Construction Industry: Problems Faced by Safety Managers

This report examines the multifaceted problems encountered by health and safety managers within the construction industry. It delves into various challenges, including the high-risk nature of construction, which leads to frequent accidents, and the resulting financial strains. The report highlights communication breakdowns, difficulties in employee relations, high turnover rates, and the complexities of employee retention. Furthermore, it addresses legislative hurdles, the need for effective safety policy regulation, and the importance of proactive risk management. The report emphasizes the need for managers to anticipate potential accidents, manage financial resources efficiently, and foster strong communication channels with workers. It also suggests recommendations to improve the health and safety of workers, including involving union leaders and conducting thorough site inspections to create a safer work environment. Overall, the report underscores the critical need for strategic and comprehensive approaches to address the challenges faced by health and safety managers in the construction sector.

Running Head: PROBLEMS FACED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGERS
Problems faced by health and
safety managers
July 13
2018
Problems of managers
in construction industry

PROBLEMS FACED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGERS
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Risks in construction..................................................................................................................2
Health and safety risks that managers may face in construction industry.................................3
Accidents................................................................................................................................4
Financial problems.................................................................................................................4
Communication......................................................................................................................5
Employee relations.................................................................................................................5
Employee turnover.................................................................................................................6
Employee retention................................................................................................................6
Legislative problems..............................................................................................................6
Regulating safety policies......................................................................................................7
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
In construction industry health and safety of workers at the site is an inevitable aspect for
manager. This is due to the nature of this industry that is being made of conglomerations of
various people from a wide range of backgrounds (Dodo, 2014). Occupational health and
safety of employees is an interdisciplinary course which involves practices of managers to
protect their employee’s health, safety, and welfare at the work place or construction site
(Kelajaiye, 2013). Nature of the work in construction sector makes it more complex and
dynamic. This complexity consists of several phases of the construction projects like
viability, design, demolition and clearance, plan, decommissioning, and execution.
Contractors in the industry often replace their workers and being an open environment in this
industry workers are prone to various diseases also. Statistics suggests that one out of sic fatal
accidents at workplace occurs in construction industry.
In this report a thorough discussion is made to understand some of the predictable problems
that project managers or executives may face in construction industry. These are the general
considerations for managers that what they can face while executing their work at the site.
Risks in construction
It has been regarded that the construction industry is the most hazardous place to work as the
level of health and safety risks are very high in this industry. Due to the complexity of work
construction industry is associated with various external and internal risks. To mitigate or
reduce these risks there must be a strict set of laws and regulations must be followed by the
managers of construction industry. The consistently changing environment of the
construction industry has made it important for managers to aware their employees about the
possible hazards and their prevention at work site (Ahadzie, Proverbs and Olomolaiye, 2008).

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In recent time the increasing number of accidents occurring at construction sites made it a
part of employers to take care of their employees in terms of their health and safety at
working sites. Risks at construction sites are may be of different kinds and can be
differentiated by their cause of occurrence. These causes may be any of the external as well
as internal factors. There are various external and internal factors that are causing risks on the
construction industry (Aminbakhsh, Gunduz and Sonmez, 2013).
Internal factors that may cause risks to a construction project are as contractual provision,
organization structure, lack of expertise, slow speed of mechanism, lack of work knowledge
and restricted financial capabilities. On the other hand the external factors which cause risks
to the construction industry are increasing globalization, quality certification and technical
development of allied industries. Construction industry may face different risks due to these
causes like financial risks, social risks, market reputation of the company, and quality
maintenance risks. All these risks are very prone to occur in this industry (Hwang and Ng,
2013).
Health and safety risks that managers may face in construction
industry
While managing risks in construction industry it should be noted that managers are not only
responsible to reduce or disappear a risk but they have to communicate such information to
the organization to avoid such situation in the future. Managers have to manage and
communicate risks by implementing effective risk management strategies. When it comes to
define risks in construction industry all the risks associated with the health of workers in this
industry can be described in six categories: Asbestos diseases, Silica disease, Noise-induced
problems, Hand vibration syndrome, dermatitis, and mesculoskeletal disorders. These are the
major risks that managers in construction industry are likely to face at construction sites

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(Mearns and Yule, 2009). All these risks need to be resolved or reduced to ensure their
employee’s health and safety at work place. Since the industry is more open and diverse in
terms of its workers there are more chances of such risks. Although these are the secondary
consideration of managers in this industry but still they may face such problems and they
need to reduce these.
All these problems may seem to be related with the employees only but in real practices these
are the major problems managers has to face in construction industry. Some other predictable
problems that managers may face at construction site are Communication problems, financial
problems, and other management related problems.
Accidents
Construction site working conditions changes frequently. These consistently changing
condition make it difficult to predict any accidental event before it occurs. And being the
executive of management at construction site managers have to find what accidents may
happen at the construction site. Although the industry id subjected to the health and safety
laws and regulation, many accidental events may take place at the construction site. These
accidental events are required to be managed by an effective management (Wilkins, 2011).
While ensuring the safety of workers at the construction site managers have to find out the
possible accidents that may happen at the time of project execution. Prediction of an
accidental accident and its possibility to take place are predicted by analysing the previous
cases of similar projects. Although construction projects do not match exactly with any of the
previously constructed project, still analysing similar projects can provide an idea about the
possible accidents and their possibility along with their consequences. In this way
construction managers may face the problem of predicting accidental events at the
construction site (Zeng, Tam and Tam, 2008).

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Financial problems
Managers are appointed to manage whole project in every aspect whether it is safety of
workers or profit of the organization. While managing different activities of the project
manager have to manage their financial resources also. Financial resources are very important
to manage other facilities to make the project successful in every aspect. When it comes to
the health and safety of workers managers have to manage their financial resource in such a
way that they can avail the required funds to ensure their worker’s safety at the construction
site. Financial resources are provided by the investors for their project with only a small
amount predicted before the project stats but due to the complex nature of construction
projects there may be any accidental hazard that may not be predicted before starting the
projects. In such cases health and safety managers have to manage their limited available
resources to manage these accidents effectively. Financial resources being limited to the
health and safety managers should be managed efficiently to ensure the safety of their
workers at site (Kawuwa, Adamu, Shehu and Abubakar, 2018).
Communication
Health and safety managers predict any accidental event that may happen at the construction
site. This is important to predict occurrence of accidental event before they occur but for
managers it is not enough to predict such events. Managers are responsible to communicate
this information to their workers to make them aware about the event that is going to occur in
the near future (Bust, Gibb, and Pink, 2008). An effective communication can ensure the
safety of workers. If workers are provided with the information about such incidents they can
prepare themselves to face that situation and can take precautions to ensure their safety in the
hazardous situation. Therefore, managers have to establish an effective communication
channel to communicate with their workers.

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Employee relations
Hazards of the construction industry are very prone to occur and may demoralize workers
who work in the same conditions. A health relation of mangers with their workers ensures
that they can make a better communication and can handle any situation with their combined
efforts. Dealing with hazardous events requires a combined effort from both the managers as
well as workers. Managers can form any strategies to reduce risks of health and safety of
workers but without an equal contribution of workers to resolve the problem it is not possible
to reduce such accidents effectively (Kines, Andersen, Spangenberg, Mikkelsen, Dyreborg
and Zohar, 2010).
Employee turnover
Consistent hazardous events may create an environment of fear for workers at the site.
Workers feeling unsafe may deny working for the organization until unless the organization
doesn’t ensure their safety at the work place. Increasing turnover of workers due to safety
issue can be faced by the managers in construction industry. Such dissatisfaction of workers
and leaving the work may create a high employee turnover for the company. Managers have
to deal with such situation and make sure that employees do not leave their organization. In
order to avoid such situation managers have to ensure worker’s safety efficiently. Therefore,
high turnover of workers because of the health and safety issues is a big concern for mnagers
in construction industry.
Employee retention
When it comes to deal with high turnover of employees managers need to retain their worker
with providing a suitable environment for them. This suitable environment in the construction
industry strongly intends to be safe for their health and hazards they may face at the work

PROBLEMS FACED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGERS
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site. Health and safety managers are responsible to create an environment that is employee
friendly and can influence workers to work there for a longer time period.
Legislative problems
Today construction industry has to comply with all the legislative laws and regulations made
by the local authorities to ensure the safety of workers at construction site. if due to any
reason organization miss to comply with these laws they may face legal challenges. In the
recent time the increasing accidents at construction site has made the rule to be followed
strictly. In this order health and safety managers have to take their responsibilities very
seriously. If there is any accidental event happens at the work site, workers have some laws
and regulation in their favour that may trouble managers significantly. To avoid such
situations managers has to manage risks efficiently and should also know the legislation of
local country.
Regulating safety policies
Health and safety managers are supposed to review their health and safety policies on a
regular basis. In the growing industry increasing accidents are creating a big problem for
managers in health and safety department. Health and safety managers are required to analyse
the previously occurred accidental incidents at other construction sites as well as at the same
site. After this analysis they have to make some policies that can resolve the problem of
worker related to their health and safety at construction site. Sometimes while making these
health and safety policies managers may face some serious problems like they may skip some
serious requirement of workers. They may miss some health issue workers are facing at the
site. In such cases managers are required to perform an effective analysis off the health and
safety requirements as well as demands of their workers in the same context (Pinto, Nunes
and Ribeiro, 2011).

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Recommendations
this report analysis of different problems that health and safety managers may face at the
construction site need to be reduced effectively. To reduce these risks managers has to follow
some strategic management of their responsibilities. Responsibilities of a health and safety
manager are regulating safety policies, inspecting site, investigating accidents, and many
more. This states that their management activities are interrelated with each other
significantly and a strategic approach to manage risks they may face is strongly
recommended for health and safety managers. Managers can also involve union leader of
their workforce to regulate their work on site. As discussed in the report communication of
managers with their employees is most important tool that can resolve most of the problems,
this communication can be made through union leaders. Also while inspecting the site
managers can face some problems related to the site situation therefore it si recommended tto
managers that while inspecting a construction site the must take help of workers to
understand the real situation at site. Managers looking for any issue at site can understand the
site condition and issues workers are facing at site with the help of working staff only. this is
because only working staff of the construction site can understand the issues they are facing
at the site.
Conclusion
Analysis of the report concludes that health and safety managers of the construction industry
also suffer from different problems while ensuring the safety of workers. Managers are
responsible for different tasks in order to manage the workforce at the construction site.
Managers also face same level of risk while performing their duties at the construction site.
All the responsibilities of managers are interrelated with the risks of workers and their
assessment that each step has to be complete with high precision. Health and safety mangers

PROBLEMS FACED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGERS
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can involve workers to manager their problems and create a healthy environment at
construction site by ensuring the safety of workers. This concern of health and safety
managers in construction industry requires significant contribution of workers too. This
report concludes that managers can solve their problems by combined efforts of themselves
and their workers.
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