Ninan, J (2023) Construction safety in media: An overview of its interpretation and strategic use. International Journal of Construction Management, 23(6), pp. 945-953. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
The construction industry is regarded as one of the most unsafe industries at present. Existing research on construction safety management mainly focuses on the safety of construction personnel within the construction site, however, what the world perceives as safety failure in the construction industry is broader. This paper seeks to understand whose safety concerns are currently ignored and aims to explore the different strategic uses of safety in the construction industry. To address these objectives, this study uses naturally occurring news article data regarding construction safety in India. The paper discusses the safety of construction personnel, the safety of the project, and the safety of externalities. It was seen that safety was used strategically for branding, for political motives, as well as for awakening the community of the importance of construction safety. This study makes a case that safety management in construction is not just the prevention of accidents, but also impression management. Thus, this article argues that safety is not a neutral and easily measurable concept, but a sociocultural concept laden with meaning.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction safety; news media; qualitative research; strategic use |
| Index terms: | construction personnel, construction site, meaning, safety management, construction safety, qualitative research, motive, India, construction industry, prevention, media |
| Subjects: | financial risk, Geography, environmental health, industry analysis, sociology, occupational health and safety management, research design and methodology, workforce, work location, psychology |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Geographical Context, Cost Management, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Human Resources, Site Management |
| 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