National culture and safe work behaviour of construction workers in Pakistan

It is widely accepted that unsafe behaviour is intrinsically linked to workplace accidents. A positive correlation exists between workers’ safe behaviour and safety climate on construction sites. Construction workers’ attitude towards safety is influenced by their perception of risk, management, safety rules and procedures. Pakistan, a developing country, is currently experiencing a strong growth in its construction activities. Unfortunately, the enforcement of safety regulations in Pakistan is not widespread. Indeed, some relevant regulations are both outdated and irrelevant to daily construction operations. This paper investigates local construction workers’ behaviour, perception and attitude toward safety, and attempts to link the research findings to the influence of national culture. A three-part interview-based questionnaire survey has identified that the majority of workers have a good degree of risk awareness and self-rated competence. Additionally, workers’ intentional behaviour was empirically explained by their attitudes towards their own and management’s safety responsibilities, as well as their perception of the risk they are generally exposed to in their workplace. The paper also reveals that workers operating in a more collective and higher uncertainty avoidance environment, are more likely to have safety awareness and beliefs, which can exhibit safer on-site behaviour.     

Use of association rules to explore cause–effect relationships in occupational accidents in the Taiwan construction industry

Most models of the incidence of occupational accidents in the construction industry are composed of multiple factors. Although statistical techniques can be used to infer cause-and-effect relationships among these factors, the large number of factors involved and the complexity of the relationships among them make it difficult for managers to identify potential hazards in construction projects and thus develop effective safety procedures. This study addresses this problem by using the association-rule method of data mining in performing an analysis of 1347 accidents in the Taiwan construction industry during the period 2000–2007. The association-rule method enables potential cause-and-effect relationships to be identified among the many factors that play a role in occupational accidents in the construction industry. The study finds that such accidents tend to occur when certain combinations of hazards are present – especially working in high places without protective measures, loss of balance when in motion, failure to use protective equipment, insufficient experience, and injurious contact with unstable structures. These hazards are especially evident in small enterprises with less than 10 persons. The results can help management to formulate effective safety policies with regard to management shortcomings and staff training.     

建筑企业员工职业病危害认知影响因素的调查分析

随着建筑行业的持续快速发展,建筑企业作业场所中的职业病危害呈现出高发性、复杂性和持续性等特点.通过针对建筑企业员工的实际状况设计调查问卷获取第一手资料,并运用SPSS17.0统计软件建立相关分析、回归分析等模型进行数据分析,可以得知建筑企业作业场所员工遭受职业病危害的可能性与对安全知识的了解程度、从业时间、性别及文化背景这四个因素的线性相关性.通过对建筑企业作业人员职业病危害的调查与分析,辨识出影响职业病危害的人为因素,提出相关的建议措施以改善建筑企业作业场所职业病危害严重的局面,提高建筑企业员工自我保护意识,增加其职业病危害防护知识,减少职业病危害事故的发生.     

Economic cost of occupational accidents: Evidence from a small island economy

Though a number of occupational accidents have occurred amongst the working population in Mauritius, no study has been carried out to measure the costs associated with such accidents to the best of our knowledge. This study bridges this gap by measuring the economic costs of occupational accidents by using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results show that occupational accidents result in costs amounting to nearly Rs. 168 mn of which a major part is accounted for, by loss in productivity. Alongside the highest rate of accidents took place within small enterprises and younger workers are the one taking higher risks mainly due to lack of knowledge and risk awareness. The findings also reveal that only 4% employers believe that investment in safety and health is important for maintaining good business partly because most of the costs are borne by the state. Such a situation therefore requires the need for awareness on practical health and safety systems and procedures among both employees and employers with a view to prevent accident and injuries.     

Occupational and public health and safety in a changing work environment: An integrated approach for risk assessment and prevention

During recent years the work environment has undergone significant changes regarding working time, years of employment, work organization, type of employment contracts and working conditions. In this paper, consequences of these changes on occupational and public health and safety are examined. These include the disruption of human biological rhythms, the increase of workers fatigue due to changes in patterns of working hours and years of employment, job insecurity and occupational stress, which have a serious impact on workers’ health and may result in an increase in occupational accidents. Unsafe work practices related to workload and time pressure, the impact of work changes on public safety and the deterioration of workers’ living conditions with respect to income, social-family life, health and insurance benefits, are also described. In this context, difficulties that occur due to the changing work environment in conducting effective occupational risk assessments and implementing OSH measures are discussed (for example, frequent changes between tasks and workplaces, underreporting of occupational accidents and diseases, lack of methodological tools, etc.). A fundamental criterion used while studying consequences on health and safety and the relative preventive measures is that health and safety must be approached as ‘the promotion and maintenance at the highest degree of the physical, mental and social well-being of workers’ and not only as retention of their work ability. Limits in combining “flexibility” at work and overall protection of occupational and public safety and health in a competitive market are put forward for discussion.     

加强安全管理 提高安全生产水平

搞好安全生产 ,防止事故 ,必须从加强企业的安全管理入手。本文提出采用有效的安全管理方法 ,建立和实施职业安全卫生管理体系标准 ,健全各项安全管理制度并狠抓落实 ,使企业逐步走向安全管理标准化     

我国建筑业安全生产状况浅析

建筑业是我国国民经济的支柱产业,也是安全事故率较高的行业之一,其安全生产状况一直受到各方面的广泛重视。为了分析我国建筑业近年来安全生产形势,对我国近十年来的建筑业安全生产现状进行统计,结果表明建筑生产安全事故起数和死亡人数持续下降,建筑业安全生产整体形势逐年趋好。同时从政府管理职能、企业管理机构和职业卫生管理三个层面对建筑业安全生产中存在的问题进行剖析。从政府管理部门的职能、行业协会、劳动保护机构、企业内部的安全保证体系等几个方面剖析了德国的建筑安全管理体系的构成。通过与建筑业安全生产管理体系先进的德国进行对比分析,提出加强政府管理职能、从政府到企业真正做到以人为本以及增强安全文化建设三个解决措施。     

地铁施工事故统计分析与研究*

为了解我国城市地铁施工事故规律特征,降低新建地铁线路施工事故发生频率,统计分析2011—2020年全国31个省市自治区（不包括港澳台）地铁施工事故,归纳事故发生时间、事故类型、施工工法的分布特征,基于灰色关联分析法（GRA）对地铁施工事故致因进行分析。研究结果表明:地铁施工事故季节性特征突出,3,8,11月份呈多发态势;科学技术进步和规章制度完善是保证我国轨道交通运营里程高速增长和施工事故率降低的有效手段;事故类型以坍塌为主,且事故造成影响最大;违章作业、设备设施缺陷、地质环境不良和安全监管未贯彻落实分别为“人、物、环、管”4个维度的关键致因因子。     

An application of the Pareto method in surveys to diagnose managers’ and workers’ perception of occupational safety and health on selected Polish construction sites

The construction industry is an important sector of the economy in Poland. According to the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) data of 2014, the number of victims of fatal accidents in the construction sector amounted to 80 as compared with 187 injured in all other sectors of economy in Poland. This article presents the results of surveys on the impact of construction worker behaviour on the occupational safety and health outcomes. The surveys took into account the point of view of both construction site management (tactical level) and construction workers (operational level). For the analysis of results, the method of numerical taxonomy and Pareto charts was employed, which allowed the authors to identify the areas of occupational safety and health at both an operational and a tactical level, in which improvement actions needed to be proposed for workers employed in micro, small, medium and large construction enterprises.     

船员劳动工伤伤害主因及基于管理的防范性措施研究

本文根据某大型航运企业最近9年来发生的船员劳动工伤事故,按“企业职工伤亡事故分类标准”中的分类方法,对这些船员劳动工伤事故进行分类统计分析,并提出如何从管理角度,防范此类劳动工伤事故的发生.指出防止船员劳动工伤事故的管理性措施包括:建立船员职业健康安全管理体系,为船员提供一个健康的、安全的、卫生的工作场所;制定配套的船员劳动安全规章制度;建立完善的劳动安全监督机制;加强对船员劳动工伤事故的调查分析;加强安全教育和现场监督管理;进行船员劳动安全风险辨识;为船员提供必要的劳动防护等.     

Fatal workplace accidents in outsourced operations in the manufacturing industry

Several studies have indicated that outsourcing increases the risk of accidents and presented some explanations for this phenomenon. For example, higher accident proneness of external employees has been presented, but the common causes of accidents have not been reviewed in depth. This paper provides information about typical accidents, the contributing factors, and preventive measures of fatal occupational accidents that occurred in outsourced manufacturing tasks. This paper also compares whether these factors differ from accidents that occurred when tasks were performed in-house in the manufacturing industry. The focus is on operations executed in the factory area for or by an organization operating in the manufacturing business. The accident analysis is based on information gathered from accident reports for fatal workplace accidents that occurred in Finland during 1999–2008. At outsourced operations in manufacturing, accidents occur most commonly when installations or work preparations are being performed. According to the reports, dangerous work practices and insufficient hazard identification most frequently contributed to accidents. In order to prevent typical accidents, e.g., occupational instructional and guidance, hazard identification, work practices, supervision, and task planning should be improved. Statistical differences between outsourced and in-house operations were also found, mainly within the contributing factors. Therefore, the safety of outsourced manufacturing operations should be considered in detail in order to prevent accidents and ensure occupational safety also when operated with other performers.     

石化企业安全文化建设

随着国企改制的不断深化,安全管理显现出许多薄弱环节,尤其是在能源勘探开发过程中发生的重特大事故,不断给安全生产发出了黄牌警告.近年来,多种因素导致员工"三违",造成恶性事故不断,其原因是由于企业缺乏安全文化氛围和员工缺乏必要的自我安全保护意识,盲目蛮干导致事故高发.因此,加强企业安全文化建设是提高全员安全意识的一种行之有效的方法,并可以进一步促进和提高员工的自我安全保护意识和安全技术素质.本文阐述了企业安全文化建设在新形势下的重要意义,并针对石化企业开展安全文化建设提出几点建议.     

Relationship of safety climate perceptions and job satisfaction among employees in the construction industry: the moderating role of age

This study examines the degree to which construction sector employees perceive that safety is important in their organizations/sites and how job satisfaction affects these perceptions when age is introduced as a moderator variable. Two-way analysis of variance demonstrated that job satisfaction has a strong effect on perceived management commitment to work safety and that this relationship was moderated by respondents’ age. Job satisfaction was associated with perceived accident rate and safety inspection frequency, but the proposed role of age in this linkage was not confirmed. Consequently, the findings indicated that by increasing the level of job satisfaction, perceptions of these safety climate aspects proved to be more positive. The conclusion is that these relationships could further lead to a lower percentage of accidents and injuries in the workplace and better health among employees. A significant relationship between job satisfaction, age and perceived co-workers’ commitment to work safety was not found.     

An evaluation of occupational accidents in the wooden furniture industry - A regional study in South East Asia

Studies on the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry is sparse, although the industry is deemed to be highly accident prone. Therefore, the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam were studied, in 240 furniture manufacturing factories, using a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that contract workers are less prone to occupational accidents compared to their permanent counterparts, and hence, are more productive. Further, the results also revealed that the contract workers have a more positive attitude towards the work, and hence, pick up the essentials of safe working practices quickly. It must therefore be recognized that the “production oriented mentality” prevalent in the wooden furniture industry, which has been argued to compromise occupational safety and health standards in the industry may be debatable. In this context, it is essential for the policy makers to re-examine the employment of contract workers for the furniture manufacturing industry, as changing the psycho-economic parameters of the industry may be warranted before the industry is deemed attractive to a permanent workforce.     

Prevention through design: The effect of European Directives on construction workplace accidents

Workplace accidents still occur with distressing frequency, particularly in construction. Industrialized countries have become increasingly aware of this situation and have adopted policies to attempt to deal with this issue. Such policies have led to the development of new laws and regulations with a view to improving workplace conditions.This paper first analyzes policies regarding accident prevention in the European Union, as initially stipulated in the European Framework Directive 89/391/EEC, and more specifically in Directive 92/57/EEC, on the implementation of minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites, concentrating on prevention through design. Whilst designers previously had some responsibilities for reducing risk under common law provisions in many countries, this directive was the first explicit legislation to enforce particular duties upon them. The adaptation of the provisions in this directive to the national legislation of EU member countries is also studied.The second section of the paper analyzes the incidence rate of workplace accidents in the construction sector in each country from the year when these regulations came into force until the present time. Based on the evolution of these accident rates, the paper postulates the extent to which European policies have contributed to accident prevention in construction. It is now more than a decade since this legislation has been in force which provides a suitable period for a reflective analysis on it is impact.     

A comparison of safety practices used by managers of high and low accident rate postal delivery offices

This study compared safety practices of managers (supervisors) of high and low accident rate postal delivery offices, particularly with respect to slip, trip and fall accidents. Identification of ‘desirable’ management safety activities was achieved using findings from previous research, manager interviews, and a focus group with Royal Mail senior safety personnel. Interviews were then conducted with 20 Delivery Office Managers (DOMs), drawn equally from matched high and low accident rate offices, to examine use of safety practices. DOMs from low accident rate offices appeared to have improved performance with respect to quality of safety communication, dealing with hazards reported on delivery walks, and accident investigation and remedial action. Efforts to reduce risks from severe weather were limited in both high and low accident offices, seemingly influenced by the organisation's emphasis on maintaining quality of service. Confusion existed regarding footwear entitlements of employees, and none of the sample of DOMs encouraged use of alternative methods of delivery to manual pouch carriage. A model is described illustrating the hierarchy of factors that may affect occurrence of slip, trip and fall accidents within a large organisation. The model indicates that supervisors' impact arises both from their attitudes and their actions. The study supports the finding of previous cross-organisational investigations that supervisors have an important influence on workplace safety.     

中小企业事故多发的原因及对策

本文将简要介绍南朝鲜工业事故的统计特性,然后分析中小型企业事故多发的原因并提出防止这些事故的对策,同时介绍两种最有效的事故预防措施——由政府补贴的安全卫生监察系统和安全代管系统。     

Health and Safety Perception of Workers in Turkey: A Survey of Construction Sites

This study reports the general health and safety (HS) conditions in the Turkish construction industry from the perspective of construction labor. Toward this aim, a questionnaire survey was carried out with 800 workers employed in 32 construction projects in Turkey. Contractors were found to neglect their legal liabilities in paying workers’ insurance premiums. Also, they overlooked safety training and were reluctant to hiring physicians at construction sites and investing in personal protective equipment (PPE). As the real constructors of projects, workers did not attach adequate importance to occupational training. In addition, they were not willing to use some PPE. Key participants of HS affairs such as workers, contractors, unions, and government should comprehend their drawbacks to overcome the current dangerous view of the industry. In this regard, related government bodies should compel contractors and workers to adapt to the relatively new regulations on occupational HS.     

Contrasting perceptual,attitudinal and dispositional approaches to accident involvement in the workplace

Three individual-based approaches to accident involvement in the workplace, perceptual, attitudinal and dispositional, were evaluated using meta-analytic techniques. The study showed that whilst none of the approaches offered evidence of a strong relationship with work accidents, employees’ safety perceptions emerged as having greater predictive validity than attitudes towards safety, but that one aspect of personality (agreeableness) had greater predictive validity than either safety perceptions or safety attitudes. The study also showed that there is the possibility that safety perceptions are much more predictive in some occupational settings compared to others. Implications of the results for further research are discussed.