is a bright name in this
construction business situated at Melbourne, Australia. This company is being engaged in
many heavy projects and successfully conducting their business for many years. However,
this company is not an exception in case of the hazards and cases are also lodged against the
company.
Answer to question 2
Hazards are the most possible outcome in case of running a construction business.
According to the manufacturing reports of Australia it has been observed that the
construction companies are not maintaining the provisions of the relevant legislations and
thereby sustained from losses and the workers of the projects are also getting inflicted by this.
The nature of the hazards can be divided into several parts that create impacts on the
individual and the society as well. One of the most common ways regarding the injuries are
physical hazards. The process of making a construction should be done with great care and in
case of any improper tactics and planning; there will be chances for muscle strains, cuts and
even the occasional casualties of the workers. Therefore, it is an obvious fact that the
construction companies in Australia are facing great dilemma over physical hazards due to
non-maintenance of the relevant provisions of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

2BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Answer to question 3
Physical hazard can be done at any time whether during the construction works or
after the completion of the projected work. There are two main reasons present in case of the
physical hazard such as noise and vibration. However, it can be stated that the scope of the
physical hazard is wide and it is not possible to limit the reason of the same within certain
specified grounds. There are various legislations enacted to assist the companies to avoid the
chances of physical hazards and Work Health and Safety Act 2011 is one of them. It has
prescribed certain guidelines for the management so that they can run their business
effectively and without infringing any provision of the Act. Certain penalties have been
mentioned for the offender in case they are not maintaining the relevant provisions and
guidelines. There are many cases pending before the court regarding the dilemma and deaths
causes during the construction projects. Considering all the case reports, certain framework
have been made regarding the most common physical hazards in workplaces and that are
being discussed as under:
 Falls
 Machinery injuries
 Enclosures or confined rooms
 Clatter
 Electrical energy.
Certain processes have been mentioned under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011
regarding consultation processes of the construction companies. It has been required under
section 46 of the Act to consult with the legal firm in case of getting important information
on the avoidance the detrimental effect of hazards. Consulting provisions have also been

3BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
mentioned for modernize the relationship between the employers and the employees (Koshy
2015).
Answer to question 4
Considering the grievous nature of the hazards reported against the companies, the
Australian government has implemented certain Acts with an intention to reduce the effects
of the injuries. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 is the most effective outcome of such
enactments and this Act is playing an important role in case of dealing with the hazardous
cases. This Act is working as a guardian for all the construction companies established within
the territorial jurisdiction of Australia. Duties have been imposed on the management
authorities of the construction company so that they can take all the possible steps to avoid all
the chances for accidents and provide maximum security to the workers. The relevant
provisions regarding those duties are mentioned under section 174 of the Act. It is the
responsibility of the construction companies to take all the necessary steps for the protection
and safety of the building and calculate proper drawing for the betterment of the structures.
All the relevant duties are being mentioned under section 23 of the Act. In this Act, there are
certain provisions that are dealing with the punishment process for the offenders. Offender
means the persons who are not abiding the rules mentioned under this Act. The duties of the
authorities have been mentioned under section 31 to 33 of the Act. It is the duty of the
companies to notify the workers to minimize the rate of accidents and hazards caused by the
same. In case they have failed to notify the same, they will be held liable under section 38 of
the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. It has been observed that today in Australia,
allegations are being made against the companies due to their unethical acts and non-follow
the rules of the Acts properly that leads to the ultimate detrimental hazards and the family of
the victims have to suffer irreparable losses. It is therefore stated by the Act and announced
by the governments to follow all the rules properly so that the companies can be able to avoid

4BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
the negative effect of the accidents. It is no doubt to mention that accidents can be occurred at
any time. However, it should be the ethical duties of the companies to try their best so that
reduction can be made in case of the constructional accidents and hazards.
Answer to question 5
The answer related to this part has been attached with the file as ppt slides.
Part B:
Answer to question 1
Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for XYZ Construction Private Company:
The term Standard Operating Procedure includes certain instructions that an
organisation should follow to help the workers during their routine operation. The main
objective of the process is to inject the ethical things like the efficiency and uniformity during
the performance. It is a mandate and the person not following the rules should have to face
legislative actions. It can be termed as safe work method statements. There are certain steps
mentioned for the betterment of the company to avoid the physical hazards or to deal with
those matters systematically. There are certain steps that are as follows:
Step 1-Analysis of the existing SOPs to tackle physical hazards:
It is important to assess the steps adopted by the company while dealing with the
hazards most commonly with the physical hazards and it is also important to analyse all the
existing standard operational procedures that are ubiquitous in nature and common in a
company. It is the duty of the higher management and the safety officers of the company to
deal with the safety measures and analyse the effects of the procedures on the company. It is
also their duty to assess the number and cause of the accidents that have been taken place in
many parts of the construction sites and it has also been observed that the company has to pay

5BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
a lot for the accidents. Therefore, it is also a duty of the officers to deal with the accounting
system of the company in order to assess the penalties and amounts due to the accidents
(Chong and Low 2014). If a case has been lodged against the company, it is the duty of the
officers to provide all necessary advice to the company regarding the legal provisions and
options available to the company in relation to the arbitrary matters. After providing all the
necessary advice to the company, the officers and the account department would prepare a
report that will show the usefulness of the standard operational procedures and to what extent
the process gets success dealing with the physical hazards. The main objective of the SOP is
to reduce the chances of accidents and loss of the resources that a company must have to
suffer during the accidents. It will also help to reduce the scope regarding the legal expenses
that is a obvious cause to deal with the legal matters pending against the company (Blaikie et
al. 2014).
Step 2-Identification of the objectives of the new SOPs to deal with physical hazards:
It is the utmost duty of the officers to point out all the loopholes that has been present
in the safety measures and also suggest the company to prepare a new SOP in case of any
such serious faults has been observed within the procedure. The idea of new SOP will help
the companies to concentrate over the strong points regarding the provisions of the physical
hazards. However, the intention of the new SOP is not only to give advice to the company but
also to provide necessary suggestion to the employees so that they can easily contact to the
company and deliver their grievance to the company and it will be the duty of the companies
to take all the possible action at that time. In this process, the company will be able to reduce
the financial cost and the life of the employees will not be at stake. It is important to provide
all the lay outs regarding the construction site and about the emergency exits. It is also
necessary to show the places where certain heavy machines are being stored and the chemical
details are also required to be mentioned under this planning. Proper training is required to

6BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
the employees regarding their dealing with the hazardous materials that are being used in the
construction site every day and from that harm can be occurred at any time.
Step 3-Enforcement of SOPs:
The management, the safety officers and onsite engineers should follow the
organisational procedures and WHS laws. They should then consult with specialised firms
who can advise them on physical hazard management and determine the safety training needs
of the employees posted in sites in Canberra.
a. Grouping of employees according to skill matrix:
The engineers and the safety officers should classify the workers posted in Melbourne
into five groups and present them on a matrix showing their skill. They lowest level should
be untrained group comprising of employees who do not have any prior safety training. The
second group of employees consist of learner employees who have limited safety skill and
cannot manage safety hazards independently. The third category of employees comprise of
practitioner employees who are capable of following safety measures under supervision
from superiors. The fourth category consists of operator employees capable enforcing safety
measures independently. The fifth category consist trainers who are capable of proving the
employees of other four categories with safety training (Demirkesen and Arditi 2015).
b. Determination of competencies of workers:
The safety officer should ask the employees to perform the safety actions to assess
their knowledge and competence to manage physical hazards. He can alternatively ask the
employees theoretically about managing physical hazards to check their skills (Jafari et al.
2015).

7BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4. Plan for a training session:
The safety officer at XYZ Construction Private Limited Company should plan a
training session for the employees posted at Canberra sites. The training session should aim
to improve the physical hazard management skills of the workgroup under the new SOP.
a. Using the training matrix:
The safety officer should recognise the performance issue in each employee like lack
of physical hazard management skill due to lack of knowledge. He should present the
performance gap or issue on a matrix and plan the training accordingly.
b. Key steps of delivery and consultation:
The safety officer should follow the following steps to deliver safety training to the
workers posted at sites in Melbourne:
1.The workers would be interviewed to test their skills and knowledge on managing physical
hazards.
2. The trainers would identify the area where the workers would require training to improve
their knowledge.
3 The training would consist of both in-house and on-the-job to enable the workers improve
their safety skills (Janicak and Cekada 2016).
c. Resources required:
The safety training of the workers would require the following resources:
1. Financial resources.
2. Equipments to offer trainings to the employees.
3. Human resources: trainers.

8BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4. Training room.
5. Selected sites to function as the on-job training sites.
d. Training cost analysis:
i) Cost of wages:
XYZ Construction Company Private Limited would be incurring wage cost of the
workers while training them. This is because the workers while receiving safety training will
not be able operate at the sites.
ii) The construction company would also incur cost time due to loss of productivity. This
is because the workers under the safety training would not be able to execute construction
services.
5. Following organisational procedures:
The safety officer wherever possible should follow organisational procedure to report
the training costs. This would help the management to control the training cost and reduce
unnecessary expenditures.
6. Training work group:
The safety officer should train the workgroup of workers on physical hazards
management according to the new standard operating procedures. The training procedure
would consist of using various methods like lectures, case study and on-the-job training under
the mentorship of the safety officer (Doran et al. 2015).

9BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
7. Follow up meeting:
The safety officer should conduct a follow-up with the Melbourne workgroup. This
would allow the officer to provide extra training or practice to the weak employees to fail to
achieve high level of safety performance (Lin et al. 2014).
8. Mentoring or coaching session:
The safety officer should mentor the workers and provide them with advices on
safety. This will help them to reach their performance goals of enhancing their physical
safety standards while working on the sites (Yoon et al. 2013).

10BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
References:
Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I. and Wisner, B., 2014. At risk: natural hazards, people's
vulnerability and disasters. Routledge.
Chong, H.Y. and Low, T.S., 2014. Accidents in Malaysian construction industry:
statistical data and court cases. International journal of occupational safety and
ergonomics, 20(3), pp.503-513.
Daniel, L., 2015. Safety leadership defined within the Australian construction
industry. Construction Economics and Building, 15(4), pp.1-15.
Demirkesen, S. and Arditi, D., 2015. Construction safety personnel's perceptions of safety
training practices. International Journal of Project Management, 33(5), pp.1160-1169.
Doran, C.M., Ling, R., Milner, A. and Doran, C., 2015. The economic cost of suicide and
suicide behaviour in the South Australian Construction Industry.
Edirisinghe, R., Lingard, H., Blismas, N. and Wakefield, R., 2014. Would the time-delay
of safety data matter? Real-time active safety system (RASS) for construction
industry. Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety.
Gibb, A., Lingard, H., Behm, M. and Cooke, T., 2014. Construction accident causality:
learning from different countries and differing consequences. Construction Management
and Economics, 32(5), pp.446-459.
Jafari, M.J., Gharari, M., Kalantari, S., Omidi, L., Ghaffari, M. and Fardi, G.R.A., 2015.
The influence of safety training on improvement in safety climate in construction sites of
a firm. Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention, 2(4), pp.257-264.

11BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Janicak, C.A. and Cekada, T.L., 2016. Regulating Forklift Safety: Strategies to Prevent
Injury & Improve Compliance. Professional Safety, 61(10), p.38.
Koshy, K., Rosen, M.A., Presutti, M. and Patel, M.A., 2015. The Effects of 10-hr
Construction Outreach Training: Knowledge Retention and Practical Application. Journal
of Safety Studies, 1(1), pp.15-29.
Lingard, H., Pink, S., Harley, J. and Edirisinghe, R., 2015. Looking and learning: using
participatory video to improve health and safety in the construction industry. Construction
Management and Economics, 33(9), pp.740-751.
Lin, K.Y., Tsai, M.H., Gatti, U.C., Lin, J.J.C., Lee, C.H. and Kang, S.C., 2014. A user-
centered information and communication technology (ICT) tool to improve safety
inspections. Automation in Construction, 48, pp.53-63.
Manu, P., Ankrah, N., Proverbs, D. and Suresh, S., 2013. Mitigating the health and safety
influence of subcontracting in construction: The approach of main
contractors. International Journal of Project Management, 31(7), pp.1017-1026.
Nadhim, E.A., Hon, C., Xia, B., Stewart, I. and Fang, D., 2016. Falls from height in the
construction industry: a critical review of the scientific literature. International journal of
environmental research and public health, 13(7), p.638.
Pinto, A., 2014. QRAM a Qualitative Occupational Safety Risk Assessment Model for
the construction industry that incorporate uncertainties by the use of fuzzy sets. Safety
Science, 63, pp.57-76.
Safe Work Australia. 2017. Guide to the model Work Health and Safety Act. [online]
Available at: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/guide-model-work-health-and-
safety-act [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].