Finalyear

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The construction industry in Nigeria is known for its high incidence of accidents and fatalities. The safety management procedures currently in place seem to be inadequate, resulting in a significant number of accidents and injuries. Therefore, there is a need for an effective safety management procedure to be implemented in building construction in Nigeria.
The importance of providing safe workplace has been reiterated by various related studies because of the intrinsic hazard and risk factors that undoubtedly underlie every work situation and their negative impact on a company’s overall performance. While risk is the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard, hazard on the other hand refers to the situation or source (which could be biological, chemical, physical or ergonomic) of potential damage to somebody, property or equipment. It is believed that some industries are more hazardous that some others. The construction industry world over, is however considered as one of the most hazardous industry.
The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (2011) claims that one in six fatal accidents at work occur on a construction site. It further stated that no less than 60,000 fatal accidents occur on construction sites around the world every year. Similar conclusions were made by Keller & Keller, (2009) and Injuries Board (2009). The fact that a construction job or work environment is considered as highly risky and hazardous does not mean that its susceptibility to accident is not controllable – this largely depends on “work situation” which is humanly controllable. Safety records in the same construction industry in most advanced countries have proven this to be true. Little wonder Koehn, Ahmed, and Jayanti (2000), Idoro (2008) and Enhassi, Choudhry, Mayer & Shoman (2008) all express similar worry as to why worse safety conditions persist on construction work sites in most developing countries like Nigeria. The irony of the situation is that the causes of accidents are well known and almost all preventable and as other business issues, occupational safety and health (OSH) can be managed in the enterprise (The International Training Centre of the ILO, 2011; Indian Council of Medical Research, 2003) but the reality of it is contrary in practice.
Previous studies such as Bluff (2003); Needleman (2000); Saksvik& Quinlan (2003); LaMontagne et al (2003); and Indian Council of Medical Research (2003) uniformly recommend that construction firms adopt safety system that seeks to prevent the occurrence of accidents rather than essentially managing accident cases and victims by paying medical bills and compensation. The core of such safety management system as highlighted by Bluff (2003) includes “systematic identification of hazards, assessment and control of risks, evaluation and review of risk control measures” to ensure that they are effectively implemented and maintained.
Needleman (2000) on the other hand recommend that an effective safety system management requires management commitment to OHS; assignment of responsibilities; OHS procedures; OHS communication mechanisms; hazard identification, prevention and control; accident investigation; OHS training; documentation and evaluation of program effectiveness. Bluff (2003) further opined that if such safety management system would be effective then responsibility must be designated to competent safety personnel who will determine and implement the required preventive measures; that worker will actively be involved; and that procedures are documented and repeatable. This implies that an effective safety management system requires the implementation of core structures and processes and action by key players. Meanwhile, Indian Council of Medical Research (2003), Bluff (2003), Dorji &Hadikusumo (2006) argued that a successful safety system should be policy-based. This implies that having a clearly stated safety policy is the starting point for developing and implementing a safety management system on the construction sites. The result then should be reduced accidents, injuries, sick pay, fatalities, lost work-hours, compensation claims, absenteeism, workers’ agitation, overall costs of project; and significant improvement in efficiency and profitability (Awodele and Ayoola, 2005; Aksorn&Hadikusumo, 2007; Enhassi, Choudhry, Mayer & Shoman, 2008).
Nigerian construction firms especially the multinationals which seem to have inherited safety policies and systems from their parent companies still record repeated cases of accidents and injuries some of which include falls from height, trapped by something collapsing or overturning, struck by a moving vehicle, contact with electricity or electrical discharge, struck by flying/falling object during machine lifting of materials, contact with operating machinery or material being machined, exposure to hot or harmful substance or fire outbreak that engulfed their entire office premises (Consultnet Ltd, 2011). Most often, the problem is not the level of awareness of importance of safety neither is a safety policy absent but it is more related to poor or lack of implementation of safety programmes and systems, as it is with many other key players in the Nigerian construction industry (LaMontagne et al, 2003; Indian Council of Medical Research, 2003).
Procedures and programmes of safety management system of construction firms are naturally expected to lead to highly safe construction sites if they are well followed and implemented. Research studies however, claim that accident and injury rate in many developing countries such as Nigeria is considerably higher than in Europe, U.S. and Australia (Idoro, 2004 & 2007). Koehn, Ahmed & Jayanti (2000) in Bust, Gibb &Pasquire (2004) reported that statistics has shown that there are 8 or 9 times as many fatalities and accidents on construction sites in developing countries than in industrialized developed regions. This is similar to the claims of Awodele& Ayoola, (2005) and Smallwood & Haupt (2005) that not less than hundreds of construction workers are being killed each year and many more rendered permanently disabled on Nigerian construction sites. It is either the installed safety management system is poorly managed or the safety system is not adequately addressing all the relevant safety issues involved in each construction project and site thereby making workers on site highly prone to accident. This study therefore found it necessary to assess performance level of installed safety management system existing in a typical Nigerian construction industry.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The construction industry in Nigeria has experienced a high rate of accidents and fatalities, indicating a lack of effective safety management procedures. The existing safety measures are not sufficient to prevent accidents, injuries, and loss of lives on construction sites. Hence, there is a need to investigate and develop an effective safety management procedure to address this problem.
Recently, Nigeria’s construction industry has experienced considerable growth in construction activities especially in Dar es Salaam city. The high rate of urbanisation has heightened demand by residential and commercial consumers of Dar es Salaam services which has increased the number of construction activities. This is therefore has provided employment opportunities for wide range of labourers, both skilled, and the urban poor who do not have many skills (Well and Hawkins, 2007). The construction industry is an important part of the economy in Nigeria, often seen as the driver of economic growth. Typically, in 2010 the Nigeria construction industry contributed 8.0% to the national GDP, compared with 7.9% in 2009. The industry also employed 9% of the workforce in Nigeria (National budget 2011/2012). Despite its importance, construction sites have been regarded as very risky areas where construction workers are subject to fatalities and ill- health problems. Many building construction activities are inherently risky to health and safety such as working at height, working underground, working in confined spaces and close proximity to falling materials, handling loads manually, handling hazardous substances, noises, dusts, using plant and equipment, fire and exposure to live cables. In Nigeria, construction sites have been ranked as the second most dangerous place in which to work after mines (Mbuya and Lema, 2002; International labour organization (ILO), 2005). Moreover, deaths, permanent disabilities and severe injuries have been on the increase for building workers through major accidents and poor working conditions. This unfortunate scenario has been a monumental threat to the productivity and the overall performance of construction projects as well as diminishing the labour force and the economy of the country. How to reduce the accidents and ill-health problems at construction sites in Nigeria has been a challenge for a long time. To address the aforementioned issue, risk assessment, communication and control has been argued to be a focal point for reducing accidents and ill-health problems on construction sites (Kirchsteiger 2005; Smith et al. 2006; Jung et al, 2008). Through risk assessment, communication and control, risk can be managed; minimized, shared, transferred or accepted (Lingard and Rowlison, 2005). Moreover, risk assessment determines the degree of risk employees face from exposure to health and safety hazard at work and can help establish what is necessary to control the risk and protect health (HSE, 2004). Similarly, through risk assessment, communication and control, project participants are informed and educated about risk and protective action, attitude and concerning the perception of risk, and warned about disasters and how to manage emergencies (Argenti and Forman, 2002). Risk assessment, communication and control have been the cornerstone of health and safety legislation in many countries (ILO, 2005). In Nigeria particularly, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2003, the Contractors Registration Board (CRB) Act 2010, and the Employment and Labour Relations Act (EALRA) No. 6/2004, require all employers to assess the health and safety risks to workers and any other person who may be affected by their undertaking. However little is known regarding the industry’s response and in particular the practice employed for health and safety risk assessment and communication. It is not well known how people deal with hazards, how risk information is processed and evaluated, and how the received information affects perception of risk, evaluation, behaviour change and what parties are involved. The lack of such information and experience has limited the intervention process of improving health and ensuring a safe work environment on construction sites in Nigeria.
1.3 Research Question:
1. What are the current safety management procedures in building construction in Nigeria?
2. What are the major causes of accidents and injuries in building construction in Nigeria?
3. What are the potential solutions to improve safety management in building construction in Nigeria?
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study:
The aim of this study is to develop an effective safety management procedure for building construction in Nigeria. The specific objectives are:
1. To assess the current safety management procedures in building construction in Nigeria.