(University of Witwatersrand, 2016-10) Jameson, Destiny; Wray, Kathryn; Moolla, Riyaadh
The purpose of this research report was to investigate the extent to which current health and safety provisions are inadequate in gender sensitivity, and whether this increases the vulnerability of women leading to incidents and long term health implications on South African construction sites. Factors affecting women’s health and safety were analysed and possible recommendations on how to remedy and improve these factors were made.
This research provided a platform for both female operative and managers on site to express their perspectives and factual experience regarding issues on site, with particular attention paid to the availability and adequacy of PPE and sanitary facilities and the provisions, both locally and internationally, that govern these. The physical and, perhaps to a lesser extent, psychological consequences of these health and safety concerns are explored in our research.
The research design adopted was that of a positivist research philosophy, which utilised a mixed methodology approach and incorporated the usage of two instruments namely; a semistructured questionnaire, utilising both open and closed-ended questions, aimed at female site operatives and, secondly, interviews aimed at managerial personnel of the corresponding construction sites. In particular, 32 female site operatives participated in the study and a further 6 managerial personnel. Field data collection was limited to construction sites within the Johannesburg region and encompassed both commercial building sites and civil.