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general and Ethiopia in particular; mobilizing an enormous amount of various resources and
budgets and embracing huge manpower by creating a large job opportunity. The construction
industry is divided into three major segments. Construction of buildings contractors or general
contractors builds residential, industrial, commercial, and other buildings [2].
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The improvement of safety, health and working conditions depends ultimately upon people
working together, whether government, employers or workers. Safety management involves the
functions of planning, identifying problem areas, coordinating, controlling and directing the
safety activities at the work site, all aimed at the prevention of accidents and ill health. Effective
safety management has three main objectives: to make the environment safe; to make the job
safe; and to make worker safety conscious [6].
The causes of accident and ill health in the industry are well known. Falling from heights, such
as scaffolding, is one of the biggest problems, along with accidents involving transport, both on
and off site. Dermatitis, occupational deafness, and asbestosis are among many occupational
diseases that continue to cause long term suffering for many workers in the industry.
There is a good reason construction workers are asked to wear hard hats, gloves, safety goggles,
and various other safety equipment while on the job; construction sites are dangerous, filled with
heavy and sharp objects, platforms of varying heights, flying sparks and debris, and a number of
other potentially dangerous elements. It is no wonder so many injuries occur on construction
sites unfortunately, too many workers are either unaware of the risks, or exhibit a high risk
tolerance, often coupled with an opposition to what they see as burdening or cumbersome safety
equipment [4].
The construction industry, employing the largest labor force, has accounted for about 11% of all
occupational injuries and 20% deaths resulting from occupational accidents. International Labor
Organization estimates that at least 60,000 fatalities occur at construction sites around the world
every year. This means that one fatal accident occurs every ten minutes in the sector. Most of
these accidents are created due to unsafe behavior and unsafe conditions [8]. Hence, health and
safety problem in building construction is the major and worldwide issue which needs strong
consideration since it affects the life of the workmen (manpower), project time, project cost and
also project quality. Safety consideration in construction building has not yet been studied and
evaluated as problem in Ethiopia. The selected area of this study is in Addis Ababa due to a lot
of construction and consulting
companies and building construction found here. This research dealt with the current situation of
safety consideration and the ways of achieving free of injury and zero accident environment of
building construction. The objectives of this research work were to answer the following
questions: What are those Health and safety issues concerning building construction in Addis
Ababa? What are the roles of the Client, Consultant and Contractor in health and safety
consideration during project implementation stage? What are the factors that affect health and
safety performance of laborers? Is health and safety issues are used as criteria in selecting
contractor during prequalification phase for public bidding? And what can be proposed to
overcome safety problems in building construction?
From: evaluation of health and safety practice in building construction case study in Addis Ababa.
Basic definitions:
Health – the protection of the bodies and minds of people from illness resulting from the
materials, processes or procedures used in the workplace.
Safety – the protection of people from physical injury. The borderline between health and
safety is ill-defined and the two words are normally used together to indicate concern for the
physical and mental well-being of the individual at the place of work.
Accident – defined by the Health and Safety Executive as ‘any unplanned event that results
in injury or ill health of people, or damage or loss to property, plant, materials or the
environment or a loss of a business opportunity’. Other authorities define an accident more
narrowly by excluding events that do not involve injury or ill-health. This book will always
use the Health and Safety Executive definition.
Hazard and risk:
a hazard is the potential of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. Hazards take many
forms including, for example, chemicals, electricity and working from a ladder. A hazard can
be ranked relative to other hazards or to a possible level of danger.
A risk is the likelihood of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. A risk can be
reduced and the hazard controlled by good management.
It is very important to distinguish between a hazard and a risk – the two terms are often
confused and activities such as construction work are called high risk when they are high
hazard. Although the hazard will continue to be high, the risks will be reduced as controls
are implemented. The level of risk remaining when controls have been adopted is known as
the residual risk. There should only be high residual risk where there is poor health and
safety management and inadequate control measures.
ABSTRACT
In recent years in developed country the health & safety of workers has improved but
it is not improved in developing country like Ethiopia, specifically Addis Ababa public
construction projects hence, the actual number of accident higher in reality than the
reported number and much data on health & safety. The construction industry in
Addis Ababa is characterized by high incidents rate of accidents. The objective of this
research is an assessment of safety practice involving workers in public building
project in the case Addis Ababa public building construction projects. Accordingly,
survey research design was used to accomplish the objectives of the study. Mainly a
five point Likert scale questionnaire was distributed to engineers and professionals
who are working in public building construction projects as a contractor and
consultants to may help collect the data for knowing the levels of health and safety
conditions in public building construction projects activities used SPSS (Statically
Package for Social Science) software, view software for Descriptive analysis and
analytical tools used to identify the importance and relative significance of the safety
factors that were ultimately utilized to develop the proposed safety framework or
safety model. The results show that the safety of workers in Addis Ababa public
building construction projects are classified as unsafe practice and required high
improvement that is due to a major five causes factors of accidents on the response
failure to use Personal Protective Equipment’s (PPE), Lack of safety training, Unsafe
loading arranging and placing, Lack of education, Negligence & carelessness,
Inadequate management of work environment, Taking unsafe positions or postures
and Lack of experience. Most of construction companies don’t have safety training,
safety meeting, safety policies, safety officer, medical and first aid facilities and
reporting system. Moreover, the roles of government towards safety are almost
minimal under implementation of the General Condition Contracts and Occupational
Safety & Health rules.
1. Background
Construction Industry plays a great role on the national scene. Not only does it touch
the lives of virtually everyone on a daily basis, it also occupies a fundamental position
in the national economy. It is one of the sectors that Provides crucial ingredients for
development of an economy. One cannot think of widespread investment in
manufacturing, agriculture or service sectors unless the construction results of
infrastructure facilities are in place. Thus periods of national prosperity are usually
associated with high levels of construction activity. One is the natural result of the
other [Clough and G.A. Sears, 1979].
According to [Seifedin.s ,2014], the Safety of a construction is one of an essential
components in the processes of construction when it can have been preferred as a
mitigation measurement before an incidence occurring. However, in all over Ethiopia,
millions of daily laborers work in big constructions through unsafe working
environment and without supportive and protective equipment. They do not have
protective caps, hand gloves, eye glasses, working clothes, shoes and others. They
work on high rise buildings standing on old and inclined wooden scaffolds and
ladders; they even transport heavy construction materials on them. Moreover, the
constructions do not have safety nets, restraint and fall arrest systems. As a result, a
dozens of daily laborers get different serious injuries. Many, in fact, lose their lives.
Hence, the purpose of this research is that to assessment of safety practice involving
worker in public building project in case of Addis Ababa city construction office
projects.
Related research questions
To conduct the research, the following research questions are listed.
What are the causes of accident occurred in public building construction project of Addis
Ababa?
What are the factors that affects a safety practice of public building construction project
in Addis Ababa?
BACKGROUND
Construction is a hazardous industry whether in developed or developing countries and
contributes to significant numbers of occupational accidents and ill health globally (Takala
1999). While developed nations have demonstrated commitment to achieving a reduction in
accident numbers in industrial settings, the same cannot be said of developing countries,
particularly Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Accident rates in these developing economies are
unacceptably high and it is predicted that the numbers will increase in parallel with the pace of
industrialization (Hämäläinen et al. 2006). Many construction businesses operating in market
economies have embraced a zero accident policy as their goal and implemented effective health
and safety practices (Hinze and Wilson 2000). The attention paid to the construction industry
and the risks posed by its activities has contributed to these achievements. However, despite the
significance of the industry in developing countries, policy makers pay very little attention to it
(Anaman and Osei-Amponsah, 2007).
The institutional and legal governance frameworks on occupational health and safety in
developing countries have little impact (LaDou 2003). The majority of contractors are SMEs
operating within their domestic markets where enforcement of health and safety standards and
labor standards is very lax. Enforcement of health and safety regulations remains a problem due
to lack of adequate resources available to government institutions responsible for occupational
and safety administration. For example, Clarke (2005) has revealed the limited resources
available to enforcement agencies and prevention services as the main factor contributing to poor
health and safety conditions at Ghanaian workplaces. Also, there remains an acute need for
contract provisions to support the enforcement of labor laws in developing countries
(Cotton et al., 2005). These problems are compounded by shortages of skilled labor and qualified
staff which confronts the industry in both developing and developed countries (Dainty et al.
2004; Mitullah and Wachira 2003). These factors combine to make the construction industry in
developing countries unsafe.
___________________ about Ethiopia ____________________________
Objectives of the study
This paper reports on research which examined the health and safety practices of Ghanaian SME
building contractors. The aim was to reveal the factors which might contribute to accidents
within these firms and to identify possible policy measures which could mitigate the prevalence
of accidents within the sector.
From: Kheni.pdf
Data collection
Safe and healthy working conditions do not happen by chance. Employers need to have a written
safety policy for their enterprise setting out the safety and health standards which it is their
objective to achieve. The policy should name the senior executive who is responsible for seeing
that the standards are achieved, and who has authority to allocate responsibilities to management
and supervisors at all levels and to see they are carried out [6]. Nearly 6.5 million people work at
approximately 252,000 construction sites across the nation on any given day. The fatal injury
rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average in this category for all
industries. Potential hazards for workers in construction include: • Scaffold collapse • Falls (from
heights) • Trench collapse • Electric shock and arc flash/arc blast •Failure to use proper personal
protective equipment and, repetitive motion injuries [5].
2.2 Construction health and safety rules in Ethiopia
The fundamental law of the state which is the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopia, the Civil Code (Proclamation # 165/1960) together with the Labor Code
(Proclamation No 377/20003) are the general legal basis for health and safety rules in Ethiopia.
Numerous articles/provisions are provided under these general laws regarding health and safety
of people. Labor Code ensures worker-employer relations and enables workers and employers to
maintain industrial peace. It strengthens and defines the powers and duties of the organ charged
with the responsibility of inspecting labor administration, particularly labor conditions,
occupational safety, health and environment. The following provisions are set: Article 92 clearly
spells out the fundamental obligations of an employer with regard to putting in place of all the
necessary measures in order to ensure, workplaces are safe, healthy and free of any danger to the
well-being of workers. In the same article the employer is obliged to take, in particular the
following measures to safeguard the health and safety of the workers:
To comply with the occupational safety and health requirements provided for in the
proclamation; take appropriate steps to ensure that workers are properly instructed is notified
concerning the hazards of their respective occupations and the pre cautions necessary to avoid
accident and injury to health. Ensure that directive are given and also assign safety officer,
establishes an occupational, safety and health committee, provides workers with protective
equipment, clothing and other materials and instruct them of its use, obliged to register and
notify to the nearest labor inspection services occupational accident and diseases) arrange
according to the nature of the work at his/her own expense, for the medical examination of
newly employed workers, and for those workers engaged in hazardous work as may nearly,
take appropriate pre-executions to ensure that all processes of work shall not be a source or
cause of physical, chemical, biological, agronomical and psychological hazards to the health
and safety of the workers.
Article 93 provides the obligations of workers pertaining to the required co-operation and putting
into practice of the regulation and instruction given by the employer in order to ensure safety health
and working conditions at work places. The law has clearly stipulated about occupational injuries
with all other related provisions.
From: Evaluation of Health and Safety Practice in Building Construction: A Case Study in Addis
Ababa
There are also other duty holders that have responsibilities under the WHS Act and Regulations
including:
officers (e.g. company directors)
workers
other persons (e.g. visitors to construction sites).
Ethical considerations
This concerned the confidentiality of the information obtained from the respondents for
the purpose of this study. It was important that the respondents were guaranteed of
confidentiality of the information they divulged in case they felt the questions were
personal or sensitive in nature. The researcher had to bring to light the fact that the study
was basically academic for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the degree, and
that the report will not be published for public consumption. In this respect an introduction
letter from the university administration was a necessity.