Risks in construction
Discuss about the Problems Faced by Health and Safety Managers for Nature.
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.
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). 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 (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.
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).
Accidents
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).
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.
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).
Financial problems
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
Communication
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 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.
References
Ahadzie, D. K., Proverbs, D. G., & Olomolaiye, P. O. (2008). Critical success criteria for mass house building projects in developing countries. International Journal of Project Management, 26(6), pp. 675-687.
Aminbakhsh, S., Gunduz, M., & Sonmez, R. (2013). Safety risk assessment using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) during planning and budgeting of construction projects. Journal of safety research, 46, pp. 99-105.
Bust, P. D., Gibb, A. G., & Pink, S. (2008). Managing construction health and safety: Migrant workers and communicating safety messages. Safety Science, 46(4), pp. 585-602.
Dodo, M. (2014). The Application of Health and Safety Plan in Nigerian Construction Firms. Jordan, Journal of Civil Engineering, 8(1), pp. 81–87.
Hwang, B. G., & Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), pp. 272-284.
Hwang, B. G., & Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), pp. 272-284.
Kalejaiye, P. O. (2013). Occupational Health and Safety: Issues, Challenges and Compensation in Nigeria. Peak Journal of Public Health and Management. 1(2), pp. 16-23.
Kawuwa, A. S., Adamu, M. A., Shehu, A. & Abubakar, I. M., (2018). Health and safety Challenges on Construction Sites of Bauchi Metropolis. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 8(1). pp. 367-377.
Kines, P., Andersen, L. P., Spangenberg, S., Mikkelsen, K. L., Dyreborg, J., & Zohar, D. (2010). Improving construction site safety through leader-based verbal safety communication. Journal of safety research, 41(5), pp. 399-406.
Mearns, K., & Yule, S. (2009). The role of national culture in determining safety performance: Challenges for the global oil and gas industry. Safety science, 47(6), pp. 777-785.
Pinto, A., Nunes, I. L., & Ribeiro, R. A. (2011). Occupational risk assessment in construction industry–Overview and reflection. Safety science, 49(5), pp. 616-624.
Wilkins, J. R. (2011). Construction workers’ perceptions of health and safety training programmes. Construction Management and Economics, 29(10), pp. 1017-1026.
Zeng, S. X., Tam, V. W., & Tam, C. M. (2008). Towards occupational health and safety systems in the construction industry of China. Safety science, 46(8), pp. 1155-1168.
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