CONSTRUCTION SAFETY AND HEALTH PERFORMANCE IN DUBAI A Dissertation (D31ZZ) Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Construction Project Management in the Graduate School of Built and Environment, Heriot Watt University
By MICHAEL KOSMAN SADEK ZEKRI H00112628
AUGUST 2013
Statement of Authorship
DECLARATION I, MICHAEL ZEKRI, confirm that this work submitted for assessment is my own and is expressed in my own words. Any uses made within it of the works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, equations, figures, text, tables, programmes) are properly acknowledged at the point of their use. A full list of the references employed has been included.
Signed: …………………………….
Date: ……………………………..
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Table of Contents Statement of Authorship .................................................................................................... i Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. ii List of Tables.................................................................................................................... vi List of figures .................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................viii Abstract ............................................................................................................................ ix Glossary of abbreviations.................................................................................................. x 1.
Chapter-I: Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 1.1.
Background of Study .......................................................................................... 1
1.2.
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................... 1
1.3.
The Significance of Study ................................................................................... 2
1.4.
Aim of the Study ................................................................................................. 3
1.5.
Objectives of the Study ....................................................................................... 3
1.6.
Questions of the Study ........................................................................................ 3
1.7.
Rational for the Study ......................................................................................... 3
1.8.
Limitations of the Study...................................................................................... 4
1.9.
Basic Assumptions of the Study ......................................................................... 4
1.10. Methodology of the Study .................................................................................. 4 1.11. The Organization of Study .................................................................................. 5 2.
Chapter-II: Literature Review ................................................................................... 6 2.1.
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 6
2.2.
History of Safety and Health............................................................................... 6
2.3.
Construction Safety and Health in the Middle East ............................................ 8
2.4.
Construction Safety and Health in UAE ............................................................. 9 ii
2.5.
Factors Affecting Safety and Health Performance ........................................... 11
2.5.1.
Complexity of the design ........................................................................... 12
2.5.2.
The Type of Owners .................................................................................. 12
2.5.3.
Weather conditions .................................................................................... 12
2.5.4.
Project Cost ................................................................................................ 14
2.5.5.
Project Duration ......................................................................................... 15
2.5.6.
Safety and Health Policy............................................................................ 15
2.5.7.
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report .................................................. 16
2.5.8.
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill ........................................................................ 16
2.5.9.
Risk Assessment ........................................................................................ 17
2.5.10. Safety and Health Training ........................................................................ 17 2.5.11. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ....................................................... 18 2.5.12. Emergency Planning and Procedures ........................................................ 18 2.5.13. Safety and Health Inspections.................................................................... 19 2.5.14. Safety and Health Management Meetings ................................................. 19 2.5.15. First-Aid Arrangements ............................................................................. 19 2.5.16. Welfare Facilities ....................................................................................... 20 2.5.17. Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades ......................................................... 20 2.5.18. Work environment ..................................................................................... 21 2.5.19. Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) ........................................... 21 2.5.20. Role of Government and Engineering Societies ........................................ 22 3.
Chapter III: Methodology ....................................................................................... 23 3.1.
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 23
3.2.
Study Design ..................................................................................................... 23
3.3.
Study Location .................................................................................................. 24
3.4.
Study Population ............................................................................................... 24
3.5.
Sample Size ....................................................................................................... 24
3.6.
Pilot Study......................................................................................................... 25 iii
3.7. 4.
Questionnaire Design ........................................................................................ 26
Chapter IV: Data Analysis ...................................................................................... 28 4.1.
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 28
4.2.
Company and Current Project Information....................................................... 28
4.2.1.
Job Title of Respondents............................................................................ 28
4.2.2.
Contractors Classification .......................................................................... 29
4.2.3.
Working Experience of Company ............................................................. 29
4.2.4.
Company Expenditures on Safety and Health ........................................... 29
4.2.5.
Type of Projects ......................................................................................... 31
4.2.6.
Total Number of Employees ...................................................................... 31
4.2.7.
Cost of Construction (AED Million) ......................................................... 31
4.2.8.
Duration of Construction (Month) ............................................................. 32
4.2.9.
Respondent – Working Experience (year) ................................................. 33
4.2.10. Total Man-hours Worked........................................................................... 33 4.3.
4.3.1.
Safety and Health Administration Staff ..................................................... 34
4.3.2.
Certified Safety and Health Persons at workplace ..................................... 36
4.4.
Accidents Causes, Outcomes and Reasons ....................................................... 38
4.4.1.
History of Fatality Accidents ..................................................................... 38
4.4.2.
Cause of Injury........................................................................................... 39
4.4.3.
Treatment Outcome Details ....................................................................... 40
4.4.4.
Causal Factors Causing Accidents ............................................................. 41
4.5.
5.
Safety and Health Manpower............................................................................ 34
Authority Rules and Actions ............................................................................. 41
4.5.1.
Safety and Health Inspection by Authority................................................ 42
4.5.2.
Safety and Health Certificates to Work by Authority ................................ 43
4.6.
Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance ............... 44
4.7.
Analysis for Agreement of Ranking ................................................................. 45
Chapter V: Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................... 46 iv
5.1.
Summary of the Study ...................................................................................... 46
5.2.
Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 46
5.3.
Recommendations ............................................................................................. 48
5.4.
Future work ....................................................................................................... 49
References ....................................................................................................................... 50 Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix A – Sample of Questionnaire Used For the Survey ................................... 58 Appendix B – Certificate of Conformity Forms ......................................................... 62 Appendix C – RII Calculation Details ........................................................................ 66 Appendix D – Kendall coefficient of concordance (W) Calculation .......................... 70
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List of Tables Table 1 - The most common causes of injuries in U.K. - 2011-2012 ............................... 2 Table 2 - summary of factors affecting the safety and health performance .................... 11 Table 3 - Required number of first aiders ....................................................................... 19 Table 4 - Numbers of registered contractors in DM 2013 .............................................. 24 Table 5 - Classification of sample size ........................................................................... 26 Table 6 - Factors affecting the safety and health performance in construction projects. 27 Table 7 - Classification of participated companies under each authority ....................... 29 Table 8 - Relation between the level of satisfaction and the category of the company .. 30 Table 9 - Relation between the level of satisfaction and the govern authority ............... 30 Table 10 - Type of current projects surveyed ................................................................. 31 Table 11 - Respondent – Working Experience (year) ..................................................... 33 Table 12 - Total man-hours worked ................................................................................ 33 Table 13 - Distribution of safety and health administration staff ................................... 35 Table 14 - (A) Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace ............ 36 Table 15 - (B) Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace ............ 37 Table 16 - Number of fatality during work from 2005 to 2012 ...................................... 38 Table 17 - Year of fatality during work .......................................................................... 38 Table 18 - Fatality category ............................................................................................ 39 Table 19 - Cause of injury in construction sites - rates ................................................... 39 Table 20 - Rate of treatment outcome details ................................................................. 40 Table 21 - Rate of the causal factors causing accidents .................................................. 41 Table 22 - Rate of safety and health inspection by authority.......................................... 42 Table 23 - RII and ranking of safety and health performance factors ............................ 45
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List of figures Figure 1 - Contribution of construction activity in GDP at current prices in Dubai. ........ 4 Figure 2 - Humidex from temperature and relative humidity readings .......................... 13 Figure 3 - Job titles of respondents ................................................................................. 28 Figure 4 - Level of satisfaction against company’s category and the govern authority . 30 Figure 5 - Total number of employees ............................................................................ 31 Figure 6 - Cost of construction (Million Dirhams) ......................................................... 32 Figure 7 - Duration of construction (Month) .................................................................. 32 Figure 8 - Total man-hours worked ................................................................................ 34 Figure 9 - Distribution of safety and health administration staff .................................... 35 Figure 10 - Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace ................. 37 Figure 11 - Distribution of fatality accidents among companies .................................... 38 Figure 12 - Cause of injury in construction sites - rates ................................................. 39 Figure 13 - Rate of treatment outcome details ................................................................ 40 Figure 14 - Rate of the causal factors causing accidents ................................................ 41 Figure 15 - Rate of safety and health inspection by authority ........................................ 42 Figure 16 - Authority performance regarding issuing safety and health certificates ...... 43 Figure 17 - Safety and health certificates issued by all authorities ................................. 43
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Acknowledgments I want to acknowledge and thank a number of individuals who have made important assistances to the development of this dissertation. I would firstly like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Hagir Hakim who inspired me to complete this dissertation; Heriot Watt library and their massive resources of data and information; Dubai government and their transparency of providing all data and statistics online; safety and health professionals who helped to design the questionnaire; my beautiful wife who supported and encouraged me for the last two years to complete this master degree. I would also like to acknowledge the persons who took share in this dissertation. I am mindful of a quote which has provided me with motivation and inspiration throughout this dissertation. “We have succeeded because we have always believed that tomorrow is a new day, that yesterday's achievements are in the past and that history will record what we achieve in the future, not what we have achieved in the past.” H.H. Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
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Abstract Researchers had agreed that, construction industry one of the most hazardous industries worldwide due to its unique nature. The environment of the construction industry is risky which make it very essential to pay more attention to improve the construction safety and health at the workplace. Few studies had been conducted in construction safety and health performance in UAE. However, no study yet had been published for the Emirate of Dubai to identify the safety and health performance among companies and authorities. Fiftyeight (58) construction companies that were qualified and registered in Government of Dubai – Department of Economic Development and classified as first, second and third categories which are working in Dubai under DM, DTMFZA, and TRAKHEES had participated in this study. The objectives of this study are to analyse the performance of each category of construction companies and each govern authority, to identify the factors affecting the construction safety and health performance, and to improve the safety and health of construction companies and authorities. Twenty factors (20) were identified through literature review and conducted in the questionnaire survey. The degree of impact of these factors on safety and health performance were evaluated based on a five point Likert scale. The collected data were evaluated and the RII for each factor were found, consequently these factors were ranked and tested for agreement. The ranks were varied among each category and total ranks were established for these factors to all categories. It was concluded that the most important main factors affecting the safety and health performance in Dubai are; work environment, safety signals, signs and barricades, project cost, the role of government and engineering societies, and PPE. Other factors were important for the first category of construction companies like; safety and health policy, risk assessment, and safety and health inspection which should be more valuable for the rest of categories. Moreover, TRAKHEES had the best performance regarding the implementation of safety and health regulations comparing with DM and DTMFZA. At last, to improve the safety and health performance of construction companies and authorities, a set of recommendations were suggested and future researches were proposed.
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Glossary of abbreviations
AFR
Accident Frequency Rate
ANSI
American National Standards Institute
BLS
Bureau of Labor Statistics
COC
Certificate of Conformity
DEC
Dubai Economic Council
DSC
Dubai Statistics Centre
DM
Dubai Municipality
DTMFZA Dubai Technology And Media Free Zone Authority EU
European Union
HSE
Health and Safety Excusive
ILO
International Labour Organization
JAFZA
Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority
OHS
Occupational health and safety
OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PPE
Personal Protective Equipment
RII
Relative Importance Index
UAE
United Arab Emirates
U.K
The United Kingdom
U.S.A
The United States of America
WHO
World Health Organization
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1.
Chapter-I: Introduction 1.1.Background of Study Construction sites are still one of the most dangerous workplaces because of high incidence of accidents, (Kines, et al., 2007).
The construction industry is
characterized by its fragmented structure in the production phase and it needs for coordination of different interdependent trades and operations. The nature of the construction work is dangerous and risky which make safety and health are issues to be considered and advocated the idea that safety and health of persons are no luxury but a necessity, (Tam, et al., 2004). In the past few years the safety and health awareness has been increased in the construction industry because the improvement of safety and health culture. (Fung, et al., 2005), found that, the positive safety culture helps controlling and reducing the construction costs and increasing work efficiency. So, for the benefits of the construction companies are to take the necessary actions to manage safety and health on workplace, (Koehn, et al., 1995).
Large construction
companies have better safety and health management performance than the medium and small companies (Hinze & Harrison, 1981); (Hinze & Raboud, 1988), which often have informal safety and health programs, (Tam, et al., 2004). 1.2.Statement of the Problem Safety and health are always been a frequent issue in the construction industry due to its unique and dangerous nature. In United Kingdom (U.K), it was reported that in 2011-2012, the construction industry had (49) fatal injuries accounts (28%) of fatal injuries of the industry sections. There were (2230) reported major injuries and (5391) reported over (3day) injuries. Even those numbers are lower than previous years, but still consider to be very high compared to another industry see (Table 1). Falls were the main cause of fatalities accidents. However, handling was the main cause of over three day injuries, (HSE, 2013).
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Table 1 - The most common causes of injuries in U.K. - 2011-2012 Major Over Three Injury Kind Fatalities Injuries Day Injuries 51% 29% 10% Falls Being struck by a falling/moving 16% 13% 12% object 10% A collapse 4% Being hit by a moving vehicle 10% Electricity 25% 23% Slips, trips and falls on the level 11% 31% Handling
In the United States of America (U.S.A), fatal injuries in the private construction sector were (721) cases in 2011, which made construction to be in the second position of the most fatal industry of all sectors. Even it was decreased (42%) of 2006 statistics, but obviously this was due to the recession and the decreasing of the construction industry, (BLS, 2012). The construction industry in the European Union (EU), estimated to have (2744) fatal injuries in 2010 of a total (4395) cases of all industries, (Eurostat, 2012). Previous statistics showed that, the industry has a very poor safety and health performance record, (Chua & Goh, 2004). Thus, this study intends to examine the health and safety performance in the construction industry in Dubai. Generally, workers are the main reasons behind accidents, but management is responsible for the prevention of accidents or incidents, (Petersen, 1971). So, the management failures consider to have the real reason behind accidents as by law, (Fang, et al., 2004). Therefore, reviewing sometimes hard lessons of the past can contribute to a safer future. 1.3.The Significance of Study Humanitarian concern, economic considerations and legal considerations are the main reasons which make the safety and health are important. So, injuries, illnesses, or damages due to accidents in construction industry are often costly in regard of financial and human terms. Therefore, safety and health are concerned with reducing the rates of injuries, illnesses, or eliminating the hazards at the workplace, to reduce that cost. So, preventing accidents is the main significant point to improve the safety and health in the construction industry and that can be achieved by increasing the awareness of all concerned persons and by identifying areas of safety and health deficiencies in construction industry. It is to the 2
advantage of construction companies to identify the factors affecting construction safety and health performance. This will support the construction companies to take the essential provisions to control these factors before they happen and to be aware of them when they arise during construction. This will lead to improve the overall performance of the company and enhance the safety and health record. So it is a recognised way of growing morale and productivity of workers which in turn improves the company's image. Accordingly, this study is to benefit the construction industry in particular and all industries in general. 1.4.Aim of the Study The aim of the study is to evaluate and improve the construction safety and health performance in Dubai. 1.5.Objectives of the Study
Assessing, the level of the safety and health performance in construction companies and evaluating the authorities’ performance.
Identifying and analysing, the most important factors that affect safety and health performance in construction projects.
Exploring methods to implement occupational safety and health best practise. 1.6.Questions of the Study What is the relation between safety and health performance, the category of the construction companies, and govern authority in Dubai? How to improve the construction safety and health performance in Dubai? 1.7.Rational for the Study United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the fastest growing and most developed country in the Middle East.
Dubai witnessed an extraordinary growth in
construction industry in the last decade. Major iconic projects were constructed during that time like Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai Metro, Dubai Airport Terminal 3, Dubai artificial archipelago, and thousands of residential, commercial and industrial projects. According to the organizers of the Conmex construction machinery exhibition, the number of cranes which were operating in Dubai was approximately 25% of the total cranes operating in the world, (GulfNews, 2006). Rapid growth of the construction industry in Dubai is often accompanied by frequent occurrences of construction accidents. After analysing the data obtained from Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) and Dubai Economic Council (DEC), it is 3
obvious in 2008 the construction industry was at its best and decreased gradually to reach (8%) in the third quarter of 2012 due to the consequence of the world recession in 2008, (DSC, 2013); (DEC, 2013), see (Figure 1). In other words, the contribution of the construction sector in Dubai GDP, make it an important industry of Dubai economic. Figure 1 - Contribution of construction activity in GDP at current prices in Dubai. 16.00% 14.00%
13.60% 12.7… 11.90% 11.20%
12.00% 11.00% 11.80%
12.00% 10.00%
9.40% 8.50% 8.00%
11.7…
8.00%
8.00%
8.00%
6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 0.00% 1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Contribution of construction activity in GDP at current prices in Dubai
Only few studies had been conducted in the construction industry about health and safety performance in UAE, while no studies about Emirate of Dubai had been published so far which led to the need of this study. 1.8.Limitations of the Study The study is limited to the medium and large construction companies in Dubai that are classified as First, Second, and Third categories in building works. 2013 is the year which reflect the current state of the study. 1.9.Basic Assumptions of the Study The study aim the contracting companies only in Dubai, as main contractors are the focal point. Only first, second and third categories of building contracting companies are to be considered in this study. 1.10.
Methodology of the Study
The study methodology will include steps, which can be summarized in the following points: First, carry out a review of previous works which were concerned to the subject of this study. The purpose of the review is to demonstrate the history of safety 4
and health performance worldwide, and to identify the factors that affect the safety and health performance in construction companies. Second, collect data via a questionnaire survey to assess the safety and health performance of construction companies and govern authorities, and to evaluate the factors that affect the safety and health performance identified in the literature review. Third, perform analysis of data using appropriate statistical techniques. Fourth, ranking results in relation to their importance, and testing the results for the degree of agreement. Fifth, Report and discuss results and major findings to introduce conclusions and recommendations. 1.11.
The Organization of Study
This study is divided into five chapters, references and appendixes. It includes the following:
Chapter I, presents an introduction to the study which includes: the background, the statement of the problem, significance, aim, objectives, questions, rational, limitations, assumptions, methodology, and the organization of study
Chapter II, presents the literature review which includes the history of safety and health performance in worldwide, in the Middle East, and in UAE. Further, it includes the studies and researches which had been made to identifying the factors affecting the safety and health performance in the construction industry.
Chapter III, discusses the study methodology which includes: information about the study design, study location, study population, pilot study, and the questionnaire design.
Chapter IV, presents and discusses, the statistical data analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaire survey, and the tables and graphics deduced from statistical analysis and statistical results.
Chapter V, summarizes the results and major finding, to present the conclusions, recommendations of this research, and a proposal of future works.
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2.
Chapter-II: Literature Review 2.1.Introduction First part of this chapter, describes the stages which health and safety issue came through since the early beginning. Moreover, it shows the performance of health and safety in the Middle East and then in UAE. Second part demonstrates the factors affecting health and safety performance in construction industry. 2.2.History of Safety and Health “We must seek to understand the hazards we live with.” This was maybe the earliest documented safety statement which announced by E. I. du Pont during establishing the gunpowder factory in U.S.A in 1802. As it had the first safety precautions which were taken into consideration during the design and construct of the building, (Klein, 2009). However, it was individual act by employer and was not law or regulation. From early beginning till 1916, all works were under “the common laws”, which made the employees were responsible about themselves and the risks of their works. After 1916, the workers’ compensation law were deemed by the government which enforce the employers to be responsible for their workplaces' safety and health. Subsequently, the employers required to provide and pay for medical care and lost wages due to on-the-job incidents.
This is a moral
responsibility before it is a duty, (Reese, 2003). However, as the law enforce the employers to pay for injuries occurring on the work place, it will be better financially to stop the injuries from happening at first place. Eliminating the hazardous that exist in the work places was the first step to make an organized industrial safety movement. During the first twenty (20) years of the safety movement, the death rate declined significantly, (Petersen, 1971). On April 1971, Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) became effective and applied to more than five (5) million businesses including sixty (60) million workers in U.S.A, (Hammer & Price, 2000). Occupational health and safety (OHS) management protects the safety, health, and welfare of people at the workplace. The International Labour Organization (ILO) 6
and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a common definition of occupational health. The definition reads: “Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job”, (Guidotti, 2011). Safety defined as the condition of being protected against any type of events (accidents) which could be considered non-desirable by controlling hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Accident defined as some sudden and
unexpected event taking place without expectation that causes injury, damages or death, (Mwombeki, 2005). In construction project management, it is well known that each construction project is unique. So, the occurrence of accidents are vary from project to another which means that: one site could be more dangerous than the other, (Seixas, et al., 1998). Likewise, the working environment is constantly changing and inherent risks change daily, (Jannadi & Bu-Khamsin, 2002). Several organizations are setting guides, standards, regulations, and training for safety and health in the construction industry which can be implemented internationally or nationally according to the publishing organization and the local authority. For example of the organizations which are responsible for safety and health practices:
In U.S.A: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for setting standards. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) responsible for conducting researches and studies.
In U.K: National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH). The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is an organization for health and safety professionals. International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) is a professional body for health and safety practitioners. 7
In Asia Pacific Region: Asia Pacific Occupational Safety and Health Organization (APOSH) is an organization dedicated to promote occupational safety and health practices.
In Australia: The Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) is professional body for health & safety professionals aims to develop, maintain and promote a body of knowledge that defines professional practice in Occupational health and safety (OHS). The variance in occupational health and safety standards between different countries has been cited as a major route of the international transfer or acquisition of health risks, (Alleyne, 1997). 2.3.Construction Safety and Health in the Middle East Generally, the Middle East have the same safety and health conditions as those in developing countries. However, no one can deny that there are safety and health improvements in the construction industry for the last few years. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A), the construction industry had (48%) of all occupational injuries in 2011. Further, (29%) of construction injuries were due to falling, while (32%) were due to struck by a falling/moving object, (GOSI, 2011). In Egypt, (33%) of construction injuries were found because of falling in 2008. Further, it is found that the work models used in construction firms in Egypt have a noticeable difference between those in the EU and U.S.A, (ElSafty, et al., 2012). A study of the Egyptian construction industry concluded that safety programs applied by contractors operating in Egypt were less formal and the accident insurance costs were fixed irrespective of the contractor’s safety performance, (Hassanein & Hanna, 2008). In Kuwait, it was found that tools accidents had (16.9%) of injuries and fall from ladder or scaffolding contributed (23.3%) of total construction injuries in 1999, (Al-Tabtabai, 2002). However, in 2007 it were found that falling were the major type of accident (33.2%) followed by being struck by falling/moving object (25.2%), then misuse of tools had (18.1%), (Al-Humaidi & Tan, 2010). It were observed that the problems arise due to: disorganized labour; poor accident record keeping and reporting system; the extensive use of foreign labours; the extensive use of subcontractors; lack of safety regulations and legislation; the low priority 8
given to safety; the small size of most construction firms; competitive tendering; and severe weather conditions during the summer. Moreover, one of the most prevailing problems in Middle East countries is that workers and engineers receive almost no safety training and are mostly uninformed about the company's safety programs or policies (Kartam, et al., 2000). 2.4.Construction Safety and Health in UAE Only few studies had been conducted in the construction industry about health and safety performance in UAE, while no studies about Emirate of Dubai had been published so far which led to the need of this study. First published study was conducted in 2002 by (Noura Al-Kaabi) under the title “Construction safety performance in the United Arab Emirates”. Total (120) construction companies from Dubai and Abu Dhabi had participated in the survey. The study showed in construction companies that: (25%) do not provide PPE to their workers; (21%) do not have fire safety measures; (26%) do not have a first aid kit; (34%) do not have safety personnel on the site; (63%) had fatal accidents in the past; (16%) do not keep records of accidents. In addition, the existing labour law is deemed insufficient to enforce the compliance of safety measures on construction sites, (Al-Kaabi & Hadipriono, 2003). Second published study was conducted in 2012 by (Shibani et al.) under the title “Health and safety influence on the construction project performance in United Arab Emirates (UAE)”. Total (130) construction and oil companies in UAE had participated in the survey. The study showed in construction companies that: (69%) have a serious lack of understanding of H&S policy importance; (71%) have no training of workers and (74%) believe that such training, when existent, is outdated; (87%) strongly agree that there exist cultural barriers to adhesion to H&S procedures, although (91%) said they were not made aware of such barriers; (86%) of respondents admitted that they did not adhered to accident reporting procedures, and (83%) admitted not recording accidents; and, (71%) of respondents said that they were not provided with means of recording accidents which explains why only (54%) carry out any follow up action following an accident, (Shibani, et al., 2012). In 2004, an independent research by a construction trade publication found that approximately (88) Indians had died in construction site accidents in Dubai. 9
However, only (34) cases of death officially reported for all nationalities by the government. So, there were a gap between the two figures, which was also confirmed by the report of Human Rights Watch in November 2006, (Ghaemi, 2009). Further, the report of Human Right Watch in March 2012 found that workers are struggling in the construction industry in UAE in spite of some improvements in working conditions, (HRW, 2012).
After surveying
Gulfnews.com, there were (38) fatalities accidents published by reporters only because of Scaffolding and roof collapsed from 2002 to 2012 in Dubai. As per 2010 – UAE - Ministry of Labours - statistics, (40%) of total workforces are working in the construction industry in UAE. Therefore, safety and health are regulated respectively by the Ministry of Labour Law No (8) of 1980 Regulating Labour Relations as amended by Federal Laws No (24) of 1981, No (15) of 1985, and No (12) of 1986 Law, (Ministry of labour, 2001). Further, there are special regulations applicable in some of the free zones in UAE. Nonetheless, Dubai is divided into three main construction’s authorities which are Dubai Municipality (DM), Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority (DTMFZA), and TRAKHEES. Each authority has their Jurisdiction which sets regulations and codes which govern the construction practices under their territories. Firstly, (DM) is the leading authority which governs the construction industry in Dubai. (DM) launched a “Code of Construction Safety Practice” in 2001 as it has been revised in 2004 and latest was revised in 2008. The guide is demonstrating the roles of contractors and consultants in the construction industry, (DM, 2008). Secondly, Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) is the regulatory arm of TRAKHEES which controls, regulates and enforces rules and regulations related to all aspects of Environment, Health, Safety and Fire Protection. EHS cover all Dubai World Business Units under the current format of regulations which documented as “Regulation CS-4.0: Construction Safety Regulations” and
revised in
2010, (EHS, 2010). Last, (DTMFZA) is the sole independent regulator of Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone as it was established in 2000. (DTMFZA) had published “The Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Regulations Manual” in 2006 and revised in 2008, which been framed to regulate the working conditions of any workmen working under a contractor or sub-contractor involved in construction activities, (DTMFZA, 2008).
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2.5.Factors Affecting Safety and Health Performance An extensive literature review has been conducted to identify the factors which affect the safety and health performance in construction projects see (Table 2). Table 2 - summary of factors affecting the safety and health performance Factors Affecting the Safety S.N and Health Performance in Literature Construction Industry (Hinze & Wiegand, 1992), (Kartam, et 1 Complexity of the Design al., 2000) (Hinze & Gambatese, 2003), (Report-A2 Type of Owners 3, 1982) (Brake & Bates, 2002), (Neitzel, et al., 3 Weather Condition 2001) 4
Project Cost
(Levitt & Samelson, 1993), (Hinze, 1997)
5
Project Duration
(Zou, et al., 2007), (Report-A-3, 1982)
6
Safety and Health Policy
7
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report
8
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
(Hislop, 1999), (Tam, et al., 2004)
9
Risk Assessment
(Chapman & Ward, 2004), (Agwu, 2012)
10
Safety and Health Training
(Sawacha, et al., 1999), (Shibani, et al., 2012) (Al-Kaabi & Hadipriono, 2003), (Hassanein & Hanna, 2008), (Shibani, et al., 2012)
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures
(Hinze & Gambatese, 2003), (Teo, et al., 2005), (Kartam, et al., 2000) (Al-Kaabi & Hadipriono, 2003), (Kenrick, 2012) (Jannadi & Bu-Khamsin, 2002), (Hislop, 1999)
13
Safety and Health Inspection
(Reese, 2003), (Hinze & Raboud, 1988)
14
Safety and Health Management Meetings
(Hinze & Raboud, 1988), (Fang, et al., 2004)
15
First-Aid Arrangements
(DM, 2008), (Fang, et al., 2004)
16
Welfare Facilities
(ILO, 1995), (Tam, et al., 2004)
17
Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades
(Chapanis, 1994), (Edworthy & Adams, 1996)
18
Work environment
(Mattila, et al., 1994), (Site-Safe, 1999)
11 12
19 20
Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies
(Teo, et al., 2005), (Lee & Jaafar, 2012) (Fang, et al., 2004), (Teo, et al., 2005)
11
2.5.1. Complexity of the design Despite the fact that safety and health of workers considered to be the sole responsibility of the contractor, safety and health performance are largely dictated by designers’ decisions. Designers shall take into their consideration how the project components will be assembled and how construction tasks are undertaken. That is why it is very important that designers shall address the safety and health requirements into the design and before the project commence, (Hinze & Wiegand, 1992). However, it was found in Kuwait that (70%) of the designers are not take safety and health of workers into consideration during the design, (Kartam, et al., 2000). In the other hand, safety and health performance improve when designers aware to the safety consequences of their design decisions. This leads to a reduction in injuries and associated costs and a decrease in redesign costs and in operating costs for special procedures and protective equipment, (Hinze & Gambatese, 2003). 2.5.2. The Type of Owners Owners have a direct economic stake in the safety and health performance of their contractors because accident costs are an expense to the contractor and are passed on, one way or another, to the client. Moreover, owners have extended known an ethical duty to provide a safe work environment to reduce injuries. Therefore, owner can achieve this duty by signing contractors who have a record of good safety and health performance. Also, owners can take processes to accomplish better safety and health performance such as: provide safety and health guidelines that the contractor must follow; Implement, the use of work permit systems for potentially harmful activities; Oblige the contractor to elect a responsible supervisor to coordinate safety in the workplace; Discuss safety at ownercontractor meetings; Conduct safety audits during construction; Enforce prompt reporting and full investigation of accidents, (Report-A-3, 1982). (Hinze & Gambatese, 2003), concluded in their research in the USA that safety and health performance have better records when the owner is a private organization. 2.5.3. Weather conditions Extreme weather conditions have direct effect on safety and health performance. UAE exposes to an extreme hot weather in the summer time as temperature 12
reaches to 50 degree at some times. Also humidity has proportional relation with heat, as it increases the feel of heat when humidity increases.
It is known as
humidex index which considered to be an indicator for heat stress see (Figure 2). Midday break firstly introduced in 2005 by UAE government which not allow workers who exposed to direct sun light to work from 12:30PM to 3:00 PM during the months of July and August. Later in 2008 the midday break had extended one month as it shall start from 15th of June till 15th of September, (Trakhees, 2013). Figure 2 - Humidex from temperature and relative humidity readings
Source: http://accuracyproject.org/humidex.jpg Heat stress is a serious issue which has a remarkable effect on workers’ health. In the USA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Federal OSHA) had recorded the heat-related fatalities between 2008 and June 2013. The record shows that in construction industry and its related works had (50) heat-related fatality cases out of total (96) cases, (OSHA, 2013). There are signs for heat stress like: nausea, headache, fatigue, excessive thirst, profuse sweating, confusion, painful large muscle cramps and loss of consciousness. Those signs of heat stress can lead to heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heatstroke, which if untreated or sufficiently severe, may lead to death, (Brake & Bates, 2002). 13
Moreover, the wind might cause disturbance in construction sites. A high speed wind can go along with sandstorms, especially in the gulf area which eventually affect visualization and may lead to accidents. Further, workers who are directly exposed to wind like crane operators, scaffolders, or even who work on roofing, may get hurt if the appropriate precautions are not taken. So it is important to check the weather conditions in the working area several times a day to establish a wind speed at which work shall be suspended, (Neitzel, et al., 2001). 2.5.4. Project Cost Under the traditional building procurement system, there is reason to explore substitute materials, procedures, and safety routes as a result of professional charges being interrelated to the final cost of the project. However, the cost of the time consumed in exploring substitutes may not be recovered from the owner under such procurement and contractual arrangements, (Wells, 1986). In one hand, the construction industry tends to have a low awareness of the longterm advantages of safe practice, while the tendering procedure frequently gives little consideration to safety, resulting in cost and corner cutting. On the other hand, competitive tendering usually results in the choice of the contractor who is ready to take the major risk or who has made the major mistake. In New Zealand, the study which conducted in 1997 suggested that cost focussed projects and the competitive nature of the tender procedure resulted in the deficiency of the margins and cost cutting of safety. Further, because of economic rewards and motivations to build more cheaply in the short-term, one of the first areas, unluckily, to experience cost cutting to recover the affordability of tenders is that of safety and health, (Porteous, 1999); (Site-Safe, 2000). Decent codes and standards can improve construction safety and health at least cost. Then again, poor codes and standards can contribute to increased costs and disputes with slight impact on construction safety. These costs and disputes arise from interruptions in construction progress, penalties for these interruptions, economic losses, personal injuries and fatalities. Research has shown that safe workplaces and workers increase productivity accompanied by reduced costs and increased profitability, (Levitt & Samelson, 1993); (Hinze, 1997).
14
2.5.5. Project Duration (Zou, et al., 2007) Conducted study in China regarding risks as per their significance in relation to project objectives. And they found that tight project schedule had high rank on safety performance of the project. Moreover, an impractical schedule can deeply affect the success of project objectives in terms of cost, quality, environment and safety. When accidents happen or conflictions between construction programs arise, the project schedule can be even more delayed. Apart from the actual costs acquired about injuries and fatalities, the national economy of any country suffers a massive indirect cost and loss of productivity due to the number of workdays lost as a result of occupational injuries and deaths, (Report-A-3, 1982). In addition, speed of work and target deadlines for the completion specified job, creates more injuries, (Hinze & Raboud, 1988). Although Canada having a prestigious record in safety and health performance, but 2010 statistics showed that there were around (158,360) workdays lost due to accidents in the construction industry only in Alberta which cost them around ($53,959,096) as Compensation payments, (Alberta, 2011). 2.5.6. Safety and Health Policy A policy is an administrative belief used to set a path in an organization. It can be a sequence of actions and an effective decisions.
(Sawacha, et al., 1999),
discussed numerous variables that effect safety on construction sites. The results propose that variables correlated to organization policy are the most main group of factors affecting the safety performance in the U.K. construction industry. Further, the research shows that: (69%) of construction companies in UAE have a serious lack of understanding of safety and health policy importance. And all small construction companies together with 80 % of medium construction companies do not have written safety and health policy, (Shibani, et al., 2012). Research found that the reduction of accidents would be accomplished when top management takes a dynamic attention and is dedicated to safety and health improvement as well as maintaining good safety and health policy, (Teo, et al., 2005). Moreover, (Hinze & Raboud, 1988) concluded in their research, that top management must be supportive to have better health and safety performance.
15
2.5.7. Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report Literature research revealed that in large organizations, managers can count on accident and incident reports broken down by single projects, which facilities evaluation among projects on the basis of accident frequency or any other measure of accident rate. This way, managers are kept knowledgeable about where accidents are occurring so that they can dedicate their responsiveness to problem areas, (Hassanein & Hanna, 2008). (Al-Kaabi & Hadipriono, 2003), found in UAE that numerous companies usually did not report accident occurrences to the relevant authority. However, over 86% of reported organizations reported zero accidents. Even though this looks to some extent encouraging, one may not be totally confident if this figure reflects a correct zero accidents or if the companies only escaped reporting their accidents, mainly when these accidents were considered to be minor. Further, (Shibani, et al., 2012), found that (86%) of respondents acknowledged that they did not stick to accident reporting procedures, and a similar percentage (83%) admitted not recording accidents. Added, (71%) they were not provided by means of recording accidents which explains why only (54%) perform any follow up action following an accident. 2.5.8. Evacuation Plan / Fire drill Evacuation plans are established to guarantee the safest and the most wellorganized evacuation time of all expected occupants of a structure. However, a fire drill is a technique of practicing the evacuation of a structure for mainly a fire or any other emergency. Prior to construction starts, the contractors must take into consideration the possible risks that may arise on the construction site. Contractor’s fire marshals should be aware of the fighting equipment available on the site and be familiar with its use, (Hislop, 1999). The evacuation plan shall include: site plans indicating assembly points, locations of fire hydrants and portable fire extinguishers, normal routes for the access of fire department’s vehicles, emergency
egress or escape routes, and procedures for counting the occupiers after the evacuation has been completed.
16
2.5.9. Risk Assessment Several stakeholders are involved in the construction activities, long working hours, and the interaction between organisational and technological complexity generates enormous risks, (Zou, et al., 2007). Since construction activities are subjected to a lot of risks, it becomes vital that these risks essential to be assessed and managed through a structured risk assessment process. Risk assessment reflects the likelihood and severity that harm will occur from an identified hazard, so that appropriate controls may be taken based on the probability and severity of the potential hazard, (Colling, 1990). Risk assessment is a structured approach for identifying, evaluating and controlling hazards in the workplace (Chapman & Ward, 2004) with a view to reaching a better performance of no harm to people or damage to assets. (Agwu, 2012), found in his study in Nigeria that better safety and health performance of construction companies is depending on risk assessment compliance. 2.5.10. Safety and Health Training It is well recognized in the construction industry that training shows a significant role for enhancing the workers’ safety and health performance. Training usually initiates with worker orientation and continues as workers need to become more educated about certain features of the work they are performing. For example, the training which is provided to certify the persons who are responsible for erecting or supervising the scaffolding, as it considers to be the most risky job in the construction sites. These training sessions can be conducted through various techniques like worker orientation, safety induction, toolbox talks, or communication programmes. It may include topics such as worker rights and responsibilities, falls from elevation, hot work,
Electrical safety, personal
protective equipment, first aid and emergency procedures, confined space entry, and a wide assortment of other topics, whether to be presented updated information or just to be provided as a refresher on a subject, (Hinze & Gambatese, 2003). Further, education and training sessions help workers to perform various activities efficiently. It also helps to establish a positive attitude towards safety and incorporates safety into production and quality goals, (Kartam, et al., 2000). (Teo, et al., 2005), found in their study in Australia that training has a positive preventive effect on workers to avoid injury.
17
2.5.11. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) There are two categories of PPE. The first must be used safety helmet; safety shoes; and appropriate clothing. The second category depending kind of work, like eye protection, protective gloves, ear protectors, and the safety harness, (Jannadi & Bu-Khamsin, 2002). Companies have an obligations to provide the appropriate PPE to their workers as per UAE Federal Law No. 8 (UAE Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 1995). However, the law does not identify when or where the PPE should be worn; it leaves them to the contractors’ decision. It was found that (25%) of construction companies in UAE were not provide PPE to their workers because either it is expensive or it usually reduce the worker’s productivity. Further, (75%) of companies who provide PPE to their workers had to make an effort to enforce the workers to use PPE, as some workers refused to use the PPE due to religious values or cultural issues, (Al-Kaabi & Hadipriono, 2003). A new study by UAE University found that around two-thirds (2/3) of the hospital visits involved injuries happened on building sites due to a lack of PPE or unsuitable PPE were related to the incident that caused the injury. Climate plays an enormous role in the use of PPE. Hence, if construction workers are not satisfied with the PPE they have been provided, because it's uncomfortable, feels unsafe or slows productivity, then they are less likely to use it which dramatically increases the probability of injuries and illnesses, (Kenrick, 2012). It is common in the construction industry that PPE means safety of workers. However, safety is all about how to create the appropriate environment in the workplace that PPE only to be considered as extra protections for the worst scenario might occur. 2.5.12. Emergency Planning and Procedures Effective emergency planning needs the workers to be aware about the emergency procedures before a crisis occurs. It is the contractor’s duties to ensure that all workers are aware about the proper response to fire and other serious emergencies. One of the most factors affecting safety performance is emergency/disaster planning and preparation, (Jannadi & Bu-Khamsin, 2002). The emergency can be brought under control using the resource and procedures for the emergency response in place for the workplace, (Hislop, 1999). 18
2.5.13. Safety and Health Inspections Safety and health inspections are a method by which management can become familiar with the nature of safety and health conditions on sites. Workplace safety and health inspections by competent persons are useful in terms of reducing work injuries, (Hinze & Gambatese, 2003). Further, companies who implement safety and health inspections have fewer accidents than companies that do not perform inspections, (Reese, 2003). (Hinze & Raboud, 1988), concluded that lower injury rates were noted on projects that employed safety officers who conducted job site safety inspections. 2.5.14. Safety and Health Management Meetings Regular safety and health meetings are essential for communicating safety and health data to all stakeholders. When the employee is convinced that his employer is concerned about the workplace safety, the employee will conform to safety and health guidelines and execute the work in a safe way, (Fang, et al., 2004). Moreover, the projects that practice sophisticated schedules and those which included the owner for coordination meetings are having safer performances, (Hinze & Raboud, 1988). 2.5.15. First-Aid Arrangements First-aid is a provision of primary care for an injury as it is regularly carried out by trained first aider to an injured person until definitive medical treatment can be reached if required. It is essential for each construction site to have the appropriate first aid arrangements. However, these arrangements would not eliminate the hazards but only to reduce the potential risk on the injured person which might be exposed. The first aid arrangements, vary from construction site to another depending on the size and the workforce of the project. DM set regulation regarding the certified first aider required for construction site, see (Table 3). Moreover, it is stated in the regulation the required numbers and contents of the first aid kit and room, (DM, 2008). Table 3 - Required number of first aiders Total Workforce Less than 50 50 – 250 250 – 500 500 – 1000
Part time First Aider (but always available at site 1 1 2 3
Full time First Aider 0 1 2 3
A part time and a full time first aider shall be added for each extra 1000 or numerical fraction of 1000 thereof
19
2.5.16. Welfare Facilities Work in the construction industry is demanding; it involves much manual or physical activity. It is also hazardous and dirty. Good welfare facilities not only improve workers’ welfare but also enhance efficiency. Welfare facilities such as the provision of drinking-water, washing, sanitary and changing place, restrooms, smoking areas, first-aid arrangements and assistance in transport from place of residence to the work site and back, all support to reduce exhaustion and improve workers’ health. So, the contactor need to arrange for suitable welfare facilities for his workers’ usages, prior starting the construction activities. Therefore, decent work-related welfare facilities improve workers’ health and morale and their efficiency, resulting in enhanced productivity and better work relations, (ILO, 1995). 2.5.17. Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades It is essential in all construction sites to have a uniform signalling system to be understood by all stakeholders to prevent danger. The symbols of signals should be appeared at suitable spots and also should be available in a safety booklet. However, it is the contractor responsibility to ensure that all stakeholders are aware about all signals that they should recognize, (Tam, et al., 2003). Warnings in the forms of signs and symbols have been recognized as one of the effective tools to influence behaviour and develop the risk awareness of stakeholders. Understanding signs will provide valuable information in refinement the safety and health management strategies for the construction industry. Safety signs usually contain four components: signal words, hazard statement, noncompliance statement and some instructions. Moreover, colour of warning labels should attract the attention of viewers. Different signal colours characterise different ranks of risk because of the consequences of cultural effect or physiological reactions. Usually, red characterises the highest rank of hazard, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue and white, (Edworthy & Adams, 1996). In addition, warning labels should have signal words, such as danger, caution and instruction, to recognise the ranks of hazard. Usually, danger represents the highest rank of hazard, caution points to an intermediate rank and instruction indicates the lowest rank, (Chapanis, 1994). 20
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 applies to all work at height where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury. The scaffolding need to be checked prior to being used for the first time, following exposure to weather conditions, after substantial addition, dismantling or other alteration and at intervals not exceeding (7) days from the date of last inspection. So it was essential to produce a special signal system to be recognized by scaffolding users. The Scafftag system ensures all workers are understanding the current status of the structure. A Scafftag should be fitted at all ladder access thereby communicating a safety message to all. 2.5.18. Work environment Normally, authority guidelines effectively address the work environment and procedures to ensure a better level of protection. However, it is not just a matter of meeting minimum standards and codes lay down by authority. It requires stakeholders to go further and place their own standards and increase the responsibilities and the involvement of all parties, (Lorent, 1999). A better working environment can be produced by setting a tide site. Aspects of a tide site that need to be identified are contain the following: access and traffic routes, material and storage handling, site offices and services, the construction plant, production workshops, services and facilities, and the site attachment. (Mattila, et al., 1994), found that there were direct relation between the quality of the work environment and the level of safety in construction sites. Further, the high quality work environment will improve the housekeeping and reduce the accident frequency rates. Also, it was recognised that poor housekeeping and the untidy construction sites had the largest contributing factors to accidents, (SiteSafe, 1999). 2.5.19. Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Incentives is one of the factors that motivate workers to perform in an anticipated manner to safety and health rules on site. It can be viewed a psychological approach that rewards workers for their adhered routine on site, (Chan, et al., 2010). Incentives program consists of three (3) main features: monetary, nonmonetary, and disciplinary action. Monetary and non-monetary are forms of reward which capable to improve safety and health performance as it encourages workers to monitor their own safety behaviour. However, disciplinary action is a 21
form of punishment to the worker who violates safety instructions on the site. So the combination of reward and punishment can be considered as a strategy that teaches safe behaviours among workers on site, (Teo, et al., 2005). (Lee & Jaafar, 2012), found that incentives are observed as less important in affecting safety performance on sites and do not necessarily achieve the safety record anticipated as a person’s expectations and response to incentives may vary. Safety in fact, is something that should be valued and harnessed, not to be paid for. 2.5.20. Role of Government and Engineering Societies The government and the engineering societies should play a key role to apply the safety and health guidelines by endorsing standards and codes to protect the workers and properties.
These guidelines should be officially obligate the
companies to adhere them with suitable firm fines for non-compliance. Government shall conduct a periodically site inspection through an experienced safety engineers and subjecting the contractors to a warning or fine for unsafe conditions or hazards existing on a workplace.
Moreover, the engineering
societies shall help to extend engineering knowledge by developing the awareness of safety and health issues among engineers, (Fang, et al., 2004). (Teo, et al., 2005), suggested that safety and health regulations have to be taken seriously when planning job activities or setting up company policies. Further, regulation and its implementation do effect on the construction safety and health to a significant degree. In developing countries, there are no strong labour unions like industrial countries have, which own the power to defend on their labours and to enforce contractors to provide safe working conditions and safety tools to their labours. So, it is normally labours in developed countries have to obey and accept the company offer even it is not enough, (Kartam, et al., 2000). In addition, it was found in the developing countries that labour laws are not strictly enforced as contractors tend to ignore the basic safety regulations, (Koehn, et al., 1995).
22
3.
Chapter III: Methodology 3.1.Introduction This chapter discusses study procedure and the method used to conduct the study related to its objectives that has been presented in Chapter-I. The method used in this study is quantitative. The methodology that was adopted for this study is the questionnaire survey. The information or data gathered using questionnaires focus on selected wider range of respondent from construction industry in Dubai. This chapter describes the methodology that was used in this study. The adopted methodology to accomplish this study uses the following techniques: review of literature related to safety and health performance, the information about the study design, study location, study population, pilot study, questionnaire design, and statistical data analysis. 3.2.Study Design The first stage of the study is to identify the aim of this study and to highlight the problems statements and establishment of clear objectives is also specified within the study plan. The second phase of the study included a summary of the comprehensive literature review. The third phase of the study included a pilot study which was conducted to assessment of the factors affecting safety and health performance in construction projects in Dubai. The fourth phase of this study focused on the modification of the questionnaire, throughout the feedback obtained from the pilot study. The purpose of the pilot study was to test and prove that the questionnaire contents are clear to be understood by respondents. So, it was vital to guarantee that all information received from experts would be valuable in achieving the objectives of the study. The fifth phase of the study focused on distributing questionnaire. This questionnaire was used to collect the required data in order to achieve the objectives of the study. One Hundred (100) Questionnaires were distributed targeting the contractors who are classified under first, second, and third categories in the building works. 23
The sixth phase of this study was the analysis and discussion of the collected data. The final phase of the study includes the conclusions and recommendations. 3.3.Study Location This study was conducted in Emirate of Dubai only. The questionnaire were distributed to cover the geographical locations over Dubai. 3.4.Study Population This study targeted contractors in various categories of building works. The targeted contractors are classified under the first, second and third categories in the various types of works by Dubai Municipality (DM). Contractors that are registered under the fourth and fifth classes were neglected due to the low practical and administrative experience of their companies in construction works. The studied population was the contractor’s companies that have a valid registration in DM in the building works. Numbers of registered companies from first, second and third categories are 545 contractors, (DM, 2013). (Table 4) shows the numbers of registered contracting companies in each category. Table 4 - Numbers of registered contractors in DM 2013 Category Grade Registered Companies Unlimited floors 144 First 127 Second Ground+12 floors Ground+4 floors 274 Third Ground+1 floor 1633 Fourth Without 2149 Fifth
3.5.Sample Size This sample size that represents the targeted population was determine from following equation formula was used by some researchers like (Hassanein & Hanna, 2008): 𝑛′
𝑛 = 𝑛′ /(1 + 𝑁 )…………..Equation 1 Where; n′ is the sample size from infinite population, which can be calculated 𝑆2
from the following formula: 𝑛′ = 𝑉 2 …………..Equation 2 Where: n: sample size from finite population. 24
N: Total population (545 contractors) 𝑉: Standard error of sample population equal 0.05 for the confidence level 95 %=1.96. 𝑆: Standard error variance of population elements, where 𝑆 2 = 𝑃(1 − 𝑃); maximum at 𝑃 = 0.5 The sample size for the contractors’ population can be calculated from the previous equations as follows: 𝑛′ =
𝑆2 (0.5)2 = = 100 𝑉 2 (0.05)2
The size of the sample was calculated by using 𝑛=𝑛′ /(1+𝑛′𝑁)…………..Equation 1, overall then the sample size of companies is 85 companies. 𝑛 = 100/(1 + (
100 ) = 85 545
Based on DM (2013) report, it is shown that. There are (2149) unclassified companies and (2178) classified companies, out of these (2178) companies there are (545) companies classified as (1st, 2nd, and 3rd category) work in building works.
These three categories were the target group of this study.
The
questionnaires were targeting these categories. Hundred (100) questionnaire were distributed through email, (43) questionnaire were returned showing (43%) response rate. 3.6.Pilot Study It is normal practice that the survey tool should be piloted to measure its validity and reliability which test the collected data. A pilot study was conducted with three safety and health managers in a top contracting companies in UAE to test whether the questions are understandable, easy to answer, unambiguous, cover most the required questions, etc. Valuable comments were obtained to improve the quality of the questionnaire. After a refinement, the questionnaires were distributed to (100) construction specialists in Dubai by emails. After two - weeks waiting period, (43) feedbacks were received in which (5) feedbacks were identified as invalid due to incomplete or invariable answers and (38) responses considered valid. This response rate relatively accepted respect to the unstable construction industry conditions in Dubai especially after the world financial 25
crises. However, (20) personal visits to different construction sites in Dubai were conducted to increase the number of respondents of the survey. So the final valid respondents are (58) which represent (68%) of the total sample population, see (Table 5). Table 5 - Classification of sample size Title Number of population Number of distributes questionnaires Number of respondents Number of valid respondents Number of personal interviews Number of total valid respondents
Contractors 545 100 43 38 20 58
3.7.Questionnaire Design According to the literature review and after interviewing specialists who were aware with the safety and health performance at various levels, all the information that could help in attaining the study objectives were collected, reviewed and formalized to be suitable for the study. The questionnaire design was composed of two parts see (Appendix A). Unrequired personal data and repeated questions were avoided. The questionnaire was delivered with a covering letter which clarified the purpose of the study, the way of responding, and the security of the information to reassure high response.
Part 1: This part is divided in five section as follow: Section 1: General information about the company and current project. Section 2: number of the manpower who concern about safety and health in the construction site. Section 3: statistics about accidents and frequent of occurrence. Section 4: Authority performance. The purpose of this part to collect data and statistics which to be compared with the safety and health regulations and to measure the safety and health performance
26
of construction companies and authorities. Which in return will cover the first objective of the study. Part 2: This part includes the list of the factors affecting the safety and health performance in the construction industry. It contains twenty factors represented in (Table 2) above. For each factor there is a question, for measuring the degree of impact on safety and health performance in construction project which will cover second objective. The degree of impact is constructed on a five-point Likert scale. (Peterson, 1999). These five points are (very high), (high), (average), (low), and (very low) see (Table 6). Table 6 - Factors affecting the safety and health performance in construction projects Level
Very High
High
Average
low
Very Low
Scale
5
4
3
2
1
To evaluate the relative ranking of those factors, the results shall transformed to importance indices based on the formula, To determine the relative ranking of the factors, these scores were then transformed to importance indices based on the formula of Relative Importance Index (RII). 𝑅𝐼𝐼 =
∑ 𝑤 5𝑛5 + 4𝑛4 + 3𝑛3 + 2𝑛2 + 1𝑛1 = 𝐴𝑁 5𝑁
Where 𝑤 is the weighting given to each factor by the respondent, ranging from 1 to 5, (𝑛1 = number of respondents for very high, 𝑛2 = number of respondents for high, 𝑛3 = number of respondents for average, 𝑛4 = number of respondents for low, 𝑛5 = number of respondents for very low), 𝐴 is the highest weight (i.e. 5 in the study) and 𝑁 is the total number of samples. The relative importance index ranges from 0 to 1. Thus, the questions are in a standardized format and sequence.
27
4.
Chapter IV: Data Analysis
4.1.
Introduction This chapter analyses the results of collected data of the questionnaire. The chapter includes the analyses of; the description of company and current project information; safety and health manpower; accidents causes, outcomes, and reasons; authority rules and actions; evaluation of factor affecting safety and health performance; and analysis for agreement of ranking.
4.2.
Company and Current Project Information This section presents the description of the respondents who participated in this study. The results collected from the questionnaire shows the (58) companies participated in the study located in Dubai under the authorities of DM, DTMFZA and TRAKHEES. The following section will describe the characteristics of the respondents that participated in this survey. These characteristics also include the companies' categories, experience and size of the companies.
4.2.1. Job Title of Respondents From result, (31%) from the respondents were Safety Officers / Advisors, (28%) were Safety and Health Mangers, (24%) were Project Engineers, and (17%) were Project Managers, see (Figure 3). Figure 3 - Job titles of respondents
17% 31% Project Manager 24%
Project Engineer Safety & Health Manager
28%
Safety Officer/ Advisor
28
4.2.2. Contractors Classification The contractors were classified based on their categories and the govern authority of their current project in Dubai. The first three categories in building works were aimed in this study. These three categories are expected to add value for this study. (Table 7) shows the data related to the participated companies under each authority. Table 7 - Classification of participated companies under each authority Category
First
Second
Third
Total
Authority
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
DM
10
17%
8
14%
6
10%
24
41%
DTMFZA
6
10%
6
10%
4
7%
16
27%
TRAKHEES
8
15%
6
10%
4
7%
18
32%
Total
24
42%
20
34%
14
24%
58
100%
The table shows that the participated companies were (41%) under DM, (27%) under DTMFZA, and (32%) under TRAKHEES. While total (42%) were first category (Unlimited), (34%) were second category (G+12), and (24%) were third category (G+4). 4.2.3. Working Experience of Company Working experience is measured in the number of years a company has been working in the construction industry. (88%), of the three categories of the ample have been practicing the construction business in the local market for more than 10 years. And, (12%) have been working between 4-10 years. This was due to the consequences of the world financial crises, as most of unexperienced companies were unable to economically survive. However, (40%) of the first category companies have international experience. While the second and third categories have non experience in the international market. 4.2.4. Company Expenditures on Safety and Health Company expenditures on safety and health are measured against the satisfaction level (very high, high, average, and low) of the respondents towards their management reactions of the safety and health issues. The level of satisfaction was expressed in two perspectives. First perspective is the category of the surveyed companies. (Table 8) shows that, (46%) of the first category have very high level and (46%) have high level. While in second category, (60%) have high level. However, third category have (72%) on average level. It is clear that the 29
respondents’ satisfaction level towards the company expenditures on safety and health are improve with the higher category. Table 8 - Relation between the level of satisfaction and the category of the company Category First Second Third Satisfaction Number % Number % Number % 11 3 15% 0 0% Very High 46% 11 12 2 14% High 46% 60% 2 8% 5 25% 10 Average 72% 0 0% 0 0% 2 14% Low Second perspective is the type of govern authority. (Table 9) indicates that, (41.7%) of projects under DM have high level, (56.3%) of projects under DTMFZA have high level, and (44.5%) of projects under TRAKHEES have very high level. Table 9 - Relation between the level of satisfaction and the govern authority Authority
Number of Companies
DM DTMFZA TRAKHEES
24 16 18
Satisfaction Level of Company Expenditures
Very High High Average 5 20.8% 10 41.7% 8 33.3% 1 6.2% 9 56.3% 5 31.3% 8 44.5% 6 33.3% 4 22.2%
Low 1 4.2% 1 6.2% 0 0.0%
(Figure 4) shows the relations between the level of satisfaction and the two perspectives for illustration. Figure 4 - Level of satisfaction against company’s category and the govern authority
Third
Low Average High Very High
Second
Low Average High Very High
First
Low Average High Very High
0%
10% DM
20%
30%
40%
DTMFZA
30
50%
60%
70%
TRAKHEES
80%
90%
100%
4.2.5. Type of Projects Majority of the surveyed companies (79%) are currently working in residential projects. While (21%) are working in commercial projects, see (Table 10). Table 10 - Type of current projects surveyed Authority
Number of Projects
DM DTMFZA TRAKHEES Total
24 16 18 58
Type of Projects Residential Commercial 20 34.5% 4 6.9% 14 24.1% 2 3.4% 12 20.4% 6 10.6% 46 79% 12 21%
4.2.6. Total Number of Employees DM had set minimum number of employees for each category. It shows in (Figure 5) that the surveyed companies which have more than (200) employees are (100%) of first category, (65%) of second category, and (14%) of the third category. Figure 5 - Total number of employees
100%
65% 43%
43%
35% 14% FIRST 30-100
SECOND 100-200
THIRD >200
4.2.7. Cost of Construction (AED Million) All the first category companies are working in projects cost more than (100) Million Dirhams. While (60%) of second categories companies are working in projects cost (10-100) Million Dirhams. However, (57%) of the third category are working in project cost (1-10) Million Dirhams, see (Figure 6). Total (52%) of projects are cost more than (100) Million Dirhams and (29%) of projects are cost (10-100) Million Dirhams. 31
Figure 6 - Cost of construction (Million Dirhams)
100%
60%
57%
36% 25% 15%
7%
1-10
10-100 First
Second
>100 Third
4.2.8. Duration of Construction (Month) The construction duration is the time required to complete the project in the construction phase. More than (50%) of the sample from all categories are executing projects with duration vary from 12 to 24 months. The reason for the projects to have long construction duration (more than 24 months), is due to the fact that either the projects are huge (first category projects) or the projects are delayed (third category projects) or, it can be both. However, when the duration is relatively short (less than 12 months), this is due to the fact that either the projects are small (third category projects) or the projects have a tight schedules (first category projects), see (Figure 7). Figure 7 - Duration of construction (Month)
25%
14%
25%
50% 58%
55%
17%
20%
FIRST
SECOND
36%
6-12
12-24
32
THIRD >24
4.2.9. Respondent – Working Experience (year) It was observed from the sample that: (58%) of the first category companies, the respondents have more than 15 years of experience. Further, (35%) of the second category companies, the respondents have between 10 to 15 years of experience. Moreover, (36%) of the third category companies, the respondents have between 5 to 10 years of experience. In general, the respondents working experience percentage are as follow: 1-5 are (12%); 5-10 are (21%); 10-15 are (31%); and more than 15 are (36%), see (Table 11). Table 11 - Respondent – Working Experience (year) Category Number of Respondent - Working Experience (year) Projects 1-5 5-10 10-15 >15 24 0 0% 2 8% 8 34% 14 58% First 20 3 15% 5 25% 7 35% 5 25% Second 14 4 29% 5 36% 3 21% 2 14% Third 58 7 12% 12 21% 18 31% 21 36% Total
4.2.10. Total Man-hours Worked It is the total number of hours which had been worked by all the workers from the start of the project till the date of counting. This is useful to measure the safety and health performance of the companies, the accidents frequency rates (AFR) and safety performance attitude scores (SPAS) can be found when a detailed accident records are presented along with the total man-hour worked (not study objective). In addition, this can be used to determine the key performance indicator (KPI) for organization. It is shown from the sample that (42%) of the first category companies had more than (1,000,000) worked hours. While (50%) of the second category companies had worked hours (100,000 – 1,000,000). However, (43%) of the third category companies had worked hours (10,000 – 100,000), see (Table 12) and (Figure 8) for illustration. Table 12 - Total man-hours worked Total Man-hours Worked (hour)
Number of Projects
1,000,000
Figure 8 - Total man-hours worked
43%
50% 50%
29% 42% 21%
20%
15%
15%
7%
8% Third Second First
First
4.3.
Second
Third
Safety and Health Manpower All who are concern about safety and health issues on construction projects either from the management or workers are having responsibilities and duties which to be performed. It is vary from company to another or authority to other, the number and the category of the certified safety persons required, but still the aim is the same.
4.3.1. Safety and Health Administration Staff Recently, DM, DMTFZA, and TRAKHEES had set rules for the minimum required persons who are only monitor and implement the best safety and health practice on construction sites. The numbers and designations are vary according to the project size. The surveyed sample shows that (41%) of the sample have safety and health managers where first category includes (75%) out of that. However, (90%) have at least one safety advisor or officer and, (72%) have safety inspectors, see (Table 13). The distribution of safety and health administration staff is further illustrated in (Figure 9).
34
Table 13 - Distribution of safety and health administration staff Category
First
Second
Third
Total
Authority
Number of Projects
DM
10
Safety and Health Administration Staff S&H Safety Advisor / Safety Manager Officer Inspector 7 70% 10 100% 10 100%
DTMFZA
6
4
67%
6
100%
6
100%
TRAKHEES
8
6
75%
8
100%
8
100%
Total
24
17
71%
24
100%
24
100%
DM
8
2
25%
7
88%
4
50%
DTMFZA
6
1
17%
5
83%
3
50%
TRAKHEES
6
3
50%
6
100%
5
83%
Total
20
6
30%
18
90%
12
60%
DM
6
0
0%
4
67%
1
17%
DTMFZA
4
0
0%
2
50%
2
50%
TRAKHEES
4
1
25%
4
100%
3
75%
Total
14
1
7%
10
71%
6
43%
DM
24
9
38%
21
88%
15
63%
DTMFZA
16
5
31%
13
81%
11
69%
TRAKHEES
18
10
56%
18
100%
16
89%
58
24
41%
52
90%
42
72%
Grand Total
Figure 9 - Distribution of safety and health administration staff S&H Manager
Safety Advisor / Officer
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
100%
100% 83%
88%
70%
Safety Inspector
75%
83% 67%
75% 50%
67%
50%
50% 50%
50% 17% 25%
25% 17%
First
Second
35
Third
TRAKHEES
0%
DTMFZA
DM
TRAKHEES
DTMFZA
DM
TRAKHEES
DTMFZA
DM
0%
4.3.2. Certified Safety and Health Persons at workplace It is obvious from the surveyed sample that authorities had made a great efforts to improve the safety and health in construction sites in the past few years. (Table 14) shows that (100%) of sample have certified first aiders. However, (28%) only have male nurses which are more likely to be in the first category companies, because male nurses required in the huge size projects which having massive numbers of workers. Further, (100%) of the sample who are working under TRAKHESS have certified scaffolders with total (78%) in all Dubai. Table 14 - (A) Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace Category
First
Second
Third
Total
Certified Safety and Health Persons at workplace
Authority
Number of Projects
DM
10
10
100%
6
60%
10
100%
DTMFZA
6
6
100%
3
50%
6
100%
TRAKHEES
8
8
100%
5
63%
8
100%
Total
24
24
100%
14
58%
24
100%
DM
8
8
100%
1
13%
5
63%
DTMFZA
6
6
100%
0
0%
3
50%
TRAKHEES
6
6
100%
1
17%
6
100%
Total
20
20
100%
2
10%
14
70%
DM
6
6
100%
0
0%
1
17%
DTMFZA
4
4
100%
0
0%
2
50%
TRAKHEES
4
4
100%
0
0%
4
100%
Total
14
14
100%
0
0%
7
50%
DM
24
24
100%
7
29%
16
67%
DTMFZA
16
16
100%
3
19%
11
69%
TRAKHEES
18
18
100%
6
33%
18
100%
58
58
100%
16
28%
45
78%
Grand Total
First Aider
Male Nurse
Scaffolders
In addition, (66%) of the sample have certified scaffolding supervisors, most of them (94%) are under TRAKHEES projects and (100%) of them are from the first category companies. Certified operators have very high percentage (97%) in the construction industry due to the enforcement of the law. Also, (81%) of the sample have certified fire marshals and again the projects under TRAKHEES have the biggest share (100%), see (Table 15). The Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace are shown in (Figure 10), shows that TRAKHEES has the highest rates on all categories followed by DM on first and second categories but DTMFZA comes to the second stage on third category.
36
Table 15 - (B) Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace Category
First
Second
Third
Certified Safety and Health Persons at workplace Scaffolding Operator Fire Marshal Supervisor 10 100% 10 100% 10 100%
Authority
Number of Projects
DM
10
DTMFZA
6
6
100%
6
100%
6
100%
TRAKHEES
8
8
100%
8
100%
8
100%
Total
24
24
100%
24
100%
24
100%
DM
8
3
38%
8
100%
6
75%
DTMFZA
6
2
33%
6
100%
4
67%
TRAKHEES
6
6
100%
6
100%
6
100%
Total
20
11
55%
20
100%
16
80%
DM
6
0
0%
5
83%
1
17%
DTMFZA
4
0
0%
3
75%
2
50%
TRAKHEES
4
3
75%
4
100%
4
100%
Total
14
3
21%
12
86%
7
50%
DM
24
13
54%
23
96%
17
71%
DTMFZA
16
8
50%
15
94%
12
75%
TRAKHEES
18
17
94%
18
100%
18
100%
58
38
66%
56
97%
47
81%
Total
Grand Total
Figure 10 - Distribution of certified safety and health persons at workplace
100%
100%
Fire Marshal
100%
Operator 100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
First Aider
100%
100% 50% 100%
100%
100%
83%
50% 50%
17%
17% 17%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
DM
DTMFZA
TRAKHEES
63%
100%
63% 50%
100%
100%
TRAKHEES
DM
DM
100%
DTMFZA
13% 100%
FIRST
75%
TRAKHEES
50%
75%
38% 33%
60%
17%
100%
DTMFZA
100%
Male Nurse
67% 100%
100%
100%
Scaffolder
100%
75% 100%
Scaffolding Supervisor
SECOND
37
THIRD
4.4.
Accidents Causes, Outcomes and Reasons
4.4.1. History of Fatality Accidents Perhaps the worst nightmare for construction companies is the fatality accidents due to the consequences of outcomes of such accidents. It was observed from the surveyed companies, that even high category companies have better safety and health performance but, also have the highest rates of fatalities. This is obviously due to the massive manpower involved in first category’s projects. Around (40%) of the sample had fatality accidents during the last (8) years, see (Table 16). First category companies had (52%) of the total fatality accidents followed by second category (31%), for the mentioned period, see (Figure 11). Table 16 - Number of fatality during work from 2005 to 2012 Number of Number of Fatality During Work (last 8 years) Category Projects 0 1-5 6-10 >10 24 12 50% 9 38% 2 8% 1 4% First 20 13 65% 5 25% 2 10% 0 0% Second 14 10 72% 3 21% 1 7% 0 0% Third 58 35 60% 17 29% 5 9% 1 2% Total Figure 11 - Distribution of fatality accidents among companies 17% 31%
First
52%
Second
Third
Further, (Table 17) shows that (52%) of fatality accidents were occurred from 2005 to 2006, and (30%) from 2007 to 2008 (the booming period). However, only (9%) of fatality accidents were occurred in following periods (world financial crises). Moreover, main contractor workers has (65%), while sub-contractors had (35%) of the fatality accidents, see (Table 18). Table 17 - Year of fatality during work Year of Fatality During Work (last 8 years) Number of Category Fatality 2005-2006 2007-2008 2009-2010 2011-2012 12 8 67% 3 25% 0 0% 1 8% First 7 3 43% 2 29% 1 14% 1 14% Second 4 1 25% 2 50% 1 25% 0 0% Third 23 12 52% 7 30% 2 2 Total 9% 9% 38
Table 18 - Fatality category Category
Number of Fatality
First Second Third Total
12 7 4 23
Fatality Category Main Sub-Contractor Staff Contractor 9 75% 2 17% 1 8% 4 57% 3 43% 0 0% 2 50% 2 50% 0 0% 15 65% 7 1 4% 30%
Public 0 0 0 0
0% 0% 0% 0%
4.4.2. Cause of Injury When the respondents were asked to rate each cause of injury that crew experienced in construction sites (high, average, low, and none), it was found that falls had (16%) of high rate. While, struck by object had (19%) and slips & trips had (24%) of average rates, see (Table 19 & Figure 12). Table 19 - Cause of injury in construction sites - rates
Cause of Injury
Rate
High
Falls Struck by object A collapse Electrocution Slips & trips Defective /misuse Equipment Heat Stress
Average
Low
None
9 16% 13 22% 20 34% 16 28% 4 7% 11 19% 19 33% 24 41% 2 3% 0 0% 12 21% 44 76% 0 0% 2 3% 6 10% 50 86% 7 12% 14 24% 19 33% 18 31% 5 9% 9 16% 16 28% 28 48% 1 2% 2 3% 3 5% 52 90%
Figure 12 - Cause of injury in construction sites - rates
28%
31%
41%
48% 76%
34%
86%
28%
22%
24% 19%
16%
90%
33%
33%
7%
Hight
21% 3%
16% 10% 3%
Average
39
12%
Low
9%
Never
2%
5% 3%
4.4.3. Treatment Outcome Details There are four type of treatment outcomes when the accident occurs. First, fatality which is death due to work related injury or illness. Second, medical treatment case (MTC) when the injured or sick person requires treatment from professional not first aider. Third, lost time injury (LTI) when the injured or sick person cannot perform his work the day after the accident. Last, first aid case (FAC) which is a work related minor injury or illness which can be treated by a first aider and the work can be proceeded, (OGP, 1999). It was found that (100%) of the respondents agree that they don’t have fatality as outcome of accidents even there were recordable fatality accidents during the last (8) years. However, (53%) had rated FAC as the highest treatment outcome in case of accidents. The distribution of the respondents rates are indicated in (Table 20 & Figure 13). Table 20 - Rate of treatment outcome details
Treatment Outcome Details
Rate
High
Average
Low
None
Fatality
0
0%
0
0%
0
Medical Treatment Case
0
0%
3
5%
8
14% 47
81%
Lost time Injury
1
2%
8
13% 15 26% 34
59%
First Aid Case
31 53% 19 33%
0%
8
58 100%
14%
0
Figure 13 - Rate of treatment outcome details
2% 13%
53%
33%
26%
59%
5% 14%
14%
81%
100%
Hight
40
Average
Low
Never
0%
4.4.4. Causal Factors Causing Accidents After analyzing the questionnaire, it was found the rate of the casual factors causing accidents (lack of training, poor supervision, unsafe conditions, and unsafe act) are vary among companies. However, poor supervision had significant total rate (97%) of the reasons causing accidents followed by lack of training (90%) then unsafe act due to negligence of regulation (65%) which are illustrated in (Table 1 & Figure 14).
Causal Factors Causing Accidents
Table 21 - Rate of the causal factors causing accidents Rate High Average Low Lack of Training Poor Supervision Unsafe Conditions Unsafe Act
None
Total
14
25% 18 31% 20 34%
6
10%
90%
22
38% 18 31% 16 28%
2
3%
97%
8
14%
12% 14 24% 29 50%
50%
13
22% 11 19% 14 24% 20 35%
65%
7
Figure 14 - Rate of the causal factors causing accidents
UNSAFE ACT
UNSAFE CONDITIONS
22%
14%
POOR SUPERVISION
19%
12%
24%
24%
38%
25%
LACK OF TRAINING
35%
50%
31%
28%
31% 34%
High
4.5.
3%
Average
Low
10%
None
Authority Rules and Actions Authority plays very important role in implementing safety and health regulations especially in the developing countries as illustrated in the literature. The actions which should be taken by authority as follow:
41
4.5.1. Safety and Health Inspection by Authority It was found from the survey that (41%) of the respondents agreed on the low rate of the authority safety and health inspection, while (33%) found it very low, see(Table 22). By questioning some respondents about the reason of that low rate of inspection, it was due to the world financial crises in 2008 as government perhaps was looking for cut down the expenses as before the crises there was regular monthly inspections by the authority. The lowest rate was by third category companies which had up to (75%), see (Figure 15) for more illustration. Table 22 - Rate of safety and health inspection by authority Category
First
Second
Third
Total
Authority
Number of Projects
DM
10
Authority Safety and Health Inspection Very High Average Low Low 2 20% 3 30% 4 40% 1 10%
DTMFZA
6
1
17%
3
50%
0
0%
2
33%
TRAKHEES
8
1
13%
2
25%
3
38%
2
25%
Total
24
4
17%
8
33%
7
29%
5
21%
DM
8
0
0%
2
25%
5
63%
1
13%
DTMFZA
6
0
0%
1
17%
4
67%
1
17%
TRAKHEES
6
0
0%
0
0%
2
33%
4
67%
Total
20
0
0%
3
15%
11
55%
6
30%
DM
6
0
0%
0
0%
4
67%
2
33%
DTMFZA
4
0
0%
0
0%
1
25%
3
75%
TRAKHEES
4
0
0%
0
0%
1
25%
3
75%
Total
14
0
0%
0
0%
6
43%
8
57%
DM
24
2
8%
5
21%
13
54%
4
17%
DTMFZA
16
1
6%
4
25%
5
31%
6
38%
TRAKHEES
18
1
6%
2
11%
6
33%
9
50%
58
4
7%
11
19%
24
41%
19
33%
Grand Total
Figure 15 - Rate of safety and health inspection by authority Average
33%
25%
13%
17% 33%
40%
67% 38%
30%
Very Low
63%
75%
75%
25%
25% TRAKHEES
10%
Low
DTMFZA
High
67%
50% 67%
FIRST
33%
SECOND
42
DM
17% TRAKHEES
25%
DTMFZA
13%
DM
17%
TRAKHEES
DM
20%
DTMFZA
25%
T HIRD
4.5.2. Safety and Health Certificates to Work by Authority Sometimes it is required to obtain approval by the authority to start some activities at the work place. Procedures are varies depending on the project size and under which authority the project is located. (Figure 16), shows that most of the projects under DM (91.7%) have not obtain any safety and health approvals before commencement of the activities as the DM has no regulation about the mentioned and as long the contractors obtained the building permit, they can commence with the work. Further, (75%) of respondents stated that it is not required by DTMFZA to obtain any approvals from authority regarding safety and health issues. However, (94.4%) of the respondents assure it is a must to obtain certificate of conformity (COC) from TRAKHEES in different stages of the construction even in the work at night. The different COC forms are shown in (
43
Appendix B). Figure 16 - Authority performance regarding issuing safety and health certificates Never
Sometimes
Every time
94.4%
91.7% 75.0% 25.0%
8.3% DM
5.6%
DTMFZA
TRAKHEES
In general, (59%) of the respondents confirmed that there is no safety and health certificates required by the authority to start work while, (29%) assure it is mandatory, see (Figure 17). Figure 17 - Safety and health certificates issued by all authorities
29% 12%
Never
4.6.
Sometimes
59%
Every time
Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance Part (2) of the questionnaire includes the list of factors affecting safety and health performance in the construction industry. It contains twenty factors which had been discussed in the literature review. The details of the questionnaire replay and the calculated RII for each category are shown in (Appendix C). The RII was calculated for each category separately and rank was given according to the RII results, then the total RII and Rank of all samples was established in (Table 23). It can be found from the results that the most factors affecting the safety and health performance in construction industry in Dubai are:
44
In first category companies, work environment (RII=0.90) comes in the first rank then safety and health policy, risk assessment and safety and health inspection (RII=0.89) comes next and followed by PPE (RII=0.88) and so on. While in second category companies, project cost and duration (RII=0.89) comes in the first rank then work environment (RII=0.88) comes next and followed by safety signals, signs and barricades and role of government and engineering societies (RII=0.87) and so on. Further, for the third category companies, PPE (RII=0.90) comes in the first rank then project duration and safety signals, signs and barricades (RII=0.89) comes next and followed by project cost and work environment (RII=0.87) and so on. It can be noticed the RII and rank of the factors are varies among companies and categories. By calculating the RII for all categories together, the final rank for the factors affecting safety and health performance (Table 23) shows the most factors respectively are: Work environment (RII=0.89), Safety signals, signs and barricades
(RII=0.88), Project cost (RII=0.88), Role of government and
engineering societies (RII=0.87), and PPE (RII=0.87), etc… And the least factors respectively are: Weather condition (RII=0.58), Type of owner (RII=0.63), Reward and punishment system (RII=0.64), Complexity of the design (RII=0.68), and Safety and health management meetings (RII=070), etc...
Table 23 - RII and ranking of safety and health performance factors First
Second
Third
Total
Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
1
Complexity of the Design
0.66
17
0.72
16
0.64
16
0.68
17
2
Type of Owner / Main Developer
0.60
19
0.58
19
0.77
8
0.63
19
3
Weather Condition
0.52
20
0.60
18
0.66
11
0.58
20
4
Project Cost
0.87
9
0.89
1
0.87
4
0.88
3
5
Project Duration
0.82
13
0.89
2
0.89
2
0.86
6
6
Safety and Health Policy
0.89
2
0.86
6
0.66
12
0.82
9
7
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report
0.88
8
0.82
9
0.61
18
0.79
11
8
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
0.84
12
0.73
15
0.53
20
0.73
14
9
Risk Assessment
0.89
3
0.83
8
0.60
19
0.80
10
10
Safety and Health Training
0.86
10
0.84
7
0.83
7
0.84
7
S.N
45
11 12
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures
5
0.82
10
0.90
1
0.87
5
0.78
14
0.76
13
0.66
13
0.74
12
13
Safety and Health Inspection
0.89
4
0.82
11
0.74
9
0.83
8
14
Safety and Health Management Meetings
0.86
11
0.55
20
0.66
14
0.70
16
15
First Aid Arrangements
0.73
16
0.75
14
0.66
15
0.72
15
16
Welfare Facilities
0.76
15
0.77
12
0.67
10
0.74
13
17
Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades
0.88
6
0.87
4
0.89
3
0.88
2
0.90
1
0.88
3
0.87
5
0.89
1
0.64
18
0.64
17
0.63
17
0.64
18
0.88
7
0.87
5
0.86
6
0.87
4
18 19 20
Work Environment (tide site ) Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies Total
4.7.
0.88
0.80
0.77
0.73
0.77
Analysis for Agreement of Ranking As shown in (Table 23), each category of contractors considered many factors as important factors and agreed on the importance of some of those factors, and disagreed with respect to some other factors. The agreement on ranking for the three categories was tested by using the Kendall concordance analysis. The Kendall coefficient of concordance (W) is a statistic, which can be decent measure to identify how practical an agreement among arrangements of rankings. The Kendall coefficient of concordance (W) varies between 0 and 1 regardless of the number of sets of rankings. A coefficient of (W=1) indicates a perfect agreement and coefficient of (W=0) indicates no agreement or association.
Kendall
coefficient of concordance was calculated according to (Kaming, et al., 1996) and was found to be 0.688, see (Appendix D) for detailed calculations. This indicates that there is agreement among the ranks of these three categories companies.
5.
Chapter V: Conclusions and Recommendations
5.1.
Summary of the Study The sample size was fifty-eight (58) of different construction companies from Dubai who are participated in this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted for this study which is divided into two parts. The first part, is to evaluate the safety and health performance for the first, second, and third categories of construction companies working under DM, DTMFZA, and TRAKHEES in 46
Dubai. The second part, is to find the factors affecting the construction safety and health performance of each category under each authority. A literature review was conducted and identified twenty factors which affecting the safety and health performance in construction sites. The degree of impact of these factors on safety and health performance were evaluated based on a five point Likert scale. The collected data were evaluated and the RII of each factor was found, consequently these factors were ranked and tested for agreement. The ranks were varied among each category and total ranks were established for these factors. The results of this study could be used by construction companies and authorities to identify the level of remedial efforts which need to be applied to enhance the construction safety and health performance. 5.2.
Conclusions The main conclusions of the results are:
(59%) of the respondents were from the safety departments of the companies, which grantee that those companies have a professional safety department. While the rest of respondents (41%) were not from the safety department but that not mean that are not have safety departments.
The distribution of the respondents were relatively close among different categories and govern authorities which can reduce the risk of wrong answers of the study. The majority of companies (88%) have more than (10) years of experience in the local market which made them familiar with safety and health regulations of the country.
The respondents’ satisfaction level towards the company expenditures on safety and health are higher in the first category companies followed by second category and then by third category. However, the projects under TRAKHEES have the highest level of the respondents’ satisfaction towards the company expenditures on safety and health. This mean that, the authority enforces the construction companies to implement some safety and health procedures for their projects which might be costly.
Majority of the sample (79%), are currently working in residential projects. And, (52%) of projects are cost more than (100) Million Dirhams. Also, (22%) of projects have less than 12 months of construction duration. Further, (24%) had more than 100,000,000 of total man-hours worked which indicate the massive manpower are working in such projects. 47
All surveyed companies have at least one person who is responsible for monitoring and implementing safety and health best practice as per regulations. However, TRAKHEES are fully implement the need of certified safety and health persons at the workplace for all construction categories which is not the same by DM or DTMFZA.
Falls is the most cause of injury followed by slips and trips then struck by an object. However, the majority of treated injuries are categorised under first aid cases. Further, the majority of respondents agreed on the poor supervision is the main reason which is responsible for the accident occurrence, followed by lack of training then unsafe act.
The majority of respondents agreed on the safety and health inspection by authority is low to very low. Further, TRAKHEES had the lowest rate of safety and health inspection. However, TRAKHEES is the only authority who issue safety and health certificates in different stages during the construction works.
The ranking of the factors affecting safety and health performance are varied among companies and categories. It can be noticed that safety and health policy had the second ranking position in the companies of first category, but sixth and twelfth ranking positions for the companies of second and third categories respectively. Which indicates that safety and health policy is well understandable and recognizable by the companies of first category and almost had limit usage by second and third categories. Further, risk assessment had the third ranking position in the companies of first category, but eighth and nineteenth ranking positions for the second and third categories respectively. Which means that risk assessment is essential to maintain the safety and health performance in first category and almost had a limit practice by second and third categories. In addition, safety and health inspection had the fourth ranking position in the first category, but eleventh and ninth ranking positions for the second and third categories respectively. Which shows that safety and health inspection for the work place is vital to improve the safety and health performance in first category and had less practice in second and third categories. In spite of project cost and duration had a significant ranking in the second and third categories, but it had less consideration by the first category.
In general, the companies of first category have the best awareness of safety and health best practice than the other categories which is assured by many
48
researchers. Moreover, TRAKHEES have the best implementation of safety and health regulations. 5.3.
Recommendations Based on the conclusions, and the results found from this study, the subsequent points can be recommended:
As the poor supervision is the main reason which is responsible for the accident occurrence, the construction companies need to increase the quality and quantity of safety and health supervisors.
More efforts need to be done by the construction companies and the different authorities to improve awareness and the training for the workforces. In addition, an adequate budget for safety and health provision should be stated in all construction contracts which should be approved by all parties and to monitor the spent of the budget.
Safety and health policy and risk assessment are very important issues need to be addressed properly to the companies of second and third categories, and to be well understandable of their importance as first category companies do. Further, the efficiency of site safety and health inspections need to be increased by using a more qualified person, especially in the companies of second and third categories.
Regular safety and health inspections need to be conducted by the authority’s competent person to monitor the performance of safety and health at workplaces, and to notify the construction companies about any violations need to be rectified or noncompliance of regulations. Further, DM and DTMFZA shall follow the same procedures of TRAKHEES regarding issuing safety and health certificates in different stages of construction works.
Moreover, the safety and health
performance history of the construction companies should be considered within the classification of the companies by authority.
The quantitative appraisal of safety and health performance should be applied for construction companies to permit comparing different companies performances.
5.4.
Future work
Research can be conducted to measure the accidents frequency rates (AFR) and safety performance attitude scores (SPAS).
49
Research can be extended to include other Emirates like Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah to check the safety and health performance for construction companies. Further extent can identify the regulations and performance among authorities.
Research can be conducted to compare the construction safety and health performance with other industries like manufacture and agriculture industries.
Research can be conducted to realize the role of the owners and the consultants to avoid or mitigate the accidents in construction sites.
Research can be carried out to evaluate the cost of safety and to compare this cost with the cost of accidents to inspire the construction companies to take safety and health issues seriously.
Research can be carried out for fourth and fifth categories of companies. Also such research can be conducted to find the factors affecting the safety and health performance of specialty contractors such as demolishing contractors, shoring contractors, or excavation contractors.
50
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57
Appendix
58
Appendix A – Sample of Questionnaire Used For the Survey
59
Dear Sir I am a graduate student at Heriot Watt University in Dubai. I am now preparing a master Dissertation in the construction Project management program. The title of the Dissertation is: Construction Safety and Health Performance in Dubai
The purpose of the study is to evaluate and analyse the factors, which affect the safety and health performance in construction projects in Dubai. The results of the study will be of great help to the industry and offering valuable results for all. As you are one of the large organizations working in this field in Dubai, we are kindly inviting you to participate in filling this questionnaire with the required data which is an important element in this study. Please let your safety personnel or project manager provide the required information requested in this questionnaire. The information provided by you will be analysed as whole, and we ensure you that this information will be held in strict confidence and used for the scientific research purpose only without mentioning the name of your organization. We realize that there are numerous demands on your time. However your involvement is a vital requisite for this study. We appreciate your anticipated cooperation in answering this questionnaire, which may take less than 30 minutes of your valuable time. After finish the questionnaire, please send to:
[email protected] Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. Best regards.
Yours Sincerely, MICHAEL ZEKRI
For inquiries and more information please don’t hesitate to contact me on: Mobile: 00971-050-8428895
Email:
[email protected]
60
61
62
Appendix B – Certificate of Conformity Forms
63
64
65
66
Appendix C – RII Calculation Details
67
First Category (24) Companies S.N
Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance
Very high
High
Average
Low
Very low
RII
Rank
1
Complexity of the Design
2
8
9
5
0
0.658
17
2
Type of Owner / Main Developer
0
7
12
3
2
0.600
19
3
Weather Condition
0
5
7
9
3
0.517
20
4
Project Cost
10
12
2
0
0
0.867
9
5
Project Duration
8
10
6
0
0
0.817
13
6
Safety and Health Policy
11
13
0
0
0
0.892
2
7
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report
11
11
2
0
0
0.875
8
8
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
8
13
3
0
0
0.842
12
9
Risk Assessment
13
9
2
0
0
0.892
3
10
Safety and Health Training Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures
10
12
1
1
0
0.858
10
10
14
0
0
0
0.883
5
5
11
8
0
0
0.775
14
13
Safety and Health Inspection
12
11
1
0
0
0.892
4
14
Safety and Health Management Meetings
8
15
1
0
0
0.858
11
15
First Aid Arrangements
3
10
11
0
0
0.733
16
16
Welfare Facilities
5
9
10
0
0
0.758
15
11
12
1
0
0
0.883
6
12
12
0
0
0
0.900
1
1
9
8
6
0
0.642
18
11
12
1
0
0
0.883
7
11 12
17 18 19 20
Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades Work Environment (tide site ) Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies
68
Second Category (20) Companies S.N
Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance
Very high
High
Average
Low
Very low
RII
Rank
1
Complexity of the Design
4
6
8
2
0
0.720
16
2
Type of Owner / Main Developer
1
5
7
5
2
0.580
19
3
Weather Condition
2
4
7
6
1
0.600
18
4
Project Cost
9
11
0
0
0
0.890
1
5
Project Duration
10
9
1
0
0
0.890
2
6
Safety and Health Policy
9
8
2
1
1
0.860
6
7
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report
7
8
5
0
0
0.820
9
8
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
4
7
7
2
0
0.730
15
9
Risk Assessment
6
11
3
0
0
0.830
8
10
Safety and Health Training Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures
5
14
1
0
0
0.840
7
4
14
2
0
0
0.820
10
3
10
7
0
0
0.760
13
13
Safety and Health Inspection
6
10
4
0
0
0.820
11
14
Safety and Health Management Meetings
5
4
4
1
0
0.550
20
15
First Aid Arrangements
3
9
8
0
0
0.750
14
16
Welfare Facilities
6
6
7
1
0
0.770
12
17
Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades
9
9
2
0
0
0.870
4
9
10
1
0
0
0.880
3
1
7
7
5
0
0.640
17
9
9
2
0
0
0.870
5
11 12
18 19 20
Work Environment (tide site ) Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies
69
Third Category (14) Companies S.N
Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance
Very high
High
Average
Low
Very low
RII
Rank
1
Complexity of the Design
1
5
4
4
0
0.643
16
2
Type of Owner / Main Developer
4
5
4
1
0
0.771
8
3
Weather Condition
3
2
5
4
0
0.657
11
4
Project Cost
7
5
2
0
0
0.871
4
5
Project Duration
7
6
1
0
0
0.886
2
6
Safety and Health Policy
2
4
5
2
1
0.657
12
7
Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report
0
5
5
4
0
0.614
18
8
Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
0
2
7
3
2
0.529
20
9
Risk Assessment
3
6
1
0
0
0.600
19
10
Safety and Health Training Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures
4
8
2
0
0
0.829
7
8
5
1
0
0
0.900
1
2
4
5
2
1
0.657
13
13
Safety and Health Inspection
2
6
6
0
0
0.743
9
14
Safety and Health Management Meetings
1
5
5
3
0
0.657
14
15
First Aid Arrangements
2
4
4
4
0
0.657
15
16
Welfare Facilities
1
5
6
2
0
0.671
10
17
Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades
7
6
1
0
0
0.886
3
6
7
1
0
0
0.871
5
1
5
4
3
1
0.629
17
6
6
2
0
0
0.857
6
11 12
18 19 20
Work Environment (tide site ) Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies
70
Appendix D – Kendall coefficient of concordance (W) Calculation
71
First
Second
Third
Rank
Rank
Rank
Ri
Ŕ
S
W
17
16
16
952
609
117649
0.053
19
19
8
948
609
114921
0.051
20
18
11
994
609
148225
0.066
3
Factors Affecting the Safety and Health Performance Complexity of the Design Type of Owner / Main Developer Weather Condition
4
Project Cost
9
1
4
292
609
100489
0.045
5
Project Duration
13
2
2
380
609
52441
0.023
6
2
6
12
336
609
74529
0.033
8
9
18
624
609
225
0.000
8
Safety and Health Policy Accidents / Incidents / Near Miss Report Evacuation Plan / Fire drill
12
15
20
868
609
67081
0.030
9
Risk Assessment
3
8
19
498
609
12321
0.006
10
Safety and Health Training Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Emergency Planning and Procedures Safety and Health Inspection Safety and Health Management Meetings First Aid Arrangements
10
7
7
478
609
17161
0.008
5
10
1
334
609
75625
0.034
14
13
13
778
609
28561
0.013
4
11
9
442
609
27889
0.012
11
20
14
860
609
63001
0.028
16
14
15
874
609
70225
0.031
Welfare Facilities Safety Signals, Signs and Barricades Work Environment (tide site ) Reward and Punishment System (Incentives) Role of Government and Engineering Societies
15
12
10
740
609
17161
0.008
6
4
3
266
609
117649
0.053
1
3
5
154
609
207025
0.093
18
17
17
1010
609
160801
0.072
7
5
6
352
609
66049
0.030
12180
12180
1539028
0.688
S.N 1 2
7
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Total
𝑹𝒊 = ∑ 𝒎 𝒋=𝟏 𝒓𝒊 𝒋𝒊 𝑛
𝑆 = ∑𝑖=1(𝑅𝑖 − Ŕ)2
𝟏
Ŕ = 𝟐 𝒎(𝒏 + 𝟏) 12𝑆
𝑊 = 𝑚2 (𝑛3 −𝑛)
Where: Ri: the total rank given to object i Ŕ: mean value of these total ranks n: total number of factors = 20 m: total number of samples = 58 S: sum of squared deviations W: Kendall's coefficient of concordance
72
