SRR720: Safety Management in Construction Industry Research Proposal

This research proposal examines safety management within the construction industry, recognizing it as a high-risk environment. The study aims to identify, analyze, and propose strategies for construction safety management to prevent accidents and injuries. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study will use interviews, secondary source reviews, and case studies. The proposal includes a literature review covering safety concepts, research gaps, and the significance of addressing construction site safety. The research will focus on identifying common accidents, their consequences, and effective safety management procedures, including a detailed timeline, scope, and limitations. The study intends to offer insights for policy formulation, contractor guidance, and improved worker safety, ultimately contributing to enhanced site performance and a safer working environment. The research also covers the methodology, rationale, and consequences of construction accidents, with the aim of providing recommendations to improve construction safety.

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SAFETY MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
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Professor’s name
University name
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Date of submission
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Table of Content
Executive summary.......................................................................................................................2
1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
1.1 Problem statement.............................................................................................................................5
1.2 Research Significance and Scope......................................................................................................5
1.3 Research aim and objectives..............................................................................................................7
1.3.1 Research aim...............................................................................................................................7
1.3.2 Research objectives....................................................................................................................8
1.4 Research Approach............................................................................................................................8
2.0 Literature Review....................................................................................................................9
2.1 Research Concepts and Contexts.......................................................................................................9
2.2 Review of Works by Others.............................................................................................................10
2.3 Research Gap...................................................................................................................................13
2.4 Significance of Addressing the Research Question..........................................................................13
3.0 Research Methodology..........................................................................................................13
3.1 Research Design..............................................................................................................................15
3.2 Research methodology Rationale.....................................................................................................17
4.0 Findings and Discussion........................................................................................................17
4.1 Major accidents in the construction industry...................................................................................17
4.2 Consequences of construction accidents..........................................................................................20
4.3 Safety Management Procedure........................................................................................................20
5.0 Timeline..................................................................................................................................22
6.0 Scope and Limitations...........................................................................................................23
7.0 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................23
8.0 References...............................................................................................................................25
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Executive summary
This research involves the study of the safety management in the construction industry. The
construction industry is considered as one of most dangerous working places. There is need to
control and prevent the accidents and injuries which occurs in the construction during the
construction process. Hence this research will focus on identifying and analyzing the safety
managements which should be put in place to prevent and control the construction accidents and
injuries. This research will employ qualitative research approach whereby different data
collection techniques will be applied. Some of the data collection techniques that will applied in
the collection of data include; Interviews, reviewing secondary sources which have relevant data
to the topic of study and studying cases studies of construction projects.
Safety management is defined as the procedures which are followed in identifying the safety risk
in any workplace and taking the most appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of the risk
materializing and preventing or completely eliminating it.
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1.0 Introduction
Safety in workplace is both an economic and humanitarian concern that requires proper
management and control which is expected to take care of all the risks and accidents in a
construction site. Investing in construction safety will increase site productivity which will in
turn lead to high profits, a boost in employee morale and decreased attrition. Past research have
shown that construction sites have posed a serious threat on the safety of its workers to the extent
of causing serious injuries and deaths ranking construction industry among the top jobs that are
prone to frequent mortality rates (Zin & Ismail, 2012).
Therefore, project managers are left to deal with this action by creating a setting in which
workers can be motivated and trained to be productive and safe at construction work.
Accordingly, accidents that occur in a construction site are mainly attributed by individual
factors and unsafe working conditions. Moreover, the main problem experienced is with falls
that affect the construction industry globally due to heights experienced during construction.
Safety in construction mainly deals with the physical wellbeing of employees other than the
psychological health effects that also adversely affect construction activities (Zin & Ismail,
2012). This should concern the government, employees and the project participants. Making
productive changes that address the safety standards to reduce construction accidents can
increase productivity, profitability; improve quality; and improve recruitment.
Addressing these issues is extremely relevant since failing to follow the required
principles in construction site can compromise the legal, moral, social, economic, psychological
frameworks of a society. Since the working conditions are constantly changing the health and
safety risks in construction are also becoming more diverse, thus developing new measures will
help address these risk factors (Schaufelberger & Lin, 2014). Furthermore, implementing risk
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management procedures in construction will significantly help in saving life, money, time and
increase the business reputation and goodwill. Moreover, the safety working conditions have
raised debates globally where safety laws and regulations have been given separate sections for
the construction industry.
Having safer working conditions will greatly help in alleviating poverty and developing
sustainable projects since construction is labor intensive in most of the developing countries. The
government is responsible in ensuring the safety of workers is at its best in any modern
construction. In order to ensure optimum safety in construction sites, certain parameters must be
achieved including the knowledge of handling machines such as cranes; proper sanitation; firmly
fixed scaffolding; plant and equipment hygiene practices (Rubio-Romero, et al., 2013).
Construction sites have cost the lives of majority of the workers, and leaving others
permanently crippled from construction related accidents. Moreover, job’s safety laws are not
carefully implemented. Majority of building sites do not have safety rules and if they do, the
regulatory authority poorly implements them. In Case of accidents occurrence, the outcome leads
to both direct costs and indirect costs like ‘medical bills, compensational premium benefits,
liability and loss of possessions’ and ‘delayed burial ceremonies, time consuming investigation,
down time on destroyed equipment and site closure risks respectively. An example is the scene
reported in Melbourne east at a construction site in Box Hill carne accident that killed a worker
and injured two who were rushed to hospital after a tub of concrete fell from a crane burying
workers alive in a heap of concrete and steel rubble.
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1.1 Problem statement
The study conducted was guided by a number of research questions as formulated below;
 What are the common accidents which occurs in the construction sites?
 What are the effects of the accidents which occurs in the construction sites?
 How can the accidents in the construction sites be reduced?
 What is safety management in construction?
What are the benefits of the construction safety management? (Hill, 2017, p. 67).
1.2 Research Significance and Scope
The significance of a safe workplace environment is a very important factor that has been
retaliated in various literatures because of the intrinsic hazard and the related risk factors that
seemingly underlie every work and their negative impact on any organization’s performance.
Risk can be defined as the probability of a worker or a person being harmed for experiencing any
form of adverse effect on health if exposed to any Hazard in our workplace. Likewise, hazard
can be defined as a situation or a source of potential damage to a person, property or machines.
However, it is believed that certain Industries can be more hazardous than others as such
construction industry is considered to be one of the worst hazardous Industries all over the world.
International Labor Organization affirms that one-in-seven fatal accidents at workplace occur in
construction sites. It further claims that at least 70, 000 accidents happen in construction sites
every year around the world. Similar allegations are made by Zin and Ismail, (2012). The fact
that construction work is highly prone to accidents does not mean that it is susceptible to control
measures, this largely depends on human efforts. Safety records implemented by the most
advanced countries in construction prove this fact to be true. Twort and Rees (2011) deduce that
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similar worrying trends on safety conditions still occur in construction sites in even the
developed countries such as Australia. However, it is most ironical that the causes of accidents
well-known and are all preventable yet these trends still persist.
As mentioned earlier, the risk factors of safety management procedures in construction can be
addressed simultaneously, in regards to the outlined objectives. The scope of the study based on
the information obtained throughout the research, will introduce a gap for future research on the
increase awareness of the safety standards in construction with the intention of managing the
risks to benefit the project's success.
The findings of this study will form the basis of formulating and implementing policies on safety
management on construction sites in Australia. Additionally, the findings will help in developing
a framework that will guide contractors and project managers on the safety measures on
construction site. At the end of this study, all the stakeholders involved in this industry will find
the findings in this research useful by picking up the factors that cause safety hazard on site. This
will ultimately help the construction industry to design safety measure that will help address the
safety of workers thus improving the site work performance. Moreover, this findings will
disclose the pool of knowledge lying in the shelves of libraries into a single flip of report will be
essential for the present and future generation with regard to a workplace safety.
Once different parties in the construction industry understand the concept of safety management,
there will be efficient communication between them. With enhance communication between
different parties and improved working conditions it will be much easier for the construction
companies to produce high projects within the given time frame and the allocated budget.
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The findings of this research will be very helpful to all parties involved in the construction. The
findings will enable the contractors and clients to understand the importance of having the safety
measures in place and how the safety management should be put in place to reduce the expenses
incurred due to the construction accidents and injuries.
The construction workers are involved in the day to day construction of projects will be able to
understand the health and safety standards in which they should work. By understanding the
conditions under which they are required to work it will be much easier to reduce the accidents
and injuries that are witnessed in the construction industry (Perezgonzalez, 2012, p. 88).
The findings of this researcher will be of great importance to the research since it will equip me
with the necessary knowledge regarding the health and safety measures in the construction
industry.
1.3 Research aim and objectives
1.3.1 Research aim
The main aim of this research is to give an overview of the safety management procedures in
construction industry and to discuss the common risk factors with their negative impacts in how
they affect construction. It will explore the strategies used by project managers to ensure safety
of workers is management at all cost with the view of designing and implementing more
advanced strategies to avert the dangers witnessed on construction sites.
1.3.2 Research objectives
In order to achieve the set out aims highlighted above, the following objectives were outlines;
i) Carrying out a detailed literature review about the construction safety management
ii) To find out what are the common accidents in the construction industry
iii) To find out the positive impacts of the construction safety management.
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1.4 Research Approach
This research will employ qualitative research methods, whereby the researcher will be seeking
information regarding safety health and safety management in the construction industry. In this
research, the researcher will state some specific hypotheses which will be compared to the
collected data. This research will employ an inductive research approach in which the researcher
will collect data and then analysis
There are many data collection techniques which are normally in the qualitative research
approach. the which will be used in the collection of data will be observation, whereby the
researcher will visit a number of construction sites and observe the health and safety measures
which have been put in place, this is also referred to as field research. The field research requires
prolonged. Systematic assessment of a particular setting. The researcher will take part in the
construction of some structures to observe the causes of the accidents which happens in the
construction sites (Goldsmith, 2018, p. 42). The data which will be collected from the
observation will record notes which the research will make during observation, this will include
impressions, quotes, and sketches.
The qualitative approach will be informed by logic, in which the potential understanding of a
given phenomenon is derived from the collected data
2.0 Literature Review
Safety management especially in a construction refers to a systematic way of classifying all
possible health and safety risks that might occur at the site and well planned procedures that
outline how the occurrence of the risks can be avoided and the possible effects of the strategies
put in place. This research will put emphasize on the various risks personnel in the field of
construction face while attending to their normal duties in their various places of work.
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2.1 Research Concepts and Contexts
The construction has been experiencing numerous cases of accidents that have occurred some of
the cases eventually turn fatal. These occurrences have led to the construction industry being
rated among the leading in occupational accidents thus ensuring the safety and health guidelines
are followed in construction sites will reduce the number of accident hence a good reputation
created for the construction industry. It is each country dream and vision to reduce the number of
occupational accidents and the construction industry not being an exception, has been tasked
with tough guidelines that will help with curbing the norm. Therefore it is very important that all
the possible accidents have been identified and that mitigation ways are arrived at and implement
to so to ensure the risks don’t get an opportunity of occurring.
Safety management motivates safety training which performs mechanical help and consciousness
of encompassing which is valuable to curb the occurrence of an accident and make the
development safe and simple to work. However, it is believed that there are a few systems
required for satisfying the exploration on this research topic. Safety management can be ensured
by permitting safe conditions for which collaboration, an aggregate personality, and authority
aptitudes to make this point effective. Safety management controls hazard routines and manages
associations. It dissects the hazard level and hieratical dimension to discover the errors and
comprehend the dangers required amid the development. It likewise decreases the work pressure
and mishaps. Additionally, safety management composes wellbeing society and solid association
to keep more secure to everybody at the building site. However, it must be finished by the
specialists and managers on that site. Despite the fact that the principle question emerges from
this, idea map is the thing that methodologies must be required to take care of the issue of
security the executives.
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2.2 Review of Works by Others
Safe work relies majorly on the preventive measures that have been put since the accidents that
occur in construction sites can be averted if the correct preventive techniques are put in place.
Setting up frameworks to ensure safety and health practices in development industry and
dependence on proper arrangement, thorough execution of frameworks, strategies and preparing
and successful checking would enormously help with lessening accidents in building sites. Some
of the common accidents that workers in the site while on site include;
The movement of and vehicles- This occurs to individual moving from one point of the site to
another. These persons can easily be hit by moving vehicles within the construction site.
Pedestrians can at times trip, fall on a slippery wet surface, being hit by flying objects, falling
from high building levels and being hit head by vehicles in the site.
Manual and mechanical handling hazards- Engaging once self with the carrying of very heavy
materials within the site causes a lot of body pain. Back pains are the most common ones due to
the long hours an individual engages him or herself in the carrying of the very heavy materials
within the construction site. Many casuals are seen carrying very heavy machine cut stones, bags
of cement and event mixed concrete in buckets. This activities normally lead to some injuries of
the body some of which can be fatal like if the backbone is tampered with. On the part of
mechanical equipment, handling of this equipment might cause damage to an individual. For
instance, an individual working for long hours in a mixer easily destroys his or her eardrums due
to the noise that always comes from the machines.
Work equipment hazard- In this scenario, hand tools are taken into account. Using this tool may
expose an individual to hazards like pieces of material jumping into the eye, hammering oneself
and even getting electrocuted when using electric driven gadgets.
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Physical and psychological health hazards-These incorporate the manual taking care of and
lifting of loads, pulling and pushing loads, delayed times of tedious exercises, working in dreary
condition and work with vibrating devices which result in musculoskeletal disarranges, for
example, back wounds, upper appendage issue and breaking down visual perception. Boisterous
working spot can prompt ear harm. Overabundance warmth and radiation as occurs in most
building sites may cause heat weariness and heat stroke. Most exercises in development sites are
done under a great deal of strain to meet set deadlines. These working environment stresses will
likely lead to both physical and mental sick wellbeing, for example, hypertension, peptic ulcers,
skin issue, gloom and even viciousness. Physically requesting work prompts physical exhaustion,
diminished profitability and inspiration, absentmindedness, misguided thinking, poor quality
work, work disappointment, mishaps and wounds. The impacts of liquor what's more, drugs can't
be neglected, maltreatment of these substances harms wellbeing and causes non-attendance and
decreases efficiency and lead to genuine mishaps in building destinations especially when
driving, working at statures or taking care of intensity devices.
Working at heights– According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) UK, working
At heights represents 50-60 deaths more than some other working environment action every year
in the UK. Most structure development exercises include working at some stature, for example,
block laying, putting solid fixes, material works, painting and enhancing window cleaning,
decimations and so on. The quick danger of working at heights is a fall which can result in
breaks, genuine body wounds or even demise. There is dependably the danger of falling objects,
for example, unbound burdens, unbound hardware or materials which can genuinely harm
development specialists and individuals from people in general.
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