Construction Health and Safety Practices on a Roads Agency’s Projects

The South African construction industry contributes a disproportionate number of fatalities and injuries relative to other industrial sectors, and there is a high level of non-compliance with H&S legislation and regulations in the industry. The current study sought to determine the reasons for H&S non-compliance on a roads agency’s projects. The quantitative method was adopted for the study, which entailed a self-administered questionnaire distributed to construction H&S agents, civil engineers, H&S consultants, design managers, construction project managers, depot managers, and resident engineers involved with the agency’s projects. The salient findings include: respondents generally consider / refer to H&S during the six stages of projects and on eighteen occasions, and undertake nine H&S-related interventions on the roads agency’s projects, and respondents rated themselves above average relative to twelve aspects. Conclusions include: respondents consider / refer to H&S during the six stages of projects and on eighteen occasions more so during the downstream and midstream stages than the upstream stages, and respondents’ knowledge is more extensive with respect to non-designer-related aspects than designer-related aspects. Recommendations include: respondents should consider / refer to H&S more frequently during the first three stages of projects and upstream occasions; project managers should adopt a multi?stakeholder approach, and construction H&S should be embedded in all tertiary built environment.