Mackenzie, J and Loosemore, M (1997) The value of health and safety in construction. In: Stephenson, P (ed.) Proceedings of 13th Annual ARCOM Conference, 15-17 September 1997, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
The construction industry's attitude towards health and safety has been indifferent, investment of resources being seen as paying little returns. Increasing economic pressures that manifest themselves in tighter margins and greater time constraints on construction projects have compounded this attitude. Within this context, this paper discusses the concept of value in relation to the health and safety performance of the construction industry. Considerations of value have hitherto been restricted to project variables that contribute to the functional performance of buildings. The paper concludes that the industry is sceptical about the benefits of a safe working environment. It also argues that attitudinal and behavioural factors affecting safety during the early stages of design appear to be of major importance to health and safety performance.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | health and safety; value; attitudes; culture; behaviour; design; ethics |
| Index terms: | construction project, construction industry, health and safety, ethics |
| Subjects: | ethical practice, industry analysis, production management, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here