ABSTRACT
The construction industry generally continue to record
relatively very high rates of workplace injuries and work related illnesses
compared to many other industries globally. The situation is even worse in
nascent economies where workplace safety laws and standards are far from
adequate and monitoring and evaluation of safety performance is either minimal
or practically non-existent.
There is growing empirical evidence suggesting that work
pressure has a positive relationship with work related accidents and injuries.
This study scrutinizes worker perceptions about the effects of work pressure on
their safety behavior and their exposure to accidents in the construction
industry in Ghana. The study adopts a descriptive survey approach and uses
primary data from a field survey of 187 construction site workers in Ghana. The
results of the empirical investigation suggest that there are high levels of
work pressure related accidents in the construction industry in Ghana. The
findings also point to the fact that work pressure is mostly caused by work
overload, delayed schedules, and a mismatch between employee skills and
allocated tasks. Recommendations made based on the findings, suggestions made
by the respondents of the study, and the reviewed literature include: construction
firms in Ghana should employ appropriate number of employees to reduce work
pressure caused by work overload; supervisors should encourage workers by
providing incentives for hard work and appreciate worker effort and
construction firms in Ghana should start projects on time.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The construction industry is one of
the most crucial sectors needed to propel the development agenda of every
nation. Almost every form of infrastructural development is undertaken through
this industry. However, despite its importance, the industry is faced with a
lot of safety issues. For instance, Suazo and Jaselskis (1993) opined that it
is the most hazardous industry. Also, the construction industry in the US makes
up only 6% of U.S. workers, but recorded about 20% of the employee fatalities
at work, which represents the highest recorded industry-specific fatalities
recorded in history (ILO, 2005).
According to HSE (2016), over the
past 25 years, the construction industry in the United Kingdom has been a
leadings accident prone occupation compared to other industrial sectors. This
is not different from China, where the construction industry is noted for its
high rates of work related accidents. According to Li and Poon (2009), there
has been a reduction of construction industry accident rates from 350 per 1000
workers in mid-1980s to 60 per 1000 workers by 2007. Despite the massive
improvement over the years, the industry still accounts for about 20% of total
work-related accidents among Hong Kong‟s industrial sectors (Lucy, Ian &
Ian, 1999; Choudhry, Fang& Ahmed, 2008). Also Hale, Walker, Walter and Bolt
(2012) opined that the construction industry is complex and quite inefficient
in handling worker safety issues. Similarly, Laryea and Mensah (2010) found
that the construction industry is increasingly evolving, presenting new safety
concerns. According to them, this evolution, coupled with high employee
turnover rates, makes the industry more risky than any other industry as
the safety awareness of employees is not always adequate (Sha, 2010). This is
supported by Khan, Suguna and Raghunath (2015)who reiterated that awareness of
the safety risk exposure and risk management practices in the construction industry
is low and the level of importance given to these issues is uneven at the
different levels within the industry (See also Shamsuddin, Ani, Ismail, &
Ibrahim 2015).The cost of accidents to construction firms has led many studies
to advocate for prevention and/or reduction in the rate of accidents in the
construction industry (Leopold & Leonard 1987; Kheni 2008). This led to a
paradigm shift in the approach to construction safety management globally.
The nascent economies of Africa
have recorded equally high rates of work-related accidents in their
construction industries. However, according to Loewenson (1999), reported data
on construction industry accidents are inadequate and unreflective of the real
facts on the ground. She attributes factors such as poor coverage of certain
employee clusters, poor ability of authorities to ascertain the causes of
disease and their relation to work, and the characteristics and bottlenecks
within the reporting systems in these countries. (International Labor Organization 2007;
Kheni, Dainty& Gibb 2008; Idoro2011). Ghana, like many emerging economies,
have a very fledgling construction industry characterized by low worker
awareness of safety management practices that are widely adopted by more
advanced economies coupled with some negative cultural factors. However, the
country‟s drive for socio-economic development and the improvement of social
welfare prompts the need for more infrastructural development. This stimulates
the need for appropriate measures to be put in place to ensure safety of
workers and reduced fatalities. This will enhance the safety performance of
the construction industry in the country and reduce the socio-economic cost
associated with safety related accidents for construction firms, their
employees and society as a whole.
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===================================================================Item Type: Ghanaian Topic | Size: 71 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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