ASSESSMENT OF CONTRACTOR HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN ABUJA

Abstract

T he failure of health and safety management systems and the lack of safety culture within contractor organisations have been highlighted as factors responsible for the high rate of construction accidents in developing countries. The study aimed at assessing contractors’ health and safety performance on construction projects. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of contractors. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analysed by mean score and Spearman correlation test. Result revealed that Personal Protective Equipment, safety communication, emergency response plan and first aid and welfare facilities with an average percentage of 94.23, 88.46 and 86.54 respectively are the health and safety practiced mostly performed by contractors on construction projects. Correlation result revealed that p value was <0.05 implying that there is a significant relationship between contractor efforts at providing five variables (accident rates, injury rates, accident per worker rate, injury per worker rate and injury per accident rate) having a p value of >0.05. It was concluded that the level of effort made by contractor is low and have little or no correlation with health and safety performance. It is recommended that adequate facilities necessary for the improvement of H&S performance be provided on construction site for each project in order to maintain a safe site. The study will help stakeholders in the construction industry to better understand the management of health and safety using both lagging and leading indicators to maintain a healthy and safe work environment.