Othman, A A E (2012) A study of the causes and effects of contractors' non-compliance with the health and safety regulations in the South African construction industry. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 8(3), pp. 180-191. ISSN 1745-2007
Abstract
Construction is a dangerous and risky industry. This could be attributed to the nature of its activities and the high resultant accident rates. The Health and Safety (H&S) Act, specifically the Construction Regulations, are stated to eliminate the potential hazards during the design and construction phases and to reduce the consequential risks thereof. However, the importance of the construction regulations seems to be overlooked in South Africa. Accordingly, the number of accidents and fatalities witnessed has been rapidly increasing. This article aims to investigate the causes of contractors non-compliance with the H&S procedures and the subsequent effects of such non-compliance on the construction project as well as the country's socioeconomy. A research methodology is designed to achieve this aim. Firstly, literature is used to review the H&S Act, policies used to promote and ensure compliance within sites, hazard and prevention methods, and management systems for safe construction. Secondly, survey questionnaires are used to define the causes and effects of non-compliance with H&S procedures from the industry perspective and determine practices on site. Finally, interviews are conducted with the relevant professionals to assess the practicality of their plans and investigate their view towards eliminating contractor's non-compliance with H&S procedures.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accidents; construction regulations; contractors; health and safety act; non-compliance; South Africa |
| Index terms: | prevention, construction industry, fatalities, South Africa, construction project, design and construction, regulation, research methodology, questionnaire, survey, compliance, interview, health and safety, management system |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, research design and methodology, data collection methods, political science, industry analysis, financial risk, health safety and environment, Geography, production management, health risk and incident analysis, management |
| Topics: | Governance, Procurement, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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