3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Assessment of stakeholders' awareness of the construction health and and safety regulations on construction sites in South Africa(2018) Masimula, GcinithembaIn 2009, the Construction Industry Development Board commissioned the study of construction health and safety in South Africa, which revealed that despite the advancement in legislation in the form of the Construction Regulations promulgated in July 2003, health and safety performance in South Africa is still poor and the enforcement of the legislation by the Department of Labour Inspectorate was found to be lacking. The research established that there is a need for developing strategies that would cultivate the culture of health and safety necessary to improve compliance in health and safety amongst the people in the construction industry. This research report presents an assessment of stakeholders’ awareness of the construction health and safety regulations on construction sites in South Africa. The main objective of the study was to identify the reasons for the occurrence of accidents on the construction sites, despite the existence of health and safety legislation. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the mixed methods approach was employed to collect data from the construction industry stakeholders, namely contractors, clients and designers / consultants. The questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. The findings of the study indicated that health and safety is very important and should be prioritised just like any other issues in the construction industry. It was also found that human error, especially top management, is responsible for occupational accidents. This is because some organisations choose not to comply with the legislation on health and safety, while some workers choose not to utilise or fail to effectively utilise provided personal protective equipment prior to engaging in construction activities. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the Department of Labour Inspectorate should enforce health and safety legislation in the construction industry by regularly conducting site inspections and imposing penalties for non-compliance. It was also recommended that health and safety issues are every stakeholders’ business and therefore, every participant in this regard should play his or her role in ensuring better working conditions for the people in the construction industry. It was also proposed that the Construction Industry Development Board should utilise health and safety records for companies as a grading criteria and non-complying contractors be downgraded in order to improve their performance.Item Workers perceptions of the safety climate in the construction industry(2017) Bhimjee, Raksha VryjlallBackground The high rate of fatalities and injuries in the construction industry globally, requires that we focus away from the lagging indicators towards the leading indicators of safety and health. By giving attention to human factors, organisations can identify and isolate potential hazards or causes of risky behaviour before they lead to accidents or illness. One method of doing this would be to measure ‘leading’ indicators of safety such as the safety climate. Purpose This study describes the site workers’ perceptions of the safety climate at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital construction site in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. Research method A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey design using the Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire was used to elicit the workers’ perceptions of the safety climate. The questionnaire is organised into 7 safety climate dimensions. The number of respondents totalled 108 (51.7% response rate). Data obtained from each of the 7 dimensions, was analysed using the statistical package STATA version 14. Results The results revealed that 72.2% of the workers rated managements’ safety priority and ability as low. 57.4% of the workers rated peer safety communication, learning and trust in co-workers as low. 39.8% of the respondents had a positive perception regarding the site’s safety systems. Overall, the workers perception of the safety climate at the Nelson Mandela Children’s hospital construction site was fairly low with need for improvement. Conclusion The results and outcome of the study can be used to guide management to establish a positive safety climate and afford the opportunity to the workers to have a platform to reflect on their workplace safety motivations and choices. Key concepts: Safety climate, Perceptions, Construction industry, Site workersItem Designers' perspectives on early contractor involvement as a means to improve the safety performance on construction sites(2016-03-17) Mathenge, Njeri KarugaThe construction industry is one of the major industries in the world and has one of the poorest records in Occupation Health and Safety. In developing countries with improved political and economic stability in recent years, infrastructure developments have significantly increased which has implications for the industry to deliver projects safely. Many designers’ in the construction industry in developed countries believe that contractors have knowledge to offer concerning safety as they have the experiences from different projects and can pin point potentially hazardous risks in the design phase of the project and consequently improve on the Health and Safety and Safety Performance of a project. This research aimed to discover what designers’ in the South African construction industry perceived about the use of ECI in the industry and its effect on the safety performance on construction sites. A review of the literature showed that the designers in the construction industry had various perceptions towards trust and commitment of the contractor towards safety and liability issues among other concerns. Twenty-nine questions were identified, which formed the basis of the quantitative analysis that was undertaken. Five hundred architects, engineers and project managers were identified from the Gauteng Province of South Africa and a questionnaire survey emailed to them. A census sample was used in this research and despite the low response rate (9%) from the participants; the data collected was seen as representative of the population. Analysis of the data collected from this survey revealed that designers believe that the use of ECI in the construction industry may improve the safety performance of the project as well as including contractors earlier in the design phase may be beneficial in enhancing safety during construction. The research also revealed that the designers believe that contractors have knowledge to offer in designing for safety as well as identifying potentially hazardous risks that may elude the designers during the design phase. From the data collected, a number of recommendations were developed to promote the use of ECI in developing countries including a review of policies and guidelines in the construction regulations so as to boost the use of ECI and consequently reduce the number of accidents and fatalities in the industry and as well as improve the overall safety performance of construction sites in South Africa. The overall finding of this research show that the designers in the South African construction industry have a positive attitude towards the use of ECI in the construction industry and are ready to implement it mainly due to the fact that it has a positive impact on the health and safety of workers as well as the overall safety performance of construction sites.