EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING PRACTICES OF CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Given the high proportion of fatal and non-fatal accidents occurring in the construction industry, construction companies constantly seek different and novel strategies to reduce the number of work-related accidents. One such strategy that is mentioned often in the literature is formal, well organized and effective safety training. However, the current safety management literature reported on the effectiveness of health & safety training of large construction firms only operating within developed countries like The U.S, The U.K, and some parts of Europe. However, there is a dearth of research in construction literature in the context of medium construction firms that are typically smaller than the large construction firms and yet they collectively perform a large portion of the construction volume and train a large number of workers on safety issues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of medium & large construction firms in developing countries based on four (4) measures of evaluation namely: reaction, learning, training transfer, and results/impacts. The research objectives were achieved by gathering empirical data from 130 construction firms in Abuja, Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential methods of analysis were used to analyse the data collected in order to achieve the aim of the study. Furthermore, the independent samples t-test was performed in order to see if the differences between the groups are statistically significant at α = 0.05. All these statistical analyses were undertaken using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) for Windows version 23. It was established that majority of workmen (10%-51%) in medium construction firms ‘strongly disagree or disagree’ with 11 out of 16 key components of H & S training as opposed to workmen in large construction firms in which the majority (27%-39%) ‘agree or strongly agree’ with 15 of the 16 key components of H & S training. It was also established that two H & S training practices that aid learning of safety knowledge by workers are implemented in medium construction firms, while 10 H & S training practices that aid learning of safety knowledge by workers are implemented in large construction firms. It was also established that two (2) H & S training practices that aid training transfer of the learned knowledge by workers in the job environment, while eight (8) H & S training practices that aid training transfer of the learned knowledge by workers in the job environment are implemented in large construction firms. Finally, it was discovered that the H & S training practices of medium construction firms have results on two (2) key organisational objectives of safety training, while those of large construction firms have results on eight (8) key organisational objectives. Based on the foregoing, the study thus, concludes that the health and safety training practices of large construction firms are more effective than those of medium construction firms in terms of components safety training design and delivery; learning aids of safety knowledge by workers; efficient training transfer of the learned knowledge by workers in the job environment; and impact on key organisational objectives of health and safety training. This therefore, means that the health and safety training practices of large construction firms are more likely to yield better safety outcomes more than building construction firms. The contribution of this study is that it represents an empirical attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the mechanisms through which medium & large construction firms in Nigeria practice health and safety training to achieve, sustain and improve safety performance within construction. It is useful to construction firms and practicing professionals seeking to improve safety training design and delivery that translates to improved safety performance within construction.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

Research in construction safety continues to show alarming deficits in safety knowledge among construction workers. For example, Haslam, Hide, Gibb, Gyi, Pavitt, Atkinson and Duff (2005) found that more than 70% of construction injuries were associated with poor safety knowledge. Estimates has also revealed that only 10–15% of training investments translate into tangible benefits (Baldwin and Ford, 1994; Cromwell and Kolb, 2004). Not surprisingly, most injury investigations recommend more training to prevent injury recurrence (National Institute Occupational Safety and Health, 2015). Few studies have focused on understanding why training efforts fail in construction. For example, Goldenhar, Moran and Colligan (2001) explains that industry characteristics such as the transient nature of the workforce and the temporal basis of projects discourage employers from adopting comprehensive, more expensive, and resource-intensive training methods. Other common challenges to effective training include schedule constraints and conflicts in projects, language barriers among workers, and difficulty of quantifying and communicating training benefits (Wang, Goodrum, Haas and Glover, 2008). Besides these industry challenges, training efforts fail for a variety of reasons such as ineffective instructional methods, incompetent instructors, and improper training material (Demirkesen and Arditi, 2015). Most safety training programs within construction use conventional classroom techniques that do not sufficiently engage workers (Wilkins, 2011). According to Haslam et al. (2005), such passive and ineffective instructional methods have limited value, and can sometimes instigate negative attitudes among workers to safety issues. To improve safety training effectiveness, Wilkins (2011) recommends replacing traditional classroom-type training with andragogical approaches that are more effective in engaging adult learners. More recently, Mostafa, Alex, Carlos and Nagaya (2016) argued that engaging safety training methods that facilitate dialogue, feedback and action can result in higher learning gains

1.2         Statement of the Problem

Given the high proportion of fatal and non-fatal accidents occurring in the construction industry, construction firms constantly seek different and novel strategies to reduce the number of work-related accidents. One such strategy that is mentioned often in the literature is formal, well organized and effective health and safety training (Tam and Fung, 1998; Toole, 2002; Burke, Sarpy, Smith-Crowe, Chan-Serafin, Salvador, and Islam, 2006; Business Legal Reports, 2007; Aksorn and Hadikusumo, 2008; Han, Park, Jin, Kim and Seong, 2008; Burke and Hutchins, 2011; Evia, 2011; Wilkins, 2011; Li, Chan and Skitmore, 2012; Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2012; Ruttenberg, 2013; Hinze and Li, 2013; Demirkesen and Arditi, 2015). Extensive review of the literature however, reveals that a variety of studies in the construction safety management literature have investigated the construction health and safety training within developed countries (Wilkins, 2011; Li et al., 2012; Hinze et al., 2013; Ruttenberg, 2013; Demirkesen and Arditi, 2015; Mostafa, Alex, Carlos and Nagaya, 2016; Namian, Albert, Carlos and Nagaya, 2016). In the majority of these studies, researchers have evaluated the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of large construction firms only which operate in highly developed countries. However, there is a lack of research in construction literature in the context of medium construction firms that are typically smaller than the large construction firms and yet they collectively perform a large portion of the construction volume and train a large number of workers on safety issues. Hence, the need for the study.

This study intends to fill this gap by evaluating the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of medium and large construction firms in a developing economy.

1.3         Justification for the Study

The effectiveness of health and safety training practices is an important aspect of safety management on construction sites. To improve safety performance, construction firms invest several million dollars in designing, developing, and delivering health and safety training programs. The goal of these training programmes is to equip workers with the skills necessary to recognise and manage hazards in complex environments (Hinze and Gambatese, 2003). This research represents the first attempt to evaluate the mechanism through which medium and large construction firms adopt health and safety training to achieve, sustain and improve construction safety performance. The findings of this study can significantly advance theory and practice in the area of construction safety and health and safety training design and delivery. The results of the study will be beneficial to construction firms and practicing professionals who are interested in designing health and safety training programs that translate to improved safety performance of construction firms.

1.4         Aim and Objectives

1.4.1     Aim

The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of construction firms with a view to proffering strategies for designing, developing, and delivering effective health and safety training programmes in medium and largeconstruction firms in a developing economy.

1.4.2     Objectives

The objectives through which the above stated aim was achieved were to;

1. establish appropriate measures for the evaluation of the effectiveness of health and safety training practices in construction firms.
2. evaluate reactions of workmen on key components of health and safety training design and delivery in construction firms.

• evaluate health and safety training practices of construction firms in achieving learning of safety knowledge by workers in health and safety training.

1. evaluate health and safety training practices of construction firms in ensuring training transfer of the learned safety knowledge by workers in the job environment.
2. evaluate result of health and health and safety training practices of construction firms on key organizational objectives of safety training.

1.5         Scope and Limitation

1.5.1     Scope

The study intended to evaluate the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of construction firms in Nigeria. For the purpose of this study, medium and large construction firms that engage in building construction and civil engineering works were considered. Medium and large construction firms were chosen considering the nature of construction projects they execute which are complex and technical in nature, requiring the use of heavy machinery and are therefore more likely to practice health and safety training for their employees such that accidents on construction sites are minimized, reduced or eliminated. Considering the nature of data required to achieve the aim of the study, two sets of respondents were targeted. These respondents are the providers of training (safety managers) and the receivers of training (workmen). However, as it is not possible to cover the whole of construction firms in Nigeria, only construction firms within Abuja metropolis were covered by the study. Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria and one of the most developed states currently experiencing rapid increase in population and new developmental projects undertaken daily to meet the increasing demand for shelter for both residential and commercial purposes.

1.5.2    Limitations

1. The reliability of the health and safety training practices reported in this study is limited to the accuracy of the data provided by respondents in the self-administered questionnaire survey. This is because some companies who violate health and safety rules may not have given honest answers to questions. Thus, it could be possible that the effectiveness of health and safety training practices of construction firms may be overstated in this study.
2. The results of the study may not be generalized beyond the boundaries of the population that was employed in the study.

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