Massyn, M and Jeune, K L (2010) Health and safety practices of contractors working on the expanded public works programme (epwp): A South African perspective. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
The Government in general is normally called upon to provide employment opportunities for the large number of unemployed individuals in the country. Within South Africa the Public Works Programmes and the Expanded Public Works programme (EPWP) in particular has been established to address this objective. The Department of Public Works (DPW) apply labour intensive construction methods on all EPWP projects as a means to provide short term employment opportunities to a larger section of the unemployed. The EPWP code of good practice for Special Public Works projects provides for special conditions of employment for the EPWP projects. In terms of the code small sized contracting entities can be established for a specific contract on condition that they are registered for a basis construction management training programme which is equivalent to a qualification at either level 2 or 4 on the National Qualification Framework. The members of the contracting enterprise are enrolled for these programmes via the EPWP Contractor Learnership Programme which was established to provide the required support systems to developing contractors. The EPWP programmes do however not allow for any compromises with regards to health and safety and as the 2003 Construction Regulations makes provision for the client to appoint an agent as his representative they normally appoint their own health and safety officer on each of their projects. This study questions the health and safety practices and interventions applied on EPWP projects in the Cape Town region by small contracting enterprises. The methodology comprises a telephonic survey and follows up interview of the small contracting enterprises involved in EPWP projects within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. It is conclude that the majority of the small contracting enterprises are aware of their responsibilities in terms of current legislation but that most of the paperwork is provided by the client’s representative, that they had very little input on health and safety issues during the tender preparation phase and that no formal interventions are used to keep the labourers and artisans informed of health and safety issues.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | small-medium sized contracting enterprise; contractor registration; health and safety; public works programmes; training initiatives |
| Index terms: | South Africa, agent, health and safety practices, methodology, public work, regulation, health and safety issues, employment, programme, good practice, survey, construction method, legislation, interview, qualification, health and safety |
| Subjects: | infrastructure engineering, health safety and environment, Geography, educational resources, research methods, performance measurement, management, political science, building construction, project controls, occupational health and safety management, practitioner, data collection methods, legal systems |
| Topics: | Governance, Roles and Professions, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Site Management, Education, Time Control, Human Resources, Quality Management, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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