Kheni, N A; Dainty, A R J and Gibb, A G F (2005) Health and safety management practices of small subcontractors. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 21st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2005, London, UK.
Abstract
Effective management practices can significantly improve health and safety in the construction industry. The UK Government's Health and Safety Executive has demonstrated that improved management can prevent around 70 per cent of accidents on site. Unfortunately, small subcontractors are constrained by lack of access to technological, financial and management expertise when devising their health and safety management plans. Arguably, they require effective health and safety management measures and evaluation tools that allow weaknesses in their operations to be established and addressed. Such tools would provide a basis for continuous improvement in the health and safety management practices of these organisations. This paper is a stage report on research, which seeks to develop a model of health and safety management by small subcontractors and a tool that will facilitate effective health and safety management in small subcontractor organisations. The paper reviews health and safety management practices within small firms and describes the research methodology.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | health and safety management practices; small and medium-sized businesses; small subcontractors; research methodology; research paradigm |
| Index terms: | construction industry, evaluation tool, health and safety management, subcontractor, management expertise, paradigm, management practice, research methodology, continuous improvement, health and safety executive, health and safety |
| Subjects: | evaluation and assessment methods, research design and methodology, practitioner, management, education and knowledge transfer, performance measurement, health safety and environment, professional development, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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