Investigating good health and safety practices in small construction firms in the United Kingdom

Increasing attention on Health and Safety has been imposed upon workers in small construction firms in recent years as there is a continuous strive for the safety of workers in the construction industry. Policy and procedures have been the main focus of many initiatives but the practices of construction workers on site have been reported to differ from the safety policies which are sometimes constructed only as a bureaucratic requirement. Research suggests that workers in the construction industry would rather apply a common sense approach to their health and safety practices which they believe leads to good health and safety practices and hence safety of the workers. A recent PhD research project set out to explore these good health and safety practices of workers of small construction firms in-depth and critically review their relationship to health and safety policy. This paper discusses the rationale and research methodology for the project: data will be collected via semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations to form case studies of different firms operating on site in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. The East Midlands is a particularly attractive location for a study of good practice as health and safety records show a steady decline in accidents and injuries in the past decade. The research is being conducted with a qualitative approach to gain rich data on site practices and workers perceptions. Thus, the research will offer in-depth information on local conditions under which good practices are carried out in ensuring the health and safety of small construction firm workers.