Oswald, D; Smith, S and Sherratt, F (2014) A Spanish subcontractor in a UK culture. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 30th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2014, Portsmouth, UK.
Abstract
Globalisation of the construction industry has meant that people from different national cultures often work together. This creates many additional challenges for the industry, one of which is forming and maintaining a positive safety culture. This study focuses on a Spanish subcontractor working in the UK on a large construction project (+£500m). Throughout a 9-month period, an ethnographic study was undertaken to explore the safety-related challenges that were created for the principal contractor; the lead researcher was able to spend time on the project as a participant observer to gather data around this phenomenon. Despite some regarding it as suspicious, ethnography has now emerged as another approach for understanding the construction industry. This paper demonstrates that through this qualitative approach, new avenues can be explored to broaden and improve our understanding of the industry. The Spanish subcontractor had a faster but less safe culture than their UK counterparts and found it difficult to change their ways and comply with stricter regulations. During the study period, the Spanish subcontractor was stopped numerous times for safety reasons, and even temporarily removed from site. These failings led to the appointment of a health and safety advisor which did lead to some improvements. The challenges did not only occur when the Spanish subcontractor was not following regulations or revealing a poor safety culture, but also when they appeared to display competence. Under UK legislation, the principle contractor is required to check and monitor the competence of the subcontractor and their systems. However in one scenario the principal contractor did not know anything about the Spanish system the subcontractor were using, so how would it be possible to monitor competence? Findings suggest that whilst the Spanish subcontractor may have been a low-cost option initially, safety risks were increased leading to significant amounts of time, money and resources being required to attempt to control these risks.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ethnography; migrant; Spain; UK |
| Index terms: | ethnography, principal contractor, Spain, qualitative approach, large construction project, health and safety, legislation, safety culture, subcontractor, option, construction industry, regulation, globalization, competence, national culture |
| Subjects: | qualitative and interpretive research, Geography, organizational theory, health safety and environment, personnel development, research methods, industry analysis, economic factors, political science, cross-cultural studies, decision analysis, practitioner, legal systems |
| Topics: | International Construction, Human Resources, Legal Issues, Governance, Roles and Professions, Risk Management, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Health and Safety |
| 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