Safety Management Practices in the Bhutanese Construction Industry

Kin Dorji1 and *Bonaventura H. W. Hadikusumo2

INTRODUCTION

It is commonly known that accidents have serious implications to the construction industry both in financial and humanitarian terms. Construction accidents may cause many problems, such as demotivation of workers; disruption of site activities; delay of project progress; and adversely affecting the overall cost, productivity and reputation of the construction industry (Mohamed, 1999). In Hong Kong, the cost of accidents accounts 8.5% of the total tender price (Rowlinson, 2003).

Considering the adverse impacts of accidents, construction safety management is of genuine concern to all stakeholders in the construction industry. Government, unions and insurers have spent a great deal of time and effort attempting to evolve legislation, rules and regulations to help reduce the large loss of life and limbs, and the high number of "lost-work days" (Goldsmith, 1987). In USA, the practice of safety in construction is regulated by governmental agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which provides strict rules and regulations to enforce safety and health reduce accident rates unless craftsmen and management take positive actions to integrate these rules into their everyday activities by implementing a safety management program. Safety management is an approach aimed at removing or minimizing the forces which cause losses through injured workers, or damaged equipment and facilities.

In most developing countries, including Bhutan, safety consideration in construction project delivery is not given a priority, and employment of safety measures during construction is considered a burden (Mbuya and Lema, 2002). The construction industry in Bhutan is one of the fastest growing and largest sectors. It is also one of the highest contributing sectors to the national gross domestic product (GDP) next to agriculture. However, occupational safety and health in the construction industry in Bhutan is at the very basic level. It lacks all of the three fronts of engineering, education and enforcement ("Three E's) of safety. Safety concerns have been raised, of late, and earnest efforts are being made to promote safety and health in the Bhutanese construction industry. The industry, as such, needs to assess the safety situation, and accordingly plan and implement safe construction in Bhutan. Currently there is a genuine set of data on safety at construction sites in Bhutan. Apparently, there are no systematic and organized studies conducted specifically on the safety aspects of the construction industry in Bhutan. Therefore, this research study was aimed to assess the existing safety management practices and perception in the Bhutanese construction industry. The assessment was useful in providing information in terms of current safety practices administered in Bhutan. Meanwhile the perception was useful in finding out what are the main reasons, and whether the regulator and construction companies have different perceptions in identifying problems related to safety management. If they perceive different opinions on safety problems, the safety policy and law might not be able to solve the problems. The health issues are not covered in this study because the impact of health is long term; and at present the data is not available in the Bhutanese construction industry.

BHUTANESE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT ROLES IN SAFETY

The construction industry is one of the fastest growing and largest employing industries in Bhutan. It is also, like in any other developing countries, one of the major stakeholders of the national economy. Its contribution to the national GDP rose from 6.7% in the early 1990s to about 12% in 2002. The construction industry, however, is dominated by the government since most of the major infrastructure developmental works are owned by the government.

During the Eighth Five Year Plan (8 FYP) (1997–2002) the construction sector, with an estimated growth rate of 17.3%, had a major influence on the GDP growth rate mainly because of the construction of large hydropower projects. The Ninth Plan (2002–2007) has placed much emphasis upon the infrastructure development such as urban housing projects; and because of this, construction sector has been projected to grow at an average of around 16.4% per annum. The construction sector is also expected to contribute 17.8% to the national GDP at the end of the Ninth Plan.

In order to support the construction development, technological and managerial aspects of the Bhutanese contractors must be improved. Many new government agencies have been created in response to these needs. Some of them are Standard and Quality Control Authority (SQCA), Construction Association of Bhutan (CAB), Construction Training Centre (CTC), Department of Labour (DOL) and others. The role of the CAB is to represent as a forum for the construction industry, and to address problems and policy issues at national, regional and international level for the development and promotion of Bhutanese construction industry. SQCA is currently one of the main government regulatory agencies entrusted with the tasks of regulating the quality aspects of the construction works in the country. In the past, the former Public Works Department (PWD) used to be the only central agency entrusted with all the engineering works of the government. However, over time, with increasing volume of works it has been proliferated to several other government agencies. As such, today, every Royal government agency possesses a small team of engineers to oversee its engineering functions. This over stretch has resulted in the variations in the construction and engineering standards.

The Ministry of Works and Human Settlement takes its roles in overseeing the construction industry in Bhutan. The Ministry carries out most of the developments and implementation of various rules and regulations, policies, bye-laws and standards, etc. that has general bearing on the construction industry. However, there is no single specific government agency that regulates the construction safety. There is no concrete legislative standard either for construction safety and health. The only legal instrument protecting the working conditions of national and foreign workers is the Chathrim for Wage, Recruitment Agencies and Workmen's Compensation 1994 passed by the National Assembly and implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Even the applicability of this labour regulations is limited to the five categories of workers (designated by skill levels) identified in the Chathrim. The Chathrim and its related amendments also establish the minimum wage levels and welfare such as accident insurance coverage, medical coverage and safe working conditions.

The Ministry of Labour and Human Resources which has been recently established in June 2003 has been entrusted with the responsibility for labour administration policies and laws. The occupational safety and health related laws and regulations are currently encompassed in the overall labour administration policy and law, which are still at the draft stage. The DOL under the same Ministry is mandated to assume responsibility for labour inspection and labour relations functions. Over the next few years, the DOL will be striving to achieve the following objectives in terms of safety and health management (MLHR, 2004):

a. Labour laws and regulations concerning labour inspection and labour relations will be drafted, submitted to the national assembly, enacted, widely publicized and enforced.

b. All workers, both national and foreign, will benefit from labour protection activities through a safer and healthier working environment, and improved working conditions.

c. A national occupational safety and health policy will be in place, and supporting laws and regulations will be enacted, implemented and enforced.

d. An integrated labour inspection system will be established and become operational.

e. A system for bargaining by the Department on behalf of the employees on a range of labour relations issues, including wages and working conditions, will be established until the finalization of the nation's constitution.

SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Management approach to health and safety in construction industry can be seen in three important ways – firstly, from legal point of view, the need to abide the rules and regulations of the place; second, the socio-humanitarian aspects which is to consider human lives involved; and finally, the financial-economic aspects of the accidents which have high direct and indirect costs.
Construction safety management deals with actions that managers at all levels can take to create an organizational setting in which workers will be trained and motivated to perform safe and productive construction work (Levitt and Samelson, 1987). The system should delineate responsibilities and accountabilities. It should also outline procedures for eliminating hazards and identifying potential hazards before they become the contributing factors to unfortunate accidents.

Safety Policy

A health and safety policy is a written statement of principles and goals embodying the company's commitment to workplace health and safety (CSAO, 1993). It demonstrates top management's commitment to ensure safe working methods and environment at the construction sites. Koehn et al. (1995) states that in order to reduce financial risk, management support for safety programmes in both developed and developing countries should be considered as an economic necessity since accidents had proved quite costly to the contractor. This is in addition to the ethical and professional responsibility of the management for providing a safe work site for all employees. Sawacha et al. (1999) also stresses the importance of management's viability and participation in achieving successful safety performance. The safety policy elements which are applicable in Bhutan are written safety policy, proper posting of policy, effective implementation and policy updating.

Organizing

One of the essential elements of the safety management is the designation of individual with responsibilities and accountabilities in the implementation of the construction safety programme and plan. The organization should demonstrate how accountabilities are fixed, how policy implementation is to be monitored, how safety committees and safety representatives are to function, and how individual job descriptions should reflect health and safety responsibilities and associated accountabilities (Stranks, 2000). As such, in order for the safety policy to be effective, both management and employees have to be actively involved and committed (Holt, 2001). In the research finding of Sawacha et al. (1999), it indicates that having a well-trained safety representative on site can improve safety performance by undertaking fault spotting and insisting on corrective action being taken. Also having full-time safety personnel will somewhat relieves the pressure on the on-site construction project team (Koehn et al. 1995). Sawacha et al. (1999) further indicates that companies with effective safety committees are more likely to take steps that improve safety performance than those without. This means that safety committees can play a positive role in the improvement of safety performance. In UK, the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 which was implemented by the HSC, describes the appointment and functions of safety representatives and the establishment of safety committees (Davies and Tomasin, 1996). Similarly, in USA the OSHA standards for the construction industry had listed the necessary requirements for a minimum standard of safety and health (Koehn et al. 1995). The committee is empowered to research, discuss, coordinate and make suggestions related to labour safety affairs at the job site. Organizing elements which are applicable to Bhutan are safety representative, safety committee, safety responsibilities and accountabilities, and organizational commitment (i.e. resources).

Planning and Implementing

Planning is a critical area in the control and enforcement of a safety program (Goldsmith, 1987). It is a process that prepares, creates, implements and monitors the safety programme, thereby addressing the workplace health and safety through an organized, step-by-step strategy (CSAO, 1993). Planning starts with the company's written health and safety policy. It ensures that health and safety efforts of all job-site personnel really work by designing a programme that translates policy into practice. Planning, as such, entails identifying the objectives and targets which are attainable and relevant, setting performance standards for management, considering and controlling risks to all employees and to other people who may be affected by the organization's activities, and ensuring documentation of all performance standards (Holt, 2001). The safety and health programme covers a range of general safety procedures and practices. Some of them are safety training, safety meeting, safety inspection, accident investigation and reporting, job hazard analysis and control, safety promotion, and personal protective equipment (PPE), etc.
The elements of planning and implementing safety programme which are applicable to Bhutan are safety plan, safety programme, safety training, safety inspection, job-site hazard identification and control, safety meeting, accident investigation and reporting, safety promotion and PPE.

Measuring Safety Performances

Safety performance measures are used primarily for comparisons among companies and supervisors. In addition, they are also used as a means for pinpointing problem areas (Levitt and Samelson, 1987). Also according to Laufer and Ledbetter (1986), a key factor in the control and improvement of any performance aspect on site is the ability to measure the performances. Measuring safety performances is important to check the effectiveness of various training methods and it also serves as an instrument in choosing a contractor. There are various methods of measuring the safety performances. Some of the common methods are experience modification rating (EMR), accident costs, frequency rate, behaviour-based safety and OSHA-recordable incidence rates. The elements of safety performance measurement which are applicable to Bhutan are accident cost and accident frequency rate.

Reviewing Safety Performances

The review of safety performances serves as a feedback loop to improve the performances. Safety audit can be undertaken to review the safety performance in terms of whether the safety plan is implemented and whether the plan is effective to attain the organization's safety goal.

CONCLUSION

A survey has been conducted with 40 construction companies and the government regulatory agencies relevant to construction industry in Bhutan to better understand their safety management practices. The five key elements of a construction safety management system were inadequately applied in the Bhutanese construction industry. In terms of safety policy, most of the companies did not have safety policy and they had poor safety awareness. In terms of organizing, most of them did not have safety department, safety representative and safety committee. Less than 25% of them did not have safety budget. In terms of planning and implementation, most of them were aware of the safety regulation and claimed to have insurance schemes for the workers depending on the clients' requirements. Most of them also claimed that they provided PPE to workers although some of the workers did not want to use the PPE because they felt uncomfortable. However, most of the companies did not have a formal safety plan. In terms of measuring and reviewing safety performance, many of the companies did not have proper records to give indication on the number of any kind of accidents occurring at their construction project sites. In addition, many did not employ safety audits.
Our study also concludes main reasons for why the application of safety management system was not adequate. The contractors perceive that the five top most reasons were (1) lack of safety training facilities, (2) lack of safety awareness and understanding of safety benefits, (3) lack of safety professionals, (4) lack of knowledge about safety management, and (5) lack of safety regulation enforcement. While the government officials perceived that financial constraint was one of the most important reasons instead of lack of safety professionals. The data showed that basically the contractors and government officials were not statistically different in their opinions.

This study was published in the “This Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2006” and full journal article is available upon request.

Abstract: The construction industry is considered as one of the most hazardous industrial sectors wherein the construction workers are more prone to accidents. In developed countries such as United Kingdom and United States of America, there is strict legal enforcement of safety in the construction industry and also in the implementation of safety management systems which are designed to minimize or eliminate accidents at work places. However, occupational safety in construction industry is very poor in developing countries such as Bhutan. This study investigates the prevalent safety management practices and perceptions in the construction industry in Bhutan. The study was conducted among 40 construction contractors and 14 government officials through method of questionnaire survey, interview and discussion. The results of the study revealed that there are many occupational safety problems in the construction industry in Bhutan, problems such as lack of safety regulations and standards, low priority of safety, lack of data on safety at construction sites, lack of competent manpower, lack of safety training, lack of safety promotion, and lack of documented and organized safety management systems. Furthermore, the study also proposes some recommendations for safe construction in Bhutan.

1Standards and Quality Control Authority, Ministry of Works and Human Settlement, ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN

2Construction Engineering and Insfrastructure Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, THAILAND. *Corresponding author: kusumo@ait.ac.th

Capturing Safety Knowledge Using Design-for-Safety-Process Tool

B. H. W. Hadikusumo1 and Steve Rowlinson2

Introduction

Construction site safety is of great importance to construction companies. Failure in managing construction safety results in worker injuries and impacts on financial losses, human conflicts, and civil penalties.

In order to provide a safe working environment for workers, governments set regulations. There are two kinds of safety regulations: prescribed safety regulations, where the government states minimal working conditions that must be provided in a construction site; and self-regulatory, where the government states general duties for an employer, thus allowing them to determine the best way of achieving the objectives of the legislation in an approach best suited to their organization.

For both systems, knowledge (i.e., experience) of a safety engineer is of great importance. In the prescribed system, it is a fact that governments could not state all of safety hazards that might be occurring at construction sites. In other words, the regulations do not reflect the dynamic nature of the construction processes; and therefore experience of safety engineers is very important. In the self-regulatory system, it is clear that an organization must develop its own approach to provide adequate working conditions and therefore the experience of safety engineers is equally of great importance.

This paper discusses an innovative method to capture the knowledge of safety engineers in terms of experience in safety hazards at construction sites and accident precautions by using a design-for-safety-process (DFSP) tool. First, knowledge management in construction site safety perspectives is discussed, and then the concept of DFSP tool and its function to capture the knowledge is presented. Finally, test cases to show the potential of the tool to capture the knowledge are reported.

Knowledge Management in Construction Site Safety Perspectives

Knowledge management (KM) has a lot of definitions; Hibbard (cited in Beckman 1999) defines it as ‘‘... the process of capturing a company’s collective expertise wherever it resides—in databases, on paper, or in people’s heads—and distributing it to wherever it can help produce the biggest payoff.’’ Beckman (1999) noted, ‘‘In order to transform knowledge into a valuable organizational asset, knowledge, experience, and expertise must be formalized, distributed, shared, and applied.’’ For this purpose, several authors proposed models for the KM process.

Beckman (cited in Beckman 1999) proposes eight stages of the KM process: (1) identifying, determining core competencies, sourcing strategy, and knowledge domain; (2) capturing, formalizing existing knowledge; (3) selecting, assessing knowledge relevance, value, and accuracy; (4) storing, representing corporate memory in knowledge repository with various knowledge schema; (5) sharing, distributing knowledge automatically to users based on interest and work; (6) applying, retrieving and using knowledge in making decisions, solving problems, automating or supporting work, job aids, and training; (7) creating, discovering new knowledge through research, experimenting, and creative thinking; and (8) selling, developing, and marketing new knowledge-based products and services.

In order to capture knowledge, it is very important to know typologies of knowledge. Several writers, such as Nonaka and Takeuchi (cited in Beckham 1999), Von Krogh et al (2000), and
Alter (2002), identify two types of knowledge typologies: explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is defined as knowledge which is precisely and formally articulated and is often codified in databases of corporate procedures and best practices, whereas tacit knowledge is understood and applied unconsciously (Alter 2002). Nonaka and Takeuchi (cited in Beckman 1999) differentiate these two typologies of knowledge in terms of experience–rational and practice–theory aspects. Tacit knowledge is knowledge of experience and it is related to practical aspects, while explicit knowledge is a knowledge of rationality and it is related to theoretical aspects.


Fig. 1. Frequency-consequences levels for categorizing safety hazards

Explicit Knowledge

The explicit knowledge of construction site safety exists in accident records, and safety regulations as well as safety guidelines. The accident records represent the knowledge of actual accidents reported on construction sites. This record is useful for the purpose of risk assessment for categorizing the safety hazards in terms of ‘‘frequency–consequence’’ level (see Fig. 1). By categorizing the hazards in terms of this frequency–consequence relationship, an organization can have better information regarding hazards which must be prioritized since it is not possible to allocate all of the organizational resources to respond to all the hazards which can occur. For example, in Fig. 1, hazards categorized as Type I must be prioritized while Type IV can be least considered. Type-I hazards may be hazards which may cause major consequences and often occur, such as falling objects from an unprotected opening in a slab in building construction projects. Type-II hazards may be hazards which may cause major consequences but seldom occur, such as a person falls from the upper floor of a building construction project, or minor consequences but often occur, such as a person gets caught by protruding rebars. Type-III hazards may be hazards which may cause moderate consequences and seldom occur, such as a person is struck by a tower crane. This categorization of hazards varies in different organizations since the frequency and consequences of accidents occurrence depend on several factors such as: (1) nature of the construction works, (2) quality and quantity of existing accident precautions used, and (3) safety culture.

Another type of explicit knowledge in site safety is safety regulations, such as Occupational Safety and Health Acts from the U.S. and Construction Site Safety Regulations (CSSR) of Hong Kong. The regulations state the minimum required conditions that must be met in a construction project; however these conditions are not enough to provide a safe working condition. This is especially true for contractors working in countries encouraging self-regulation through the implementation of a safety management system. This system provides general duties for an employer, thus allowing them to determine the best way of achieving the objectives of the legislation in an approach best suited to their organizational culture (Phillips 1998). In the self-regulatory system, tacit knowledge of construction site safety is of paramount importance for organizations since the knowledge of safety engineers and managers (i.e., experience knowledge) determines the quality of safe working conditions acceptable, and therefore their knowledge must be captured.

Tacit Knowledge

Von Krogh et al. (2000) noted that tacit knowledge is tied to the senses, skills in bodily movement, individual perception, physical experiences, rules of thumb, and intuition. In construction site safety, safety hazard recognition is an important actualization of tacit knowledge. Safety hazard recognition is considered a tacit knowledge because it relies on the safety engineer’s experience. A hazard is ‘‘a condition with the ‘potential’ of (causing) an accident or ill health’’ (King and Hudson 1985). This definition of a ‘hazard’ must be noted to avoid confusion with the definition of risk, which is the likelihood of an occurrence of a hazard (Phillips 1998).

Ramsey (cited in Furnham 1998) noted an important theory of hazard recognition, which in itself is an important element in the occurrence of an accident. If management does not recognize the hazards that may occur on a site, then management cannot provide relevant training or procedures to handle the uncertain conditions.

The importance of this theory is shown in a study of behavior-based safety management conducted by Lingard and Rowlinson (1997). The results of their study showed that behavior-based safety management successfully improved the safety performance with respect to personal protective equipment and housekeeping, but not bamboo scaffolding and access to heights. One reason for this was attributed to the failure of workers to recognize hazards.

In knowledge management, which is usually manifested in the form of a business system that is enabled by an array of technologies (Auditore 2002), both the explicit and tacit knowledge of construction site safety personnel must be captured to gain advantages including:
1. Establishment of an effective safety program which recognizes the actual safety hazards.
2. Establishment of an effective training program which improves workers’ skill related to the actual safety hazards identified.

Problems with Capturing Knowledge in Construction Site Safety

Explicit knowledge is easier to capture than tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge related to construction site safety can be captured from existing theories and axioms written in books, regulations, company records, and guidelines. However, tacit knowledge exists from the experience of an individual (i.e., safety engineer or manager); therefore it is difficult to capture since the knowledge is stored in an unstructured manner in an individual’s mind.

There are two conventional mechanisms to capture the knowledge of safety engineers or managers. First, it can be undertaken by conducting discussions. For the purpose of representing cases for the discussion, several tools are required, such as engineering drawings, and method statements. The problems with these tools are the drawings and method statements are represented as texts and two-dimensional (2D) drawings which may be difficult to understand (Collier 1994), and the drawings only represent construction components, such as walls, beams, and columns; but they do not represent construction processes which also have inherent safety hazards (Young 1996). Second, it can also be undertaken by observing the actual site. This mechanism can provide better safety information related to the actual construction components and processes which may have safety hazards. An obvious advantage is that the actual representation of the components and processes can stimulate safety engineers or managers to recall the experience they have. However, this mechanism has some limitations: (1) it is unsafe to them since they are exposed to the construction operations; (2) it obstructs the workers in carrying out their works; and (3) it can only be undertaken during the construction stage.

Design-for-Safety-Process Tool for Capturing Construction Safety Knowledge

Due to the problems stated in the last section, a DFSP tool is proposed. In this research, this tool is designed for capturing safety knowledge in the Harmony Block of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA). This block design is built repetitively; and therefore, knowledge captured by using the DFSP tool can be reused in Harmony Block projects or in other similar construction projects.

The DFSP tool is developed based on three components: design for X-ability (DFX), virtual reality (VR), and construction site safety, as well as the safety hazard identification method. The advantage of using VR as a visualization tool is that it can enhance knowledge discovery (Auditore 2002). This is related to the nature of the human brain where it can process real- time, multidimensional data much more efficiently and faster than 2D data (Thierauf 1995). In the particular case of construction site safety, after design stage has been completed, construction components and processes of the Harmony Block construction project are represented in VR, called the virtually real construction project. By using this representation, safety engineers can observe the virtually real project and share their experience to identify safety hazards inherent within the virtually real project. In addition, they can also use their experience to propose suitable measures for the identified hazards.

Design for X-Ability

The fundamental concept of DFX is the ability to design a product from several viewpoints or characteristics (Gutwald cited in Prasad 1996). For example, one of the design-for-assembly approaches might be to investigate how a product design can be improved in terms of its assembly time as a performance measurement.

In order to develop a useful DFX tool, Huang (1996) noted five basic functionality requirements of a DFX tool. The five requirements are used as a DFX shell to develop the DFSP tool as follows: (1)gather and present facts; (2) measure performance; (3) evaluate whether or not a product/process design is good enough; (4) Compare design alternative; (5) highlight strengths and weaknesses.

In addition to the functionality requirements, Huang added another element: that the tool must stimulate creativity. Having this additional element, the DFX tool should encourage innovation and creativity, rather than impose restrictions. In the DFSP tool, there are sets of standards in the safety regulations that must be observed; for example, the minimum width of the working platform must be at least 400 mm if the working platform is not used to transport material. However, it does not restrict a user to creatively develop the best safety design solution. A user is provided with choices for establishing which accident precautions would be the most suitable, or to create a new design solution if it is considered better than the data available in the accident precautions.

This is the main reason why the DFSP tool, which is derived from DFX, can be used to capture construction site safety knowledge.

Virtual Reality

Aukstakalnis and Blatner (1992) define ‘‘VR as a way for humans to visualize, manipulate, and interact with computers and extremely complex data.’’ Burdea and Coiffet (1994) define VR in terms of its three important features that make it widely used by several industries which are: interaction, immersion, and imagination.

Interactive

The interactive feature enables a user to provide input and modify a virtual world instantaneously. In the DFSP tool, it enables a user to do a virtual site investigation and observation at any location in the virtually real construction project.

In order to execute the virtual site investigation and observation as effectively as the safety hazards identification task, VR functions are needed to be incorporated in the DFSP tool. There are four main VR functions developed in the DFSP tool: collision detection, terrain following, geometry picking, and VR tape measure. Hadikusumo and Rowlinson (2001) discussed further details of these VR functions, design, and development.

For the purpose of safety hazard identification, it is very important to understand the nature of the safety hazard. Most of the safety regulations note dimensions of an object as a safety requirement. For example, the CSSR of Hong Kong Schedule 3 notes that the minimum width of a working platform is 400 mm. In addition, if the working platform is used for material transportation, the minimum width is 650 mm. This indicates that a VR tape measure is needed to measure the dimension in the virtually real project for the purposes of safety assessment.

Immersive

The immersive feature facilitates a user to see a realistic looking world as well as to touch and feel it. This feature is used to represent and gather facts, which is representing virtually real construction components and processes (i.e., virtually real construction project), as defined in the functional requirements of the DFX shell of Huang.

The virtually real construction components represent construction products which are to be built on a construction project, e.g., walls, columns, and beams. The virtually real construction processes represent sequences of construction activities to install a construction component. The virtually real construction project is developed using VR software, World Up™. Details of the development of the virtually real project are discussed in Hadikusumo and Rowlinson (2001).

Imagination

The imagination feature enables a developer of VR to create an application that is able to solve a particular problem, such as representing the terrain of an area for flight simulation training to solve the problem of controlling a VR aircraft. In this study, this feature is used to solve the problem of safety hazards inherent within the virtually real construction project. Details of this feature are discussed in the next section.

Safety Hazard Identification and Accident Precaution

The DFSP tool is used for knowledge capture, safety planning, and a training tool. As a planning tool, the DFSP tool can assist a user in identifying safety hazards and determining accident precaution to avoid the occurrence of accidents in the hazards identified. For this purpose, the DFSP tool is equipped with a safety database. This database is designed based on ‘‘construction
components–possible safety hazards–accident precautions’’ relationships. One construction component can have many possible safety hazards, and one possible safety hazard can have many accident precautions. An advantage of using this relationship is that safety hazard information related to a construction component and its process of installation can be attributed to a construction component. In the construction process simulation, an installation process of an object can be identified from the component itself. If a user is seeing a precast facade being transported using a tower crane, it can be interpreted that he is seeing the installation process of a precast facade.

In the DFSP tool, the mechanism to retrieve the possible safety hazards from the DFSP tool safety database is based on keywords which are types of virtually real construction components, e.g., cast-in situ slab, and precast slab. For this, each virtually real construction component has a component type property. When a user selects a virtually real construction component, the DFSP tool retrieves and lists the possible safety hazards, which are related to the virtually real construction component, from the safety database. The user then can select, from the list, safety hazards occurring according to the conditions observed in the virtually real construction project. When the user selects a safety hazard, the DFSP tool retrieves and lists possible accident precautions. The user then can select, from the list, accident precautions to prevent accidents related to the safety hazard identified. Finally, this information—component name, component type, safety hazards identified, accident precaution, and time of installing the precaution—are documented in a safety plan.

For the purpose of a training tool, users can do a walk-through in a virtually real construction project and study possible safety hazards inherent within the project by using a DFSP tool safety database.

Capturing Construction Site Safety Knowledge from Engineers

The capturing of knowledge starts when safety engineers (i.e., users) observe the virtually real project and check possible safety hazards in conditions suggested by the DFSP tool safety database. The users can then recall their experience to check whether other possible safety hazards, which are not yet compiled in the database, exist. If other possible hazards may occur, the users can add new possible hazards by pressing the ‘‘New’’ button. Once safety hazards are identified, users can also consider safety accident precautions suitable to prevent accidents. For this, the DFSP tool lists accident precaution data related to the safety hazard identified and the user can choose accident precautions recommended by the database. Before deciding on an accident precaution, the users recall their experience to check whether other accident precautions, which are not yet compiled in the database, are also possible. If other accident precautions are also possible, users can create new accident precautions. These new safety hazards and new accident precautions will be printed in the safety plan discussed in ‘‘Safety Hazard Identification and Accident Precaution’’. In addition, if management consider that the new safety hazards and new precautions are effective for avoiding safety accidents, this new tacit knowledge can be stored by adding them permanently in the DFSP tool safety database [i.e., safety database: possible safety hazards–accident precautions. This illustrates that the DFSP tool provides a mechanism to capture the tacit contents of engineers’ safety knowledge.

Test Case Study

In order to test the capability of the DFSP tool to capture safety knowledge, test case studies were conducted. A typical floor of the Harmony Block of the HKHA public housing project is used as a virtually real construction project. The reason for using this project as a model is because this project type is the most commonly built HKHA public housing project; and therefore the tool and the knowledge captured can be reused in several projects.

Conclusion

Typically, safety engineers’ knowledge related to safety hazard identification and accident precaution is captured by discussions using 2D construction drawings and text data, such as method statements, and discussions on-site as case study tools. Both of the methods, however, have limitations. Therefore, in this research an innovative method is proposed to capture the knowledge by using the DFSP tool.

The DFSP tool is developed by using three major components: DFX, VR, and safety hazard identification and accident precaution database. One of its potential advantages is that it can be used to capture tacit knowledge (e.g., experience) residing in engineers’ minds, which is stored in an unstructured manner. The DFSP tool can be used to capture the tacit knowledge because: (1) VR can represent data in a WYSIWYG model which enables an engineer to understand a virtual object easier than if they are represented in 2D drawings; (2) VR can represent virtually real construction processes which also have safety hazards; and (3) the tool is equipped with a possible safety hazard database and accident precaution database which can stimulate the engineers to recall their experience.

This paper is part of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 130, No. 2, April 1, 2004.

Abstract: An organization must strive to maintain its most valuable resource, knowledge, in order to be more productive and competitive. One of the steps to manage the knowledge is to capture contents of the knowledge. In construction site safety, success in capturing the tacit knowledge of safety officers is of paramount importance; however without a good mechanism, this process might be difficult due to time and hazard perception constraints. This paper discusses research in a design-for-safety-process tool, which aims at: (1) capturing safety knowledge from safety engineers about construction safety hazards and the safety measures required; (2) assisting a safety engineer to identify safety hazards in construction projects and determine the safety measures required; and (3) training students and inexperienced safety engineers in identifying safety hazards and the measures required. In this paper, the first objective is discussed.

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2004)130:2(281)

CE Database subject headings: Accident prevention; Computer graphics; Computer aided simulation; Information management; Occupational safety; Safety factors.

1Assistant Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of
Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand ^http://www.sce.ait.ac.th&.
E-mail: kusumo@ait.ac.th
2Professor, Dept. of Real Estate and Construction, The Univ. of HongKong, Hong Kong ^http://www.hku.hk&. E-mail: steverowlinson@hku.hk

Critical success factors influencing safety program performance in Thai construction projects

Thanet Aksorn *, B.H.W. Hadikusumo

Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management, School of Civil Engineering,
Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand

Introduction

In recent years, Thailand’s economy and infrastructure development have significantly and rapidly risen. The construction industry continues to play a major role in this development as many construction activities have been carried out to meet the high demands of the expansive market. However, the construction industry has faced a wide range of challenges, one of which is the frequent occurrences of accidents at the workplace. The risk of a fatal accident in the construction industry is five times more likely than in other industries (Sorock et al., 1993; Sawacha et al., 1999). Safety programs, a proactive approach, are one of best ways in improving site safety performance (Hislop, 1991; Tam et al., 2004). An effective safety program can substantially reduce accidents because it can help management to build up safer means of operations and create safe working environments for the workers (Anton, 1989; Abdelhamid and Everett, 2000; Rowlinson, 2003). Furthermore, by having an effective safety programs, good safety culture can be embedded in organization because it can encourage mutual cooperation between management and workers in the operations of the programs and decisions that affect their safety and health. The challenge of how to successfully put written safety programs into actual actions has gained considerable attention in the modern workplace. More than preventing injury to workers, successful safety programs can minimize damage to equipment and tools, loss of market competition, project delays, and damage to company image or reputation (Top, 1991; Michaud, 1995; Findley et al., 2004).

Although the linkage between safety programs and the actual state of safety has been studied extensively, minimal effort has been made to investigate factors contributing to successful implementation of such safety programs at construction sites (Meridian Research, 1994; Tam et al., 2001; Sawacha et al., 1999; Findley et al., 2004). In this regard, it is crucial to discover specific factors that are significantly important towards building successful safety programs leading to satisfactory outcomes. Some studies (e.g. Stranks, 2000; Rue and Byars, 2001; Rowlinson, 2003; Tam et al., 2004, Abudayyeh et al., 2006) have identified several factors contributing to successful safety programs such as worker involvement, management commitment, sufficient resource allocation and teamwork. However, most of them are descriptive reviews which focused on describing success stories of such factors on safety performance (Findley et al., 2004). These studies lacked detailed quantitative analysis and failed to prioritize the importance of those success factors. In addition, many factors needed to be grouped so that few and essential CSFs representing a wide variety of issues can be revealed. Therefore, this paper aims at identifying and quantitatively prioritizing the factors contributing to the successful implementation of construction safety programs based upon the respondents’ perceptions and grouping the factors into lesser dimensions by using factor analysis.

Construction site safety in Thailand

Following the financial crisis of 1997, Thailand has been making significant steps towards economic and infrastructure development and has thus become one of the newly industrialized countries. The vast domestic and foreign direct investments have been channeled towards construction works. Conversely, construction has been labeled by the general public as the most hazardous industry. International Labour Organization (2000) and Social Security Office (2005) pointed out that the expansion of Thailand’s construction activities has caused continuing increase in the reported number of accidents. In Thailand, the labour force is defined by the Labour Act B.E. 2541 as persons whose age lies between 15 and 59 years. Approximately, the total employed workforce is 34.5 million persons. The construction industry’s share of the total workforce is about 1.4 million workers or 8% of the total. According to the statistics of deaths and injuries in all industries recorded by Ministry of Labour (International Labour Organization, 2005), the rate of accidents and fatalities in Thai construction is reported as the highest. In 2003, the construction industry accounted for 14% of the total number of 787 deaths at work, and 24% of the total 17 cases of permanent disability. Additionally, Ministry of Labour revealed that construction workers are five times more likely to suffer permanent disability than workers in other industries.

Safety programs are now a key to eliminating work-related accidents and injuries. The Thai Government has taken significant steps in improving safety in the construction industry by promoting the establishment of safety programs at the enterprise level. Consequently, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare launched the sustainable promotion plan through the facilitation of training and guidance for construction organizations, and enforcement of the basic elements of safety programs as stated by legislation. Yet, the accident occurrence rate in the construction industry still remains at unacceptable levels. Siriruttanapruk and Anuntakulnathi (2004) pointed out that the poor levels of safety in the Thai construction industry are primarily due to inadequate implementation of safety programs and weak enforcement of legislation. Therefore, it is worthwhile to conduct a research focused on investigating the key factors influencing the success of safety programs. The findings therefore can be used as a guideline by construction sites to achieve successful outcomes.

Construction safety programs

Several meanings of safety programs were defined by various researchers and most of them have similar inferences. Anton (1989) defined a safety program as ‘‘the control of the working environment, equipment, processes, and the workers for the purpose of reducing accidental injuries and losses in the workplace.’’ Similarly, Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (2002) described a ‘‘workplace safety and health program’’ as ‘‘a term that describes what people (business owners, managers, and employees) do to control injuries and illnesses at their workplace.’’ Rowlinson (2003) identified the objectives of creating a safety program at construction sites as a means to prevent improper behavior that may lead to accidents, to ensure that problems are detected and reported, and to ensure that accidents are reported and handled accordingly. Based on previous studies (Tam and Fung, 1998; Poon et al., 2000; Goldenhar et al., 2001; Hinze and Gambatese, 2003; Findley et al., 2004), some effective safety programs were identified as follows: comprehensive safety policies, safety committees, safety inductions, safety trainings, jobsite inspections, accident investigations, first aid programs, in-house safety rules, safety incentives schemes, control of subcontractors, selection of employees, personal protection programs, emergency preparedness planning, safety related promotions, safety auditing, safety record keeping, and job hazard analysis.

Factors affecting safety program implementation

Within the business context, the idea of identifying factors affecting the success of business- related activities and projects, often called critical success factors (CSFs), has existed for considerable time since initially popularized by Rockart (1979). The CSFs can be defined as ‘‘areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure success within and of the organization’’ (Rockart, 1979). According to Rungasamy et al. (2002), CSFs are essential to the success of any program, in the sense that, if objectives associated with the factors are not achieved, the program will perhaps fail catastrophically. In general, the success of safety programs arises from desired events or activities that are required to be happen. According to Top (1991) and Michaud (1995), a successful safety program can be measured in terms of no injury to people, no damage to equipment, machines and tools, no damage to environment, no loss of market competition, no damage to company image or brand-name, and increased productivities. Based on previous safety researches, 16 factors were commonly proposed as essential to favorable outcomes of safety program implementation. Table 1 summarizes and discusses the potential factors affecting the success of safety programs as sourced from safety literature.

Conclusions

This research identified and ranked 16 CSFs of safety program implementation based on their degree of influence. It revealed that ‘‘management support’’ was the most influential factor for safety program implementation in the Thai construction industry. The results of the 16 CSFs in the order of the degree of influence were: (1) management support, (2) appropriate safety education and training, (3) teamwork, (4) clear and realistic goals, (5) effective enforcement scheme, (6) personal attitude, (7) program evaluation,
(8) personal motivation, (9) delegation of authority and responsibility, (10) appropriate supervision, (11) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (12) positive group norms, (13) sufficient resource allocation, (14) continuing participation of employees, (15) good communication, and (16) personal competency. Additionally, there was a strong consensus on the rankings of these 16 factors between the two different groups of respondents. By using a Factor Analysis technique, the identified CSFs were grouped into four major dimensions namely, (1) worker involvement, (2) safety prevention and control system, (3) safety arrangement, and (4) management commitment. ‘‘Worker involvement’’ referred to creating favourable safety attitudes and motivation of workers which largely depended on constructive norms of the workgroup and their degree of their participation in safety activities. ‘‘Safety prevention and control system’’ required an effective enforcement scheme, appropriate supervision, equipment acquisition and maintenance, appropriate safety education and training, program evaluation and staffing qualified persons in order to successfully implement a safety program. ‘‘Safety arrangement’’ involved setting up proper mechanisms to disseminate information to all people concerned, assigning clear authorities and responsibilities to everyone at all levels as well as allocating adequate resources to safely carry out activities. ‘‘Management commitment’’ consolidated the safety program implementation through visible support of the top management which also included encouraging all employees to achieve success through team-spirit and setting realistic and achievable safety goals which could be accomplished. To ensure the contribution of the CSFs to the safety standards were realistic, three case studies were conducted. The results proved that the construction project, wherein all CSFs, and not just one or a few, are given proper attention, there is a higher standard of safety performance.

This journal is available online at www.sciencedirect.com.

The abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

It is well known that construction projects have many work-related accidents and injuries. In recent year, to overcome such safety problems, safety program implementation has been given significant consideration as one of the effective methods. In order to effectively gain from safety programs, factors that affect its implementation need to be studied. This paper identified 16 critical success factors (CSFs) of safety programs from safety literature and previous research and these were thereafter validated by construction safety professionals. The study was conducted through questionnaire surveys with 80 respondents from medium and large-scale construction projects taking part. The survey intended to assess and prioritize the degree of influence of those success factors have on the safety programs as perceived by the respondents. The result showed that the most influential factor is management support. Furthermore, using factor analysis, the 16 CSFs could be grouped into four dimensions: worker involvement, safety prevention and control system, safety arrangement, and management commitment. In order to validate the findings, three case studies were further conducted to test the effect of those success factors on construction safety performance.

© 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Critical success factor; Safety programs; Occupational safety and health; Construction; Employee involvement; Management commitment

* Corresponding author.E-mail address: st100549@ait.ac.th (T. Aksorn).

Teacher Day in Vietnam, 20 Nov 2009

Dear all

MPM 1 and MPM 2 Ho Chi Minh organized a teacher day party on Sunday 15 November 2009 in Lion Beer Restaurant . Myself and Mr Eng Wan were invited to attend the party since we were in vietnam for teaching. The party was attended by MPM1 - Ms Dung Mai, Mr Bao and Mr Vu, MPM2 - Mr Dung, Mr Nam, Mr Hung, Mr Khe, Mr Phuc, Mr Bao, Mr Phong, Mr Anh, Mr Chuong, MPM3 - Mr Anh (class B), Mr Quang (class B), and CEIM Thailand - Mr Trung, Mr Quy, Ms Ngoc.

MPM2 students gave me a nice teacher day card. They wrote a nice sentence "Teachers Plant Seeds of Knowledge that Grow Forever"

Happy Teacher Day 20 November 2009!

Cheers
Hadikusumo

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles in Construction Project Management

Riza Yosia Sunindijo1; Bonaventura H. W. Hadikusumo2; and Stephen Ogunlana3

Introduction

The role of project managers is very important as they are the ultimate persons responsible for the success or failure of projects. The human skill is of paramount importance as project managers need to interact with people frequently. In reality, about 88% of project managers spend more than half of their working time interacting with others (Strohmeier 1992). This high level of interaction demands that project managers are able to lead effectively and to manage conflicts continuously in order to build good relationships and ensure the success of their projects.

Project managers also need to possess skills to lead teamwork. Within the internal organization, project managers have to lead their subordinates, a situation which requires them to possess effective leadership skills necessary for facilitating workers to achieve project goals successfully (Lewis 1998; Loo 1996).

Many studies have been carried out on human skills in project management. Some studies suggested critical skills for project managers (El-Sabaa 2001; Strohmeier 1992; Cowie 2003); whereas others recommended effective leadership as a critical factor in project management (Cleland 1995; Keegan and Den Hartog 2004; Zimmerer and Yasin 1998). Rowlinson et al.’s (1993) study on the leadership style of construction managers in Hong Kong revealed that human skills are of paramount importance in project management.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly being recognized as an important issue in the workplace. There is a surprising finding that intelligent quotient (IQ) is second after EI in determining outstanding job performance (Goleman 1995, 19980. According to Carmeli (2003), emotionally intelligent senior managers perform better on their jobs compared to their contemporaries with lower EI. The benefits of EI to project management are therefore proposed for study in this research.

The objective of the study is to investigate the benefits of EI in project management in terms of its relationship with effective leadership styles. The benefits of EI are being investigated because project managers need good human skills to lead project teams. This research therefore examines whether project managers with high or low EI have different leadership styles.

Emotional Intelligence

According to Goleman (1998), emotional intelligence is the capacity to recognize our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in us and in our relationships.

Compared to the amount of research already conducted on IQ, the study of emotional intelligence is still relatively new. Nevertheless, EI is increasingly being recognized as an important issue in the workplace. Many studies have shown that high IQ does not necessarily guarantee a successful life. According to Goleman (1995, 1998), emotional intelligence is more important than IQ in determining outstanding job performance. Dulewicz and Higgs (2000) supported this assertion by saying that the IQ test has failed to provide sufficient variance in success criteria both in the educational and in the organizational environments. Research has indicated that emotional competencies (i.e., the potential of EI that has translated into practical capabilities) are twice as important as IQ and expertise in contributing to excellent and effective Performance (Goleman 1998).

Goleman (2001) explained that emotional intelligence has two competencies, the personal competence and the social competence. The personal competence consists of self-awareness and self-management, whereas the social competence consists of social awareness and relationship management. Self-awareness means knowing one’s feelings at the moment and using it for decision making, which is known as “intuition.” A person who has this ability is aware of his/her own strengths and weaknesses, is open to feedback, and is willing to learn from past experiences. Self-awareness competencies are: emotional awareness (recognizing one’s emotions and their effects), accurate self-assessment (knowing one’s strengths and limitations), and self-confidence (a strong sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities).

Self-management is the ability to regulate distressing factors such as anxiety and anger and to restrain emotional impulsivity. Given this ability, a person will be able to hold in mind the positive feelings that arise when he/she achieves goals or inhibit negative feelings, a situation that will help to boost motivation. Competencies of self-management are emotional self-control (keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check), trustworthiness (maintaining standards of honesty and integrity), conscientiousness (taking responsibilities for personal performance), adaptability (flexibility in handling change), achievement drive (striving to improve or to meet a standard of excellence), and initiative (innovativeness and readiness to act on opportunities).

With social awareness, a person can recognize the feelings of other people. An individual with this ability can read nonverbal cues for emotional currents from others. This is critical for job performance when the focus is on interactions with people. Social awareness competencies are empathy (understanding others’ feeling and perspectives, taking an active interest in their concerns, and cultivating opportunities through them); service orientation (anticipating, recognizing, and meeting customers’ needs); and organizational awareness (reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships).

Finally, relationship management is the ability to attune oneself to, or to influence, the emotions of other people. The competencies of relationship management are developing others (sensing others’ development needs and bolstering their abilities); influence (welding effective tactics for persuasion); communication (listening openly and sending convincing messages); conflict management (negotiating and resolving disagreements); visionary leadership (inspiring, guiding, and commitment to individuals and groups); change catalyst (initiating or managing change); building bonds (nurturing instrumental relationships); and teamwork and collaboration (working with others to achieve shared goals).

Leadership Behaviors of Project Managers

Mintzberg (1980) identified ten managerial roles performed by project managers. Two of the roles investigated in this research are the ability to act as a leader and as a disturbance handler. A leader should influence people toward the attainment of organizational goals and should be able to manage conflicts whenever disputes or crises arise.

Thirteen leadership behaviors necessary to influence people were identified from extensive literature reviews.

1. Visioning: The leader communicates the vision and helps the team to clarify its goals (Boehnke et al. 1999; Katzenbach and Smith 2003).

2. Inspiring: This behavior is usually displayed by the communication of high expectations, using symbols to focus efforts, and expressing important purposes in simple ways (Boehnke et al. 1999; Humphreys 2002).

3. Stimulating: The leader helps subordinates to look at old problems from new and different perspectives. Intelligence and rationality are used in problem solving (Boehnke et al. 1999; Humphreys 2002).

4. Coaching: The leader pays close attention to individual differences among subordinates; and he/she teaches and advises employees with individual personal attention (Humphreys 2002).

5. Rewarding: The leader provides rewards and positive feedback to employees who meet agreed goals (Boehnke et al. 1999; Humphreys 2002).

6. Punishing: This style is characterized by giving punishment and negative feedback to employees who show undesirable and below par performance (Daft 2003).

7. Delegating: The basic concept of delegation is to transfer authority and responsibility to lower positions in the organizational hierarchy (Daft 2003) and to provide challenging and difficult tasks to subordinates to enhance their development (Boehnke et al. 1999).

8. Leading by example: The leader does the same real work and contributes in the same way like subordinates (Zimmerer and Yasin 1998; Littrell 2002; Katzenbach and Smith 2003).

9. Sharing and open communication: The leader shares all types of information throughout the organization, across functional and hierarchical levels (Daft 2003).

10. Listening: The leader grasps both facts and feelings to interpret a message’s true meaning, and shifts thoughts to empathizing with others (Cacioppe 1997; Daft 2003).

11. Directing: The leader tells subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do. The leader sets the goals, standards, rules, and the regulations (Littrell 2002; Daft 2003).

12. Participating: The leader consults with subordinates before making decisions. Opinions, suggestions, and participation are encouraged in the decision-making process (Littrell 2002; Katzenbach and Smith 2003; Daft 2003).

13. Proactive: The leader actively seeks information from others and identifies problems at the early stage (Daft 2003).

Conclusion

EI is gaining increasing acceptance as an important success factor in the workplace. In order to extend the usefulness of EI, the study focused on investigating the benefits of EI to project management in terms of leadership styles.

PMEs with higher EI scores tend to use more open communication and proactive leadership styles than PMEs with lower EI scores. Open communication is a key factor in organizational success as it opens up the possibility of getting the best from people. Proactivity is essential to tackle problems at the early stages. Therefore, a PME with high EI can stimulate team performance and innovation.

Positive correlations between leadership behaviors and EI dimensions were observed. These correlations show the dimensions of EI that generate particular leadership behavior. The study also found that EI generates delegating, open communication, and proactive behavior. These relationships support the theory of EI and these three leadership behaviors can bring positive outcomes for the organization if used properly (Goleman 2001; Goleman et al. 2002; TalentSmart 2004).

This study was published in the “Journal of Management in Engineering, Vol. 23, No. 4, October 1, 2007” and full journal article is available upon request.

Abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract: Human factors are of paramount importance to the success of projects. Although a lot of studies have been carried out on human factors in project management, not much research has been done on emotional intelligence (EI). Studies have shown that EI is beneficial to both the individual and the organization. The benefits of EI to project management were investigated in terms of the style of leadership. The study was conducted in Thailand by interviewing project managers and engineers (PMEs); and client representatives. The results showed that EI affected leadership behavior of the project leader. PMEs with higher EI tend to use open communication and proactive leadership styles. It is also found that EI generates delegating, open communication, and proactive behavior, which can bring positive outcomes to the organization.

1 Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand.
2Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand.
3Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand.

Mr Bui Van Bao is promoted as Director of SCQC Enterprise no. 2

Dear All

I have a good news. Mr Bui Van Bao (MPM1 graduated in 2008) is promoted as the Director of SCQC Enterprise No. 2.

We wish you luck with your new position. We trust that you will perform very well.

Regards
Hadikusumo

Gap Analysis Approach for Construction Safety Program Improvement

*Thanet Aksorn and B.H.W. Hadikusumo

Due to its hazardous nature, construction is globally perceived as an accident-prone industry. It has always been reported that construction work has a very high rate of injuries and deaths. Therefore, there is a negative stereotype concerning safety in the construction industry. In recent years, in order to survive in a highly competitive market, many construction companies have begun considering safety to be one of the main factors in reducing costs associated with work-related accidents and injuries.

In Thailand, construction work is generally labor-intensive rather than technology-intensive. Most construction workers are farmers with low levels of education and skills. Many are seasonal workers who divide time between agriculture and construction. Consequently, the rapid expansion of construction work has brought a parallel increase in injuries to unskilled workers. The accident and injuries statistics from 2004 to 2005 showed that the construction industry had the highest rate of deaths, accounting for close to a hundred workers per year, and up to 20,000 workers have suffered minor injuries on sites every year (SSO, 2005). Unfortunately, it has always been higher than all other industries.

To eliminate construction-related accidents, implementation of safety program is regarded as a key strategy by both government and private sectors. Effective safety programs can substantially reduce accidents because they can help management to eliminate unsafe practices by workers and can also create safe working environments (Anton, 1989; Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). Additionally, Henshaw (2004) stated that an effective safety program could result in a triple win; workers' lives would be saved and protected, cost would be reduced and returns on investments would be maximized, and workers' morale and motivation would be raised which, in turn, would result in the production of high quality products and services.

How can a safety program be improved? Several extended studies have been undertaken to spotlight key activities contributing to strong safety programs such as top management support, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, worker involvement, etc. In business terms, the key factors are known as critical success factors (CSFs). If these key activities are not implemented successfully, safety programs may fail miserably. Safety researchers have acknowledged and confirmed that safety program performance depends largely upon the satisfactory results of a number of key activities or CSFs. Although the connection between safety programs and safety performance has already been studied extensively, very little research has been undertaken to provide the construction industry with practical guidelines to improve safety programs.

Mr. Thanet Aksorn under Dr. B. H. W. Hadikusumo, his advisor, made a study which aimed at identifying the critical factors affecting the improvement of safety programs from safety literature and previous research and at evaluating these success factors in order to rank the urgency of improving them. To obtain these rankings, gap analysis was carried out to measure the difference between the degree of importance of CSFs and the actual status of CSFs. The results of the study can help the construction industry to identify and improve the high priority CSFs, shown by the large gaps, in order to improve safety programs.

CSFs OF SAFETY PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT
There are a set of factors that have a great impact on the success of safety program implementation. In a business context, those factors are known as CSFs. CSFs can be defined as "areas in which results, if they were satisfactory, would ensure successful performance for the organization" (Rockart, 1979). Rungasamy et al. (2002) viewed CSFs as being essential to the success of any program, in the sense that, if objectives associated with the factors were not achieved, the program would probably fail catastrophically. Top (1991) and Michaud (1995) pointed out that a successful safety program can be measured by the amount or the extent of injuries to people; damage to equipment, machines and tools; damage to environment; loss of market share; damage to company image or brand name; increased productivity; etc. Based on extensive review of safety literature, there are 16 factors that are potentially essential to obtain improved safety programs such as follows.

Clear and realistic goals: Outstanding safety program results can be achieved when safety goals are clearly established (Pierce, 1995a). Safety goals should give a clear picture, direction, and focus for performing day-today activities in order to achieve desired results. When realistic and achievable goals are set up, the progress towards accomplishing such goals can be easily measured and monitored (Weber, 1992a; Blake, 1997).

Good communication: Vredenburgh (2002) stated that when the lines of communications between management and the workforce are open, workers can directly report unsafe working practices and hazardous conditions to management. Management can also communicate
safety concerns and priorities to gain employees' awareness and compliance (Stranks, 1994).

Delegation of authority and responsibility: A safety program cannot be successful if it is implemented by only one individual. Responsibility for accomplishing safety activities must be effectively delegated to individuals at lower levels of authority (Anton, 1989). Effective delegation involves granting adequate authority and assigning clear responsibility for performing specific tasks with enough resources, such as appropriate completion time, money, and cooperation of all involved individuals (Rue & Byars, 2001).

Sufficient resource allocation: The desired goal of a safety program cannot be achieved when resources are lacking. An effective safety program is the result of a commitment by top management to give an appropriate level of resources (Erikson, 1997). Management must consider and allocate sufficient resources to carry out day-to-day activities in order accomplish short and long-term goals. The resources required for an effective safety program may include sufficient staff, time, money, information, methods, facilities, tools machines, etc. (Rue & Byars, 2001).

Management support: It is strongly accepted that management plays a very important role in an effective safety program. Management must fully and actively turn ideas into actions. This includes issuing a written comprehensive safety policy, allocating sufficient necessary resources, promptly reacting to safety suggestions and complaints, attending regular safety meetings and training, regularly visiting the workplace, following the same safety rules as others, etc. (Stranks,
2000; Rowlinson, 2003).

Program evaluation: Every safety program should be periodically evaluated to see how successfully it meets its goals and objectives. When the actual operations of a safety program do not meet their defined goals, an evaluation process can help to identify the program's shortcomings so that improvements can be applied (Rowlinson, 2003).

Continuing participation of employees: The success of a safety program depends largely on the level of employee involvement because workers tend to support the activities that they helped to create. According to Ariss (2003) and Smith (2003), workers should be given opportunities to be involved in the design and operation of a safety program, such as joining a safety committee, reporting hazards and unsafe practices to supervisors, identifying training needs, investigating accidents, suggesting required personal protective equipment, etc.

Personal motivation: Although people have sufficient knowledge and skills to accomplish their jobs safely, unless they have motivation, they will not normally perform their work accordingly (Neal & Griffin, 2002). Johnson (2003) suggested that, in order to have a better safety record, all people in the workplace must be motivated to perform their jobs safely. Such motivation can include offering opportunities for achievement and recognition, additional responsibilities, rewards, and personal growth.

Personal competency: A successful safety program is a result of assigning the right person for the right job. The right person is defined as a person who is physically and mentally capable of carrying out the assigned tasks with the right knowledge, experience and skills (Mohamed, 2002).

Teamwork: According to Krause (1997) and Ulloa and Adams (2004), a safety program succeeds when everyone, regardless of rank or status within the company, realizes that accident prevention is everyone's responsibility. Every function must share responsibility in implementing safety activities in order to achieve the goals set by the team. Such goals can be planning and controlling work, handling day-to-day safety problems, etc.

Positive group norms: Group norms are the accepted attitudes about various things in a group of people (Stranks, 2000). In practice, Johnson (2003) explained that members of a group try to conform to accepted attitudes to avoid boycott from other members. If a positive group attitude towards safety can be built and embedded, safety can then be managed successfully.

Personal attitude: Attitude is a tendency to respond positively or negatively to certain people, objects or situations and is built up from experience (Stranks, 1994; Schultz, 2004). Individuals, however, differ in their perceptions of risk and willingness to take risks. A successful safety program can be achieved if a positive employee attitude towards safety is reinforced.

Effective enforcement scheme: Not conforming to safety rules is known as a violation (Pierce, 1995b). Violation can be countered with enforcement. Management must provide the methods for enforcing obedience to the safety rules and regulations. By providing an effective enforcement mechanism, management can achieve employee compliance (Construction Safety Association of Ontario, 2002).

Safety equipment acquisition and maintenance: The workplace must be carefully assessed to determine possible hazards in order to properly select safety equipment. An effective safety program will result in fewer injuries due to good management of safety equipment acquisition and maintenance. Managing a safety equipment program takes up a large percentage of time.
This includes purchasing the correct equipment, maintaining it in good condition, and inventory control. Moreover, it requires cooperation from a number of people: safety personnel, purchasing, production, warehouse supervisor, maintenance managers, etc. (Toole,
2002).

Appropriate supervision: A sound safety program requires employers to provide sufficient supervision in protecting workers from workplace hazards (Weber, 1992b; Levitt &
Samelson, 1993). Successful supervision requires competent personnel for assigning work according to worker's ability, praising workers when they perform their duties safely, communicating by listening and speaking, setting a good example by following safety rules and correcting safety problems (Stranks, 2000).

Appropriate safety education and training: A successful safety program can be achieved if all employees are given periodic educational and training programs to improve their knowledge and skill at workplace safety (Cooper & Cotton, 2000).

This study concluded that safety continues to be one of the major problems in the construction industry. To achieve better site safety performance, emphasis has been placed on implementing effective safety programs. His study identified 16 factors contributing to the improvement of safety programs and then evaluated their degrees of importance and actual status based upon the respondents' perceptions. The results of his study showed that all respondents rate management support as the most important factor, followed by appropriate safety education and training, teamwork, clear and realistic goals, and effective enforcement scheme. On the other hand, positive group norms and personal competency were perceived as the two least important factors. His study also showed that five CSFs, namely appropriate safety education and training, followed by clear and realistic goals, safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, delegation of authority and responsibility, and good communication, have better actual status amongst all factors. In other words, it is implied that these factors have been given appropriate consideration in construction sites. On the contrary, appropriate supervision and sufficient resource allocation were considered the factors with the poorest actual status. Thus, more effort must be made to improve the actual status of these two factors.

In light of his research, gap analysis was carried out to determine how to improve safety programs. This analysis suggested that larger gaps between degree of influence and actual status of success indicate more unsatisfactory practices. Thus, correcting the factors which have large gaps must be emphasized more strongly. His study also found that the first five critical problems of safety program implementation are management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement scheme. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level. Meanwhile, there are five factors, namely delegation of authority and responsibility, good communication, clear and realistic goals, appropriate safety education and training, and safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, showing satisfactory practices as characterized by very small gaps.

This study was published in the “Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2007” and full journal article is available upon request.

Abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract: To improve construction site safety, emphasis has been placed on the implementation of safety programs. In order to successfully gain from safety programs, factors that affect their improvement need to be studied. Sixteen critical success factors of safety programs were identified from safety literature, and these were validated by safety experts. This study was undertaken by surveying 70 respondents from medium- and large-scale construction projects. It explored the importance and the actual status of critical success factors (CSFs). Gap analysis was used to examine the differences between the importance of these CSFs and their actual status. This study found that the most critical problems characterized by the largest gaps were management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement. Raising these priority factors to satisfactory levels would lead to successful safety programs, thereby minimizing accidents.

Keyword: Critical success factors, Safety programs, Safety management systems, Safety performance, Construction industry


Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management, School of Civil
Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, THAILAND.
*Corresponding author: artty_th@yahoo.com