Health, Safety and Well-being Issues in Construction

Construction occurs in the elements, is physically demanding, entails exposure to a range of hazards, and entails long working hours and working more than five days a week. These characteristics result in disease, illnesses, injuries, fatalities, and the experience of stress, which in turn result in absenteeism. Furthermore, mental health has been identified as the leading health and safety (H&S) issue in construction. The objectives of the study were to determine the: extent to which H&S hazards are experienced; extent to which diseases / illnesses / injuries are experienced; causes of stress, and causes of absenteeism. A quantitative study was conducted among civil engineers, site supervisors, and construction health and safety officers (CHSOs) using a self-administered questionnaire. The salient findings include: dusts, noise, and cement / plaster / screeds predominate in terms of the exposure of workers to occupational health (OH) hazards; headaches, pain and numbness in the wrist, and neck and back injuries predominate in terms of diseases / illnesses / injuries workers experience; unsatisfactory working conditions, demanding construction activities / tasks, poor remuneration, hazardous work, unhealthy and unsafe sites, long working hours, and poor career opportunities predominate in terms of factors contributing to workers experiencing stress; alcoholism, injuries (work related), and ill health predominate in terms of factors contributing to workers being absent, and manual handling, moving objects, and tripping predominate in terms of hazards workers are exposed to. Conclusions include: workers are exposed to a wide range of H&S hazards; experience stress and are absent due to a range of work-related and socio-economic factors, and experience a range of diseases / illnesses /injuries. Recommendations include: hazard identification and risk assessment should be enhanced; occupational health interventions such as training, and surveillance should be enhanced; working conditions and working hours should be interrogated, and health and well-being programmes should be implemented.