Kheni, N A; Dainty, A R J and Gibb, A G F (2007) Influence of political and socio-cultural environments on health and safety management within SMEs: A Ghana case study. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 23rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2007, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
Construction plays a major role in the economies of developed and developing countries. Sadly, it is also a major contributor to the occupational accident and ill-health statistics. This paper explores the environments within which SMEs manage health and safety in developing countries, in this case, Ghana. The majority of construction businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises and their capacity to manage health and safety depends on an enabling policy and cultural environments. Typically, workers are not trained in health and safety and there is little investment in health and safety management by owner/managers. The results suggest the extended family system and collectivist value systems have tremendous impact on the management of health and safety. The institutional structure has made little impact on health and safety attitudes and behaviours of owner/managers. Recommendations for improving health and safety on construction sites in Ghana are suggested which draw upon values which could promote enabling environment for the adoption good practice by SMEs.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | culture; developing countries; Ghana; health and safety; SMEs |
| Index terms: | occupational accident, health and safety management, statistics, health and safety, case study, developing country, manager, good practice, Ghana, construction site, owner |
| Subjects: | work location, mathematical modelling, data collection methods, practitioner, sociology, health risk and incident analysis, performance measurement, development economics, Geography, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Site Management, Quality Management, International Construction, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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