COSTS OF HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT IN BUILDING SITES

Code No: 232938

₦5,000.00

ABSTRACT

The construction industry is inherently hazardous. Thus, there is a need to make the construction site a safe place to work although the poor safety record remains a concern. The determination of the aggregate costs of health and safety programmes is considered a leap for achieving construction safety in construction project delivery. This study evaluated the costs of health and safety programmes in building project delivery. The study determined among others, cost-related factors affecting health and safety programmes, significant cost elements of health and safety programmes and determined the size of contractorsâ€™ expenditure on health and safety programmes. The finding of the study revealed that external monitoring and control requirements, level of education and training, and scope of work-related hazards are significant cost-related factors inhibiting contractorsâ€™ health and safety programmes. The overall costs of health and safety programmes included in tender for building work generally amount to 0.31%. This implies medium and large contractorsâ€™ in Eket allow 0.31% of the total project costs for health and safety programmes in building contracts. The study concludes that budgetary provisions for health and safety programmes in building projects requires significant improvement in order to improve health and safety performance in building project delivery.

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Construction Industry is indisputable for its overt position in the economy of any nation. However, the poor safety performance of the construction industry has continued to give international cause for concern staring challenge in its effort to tackle the developmental initiative of many nations including Nigeria. Workplace Health and Safety on its own is a global challenge to the sustainable development of our society and civilization. According to the International Labor Office (ILO), work related accidents and illness contribute 3.9 percent of all deaths and 25 percent of the worldâ€™s population suffers a minor/major occupational accident or work related disease in any one year (Smallwood, 2004). Other than the moral concerns, the economic cost is huge, this undermines the industryâ€™s efforts towards sustainable construction and development.
Health and safety programmes were first introduced in Nigeria during the time of the British Colony (Onyejeji, 2011). These programmes ensured that occupational health workers were dispatched to industrial plants and other commercial undertakings, including plans for monitoring. The initiative led to legislation that produced the Labour Act of 1974, the factories Act of 1987, and the Workmanâ€™s Compensations Act 1987.Other relevant acts to occupational health and safety in Nigeria are Labour Acts 1990, and Workmanâ€™s Compensation Act 2004. Theoretically, the goal of regulatory policies is to isolate incidents where misinformation about health risks leads people to make non-optimal decisions in order to internalize the situations, where health and safety risks are not already realized in the market decision. Policy needs to strike a balance between the costs of prevention, borne by employers, and the costs of injuries and ill health which fall upon the individual and society.