Lingard, H and Holmes, N (2001) Understanding of occupational health and safety risk control in small business construction firms: Barriers to implementing technological controls. Construction Management and Economics, 19(2), pp. 217-226. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
The construction industry poses a particular challenge for the making of occupational health and safety (OHS) risk control decisions which are equitable to all parties involved in the construction process. Typically, small business construction firms are engaged as subcontractors in the construction industry and are located at the lower end of the inter-organizational hierarchy in a construction project. As such, their ability to exert an influence on decision-making in the construction process is limited, despite their employees' day to day exposure to OHS risks. A qualitative study of understandings of OHS risk control was conducted among a sample of small businesses engaged in the Australian construction industry. Two OHS risks relevant to the construction industry were selected for study. One risk (falls from height) represented an immediate consequence while the other (occupational skin disease) represented a long-term health effect. Understandings of control for these OHS risks were explored during in-depth interviews. The results suggest that, at the small business end of the industry, there is a fatalistic resignation to OHS risks being an unavoidable part of the job. This leads to an emphasis on individual rather than technological controls for OHS risk. The implication of these findings for the effective management of OHS risk is discussed.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | occupational health and safety; risk control; small business |
| Index terms: | construction process, decision-making, small business, construction project, subcontractor, exposure, interview, construction firm, occupational health and safety, construction industry, falls, qualitative study |
| Subjects: | research design and methodology, organization, data collection methods, practitioner, decision analysis, building construction, occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, public and environmental health, health risk and incident analysis, production management |
| Topics: | Site Management, Roles and Professions, Risk Management, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Project Management, Research Practice |
| 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