The performance approach to construction worker safety and health

Accidents occur on construction sites around the world despite various occupational safety and health laws, rules, and regulations. There is an international trend away from prescribing compliance with safety laws toward a performance approach. Contractors are allowed flexibility to choose the means and methods to perform their operations safely. This study examines whether a performance approach is an effective and acceptable approach to improving safety and health on construction sites. The study has 5 main objectives: (1) to increase understanding of the performance paradigm and its application to safety and health in construction; (2) to determine the feasibility and acceptance of the performance approach as an effective alternative to previous prescriptive approaches to construction safety; (3) to develop a model based on the review of literature on the performance approach in construction and examination of existing international construction safety and health legislation; (4) to establish whether applications for variances to OSHA's prescriptive requirements would have been obviated by the performance approach; and (5) measure the level of knowledge of the top management structures of construction firms about the performance approach and their attitude toward its implementation in their firms. We reviewed the literature on the performance approach extensively. We studied applications for variances to OSHA's requirements. We used a self-administered questionnaire survey for the top management of 100 construction firms. This study showed that most of the sample population (78%) believed they understood the performance approach very well. Most (58%) preferred this approach. The areas of flexibility, support for innovation, and ease of introducing new materials were regarded as being most important. Top management (54%) drove major change. The demonstration of consistent and decisive personal leadership, introduction of appropriate training programs, and allocation of adequate resources were the most important actions for the successful implementation of the performance approach. The strongest predictor of worker participation was the importance of safety and health issues. Strong predictors of the actions that would be taken to implement the performance approach were implementation factors and position within top management.