Health and Safety in the Construction Industry: Challenges and Solutions in the UAE Alhajeri, M
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Health and safety in the construction industry: challenges and solutions in the UAE Alhajeri, M. Submitted version deposited in CURVE February 2014 Original citation: Alhajeri, M. (2011) Health and safety in the construction industry: challenges and solutions in the UAE. Unpublished Thesis. Coventry: Coventry University. Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Some materials have been removed from this thesis for third party copyright and data protection reasons. Pages where material has been removed are clearly marked in the electronic version. The unabridged version of the thesis can be viewed at the Lanchester Library, Coventry University. CURVE is the Institutional Repository for Coventry University http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open UNIVERSITY OF COVENTRY FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTING DEPARTMENT OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND SAFETY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE UAE MOHAMED ALHAJERI September 2011 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Coventry for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy PhD in Civil Engineering - 1 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Dr Messaoud Saidani, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject and carrying out the research. I thank my fellow research students in the Sir John Laing research room for their memorable company and support. Last but not least, I owe my loving thanks to my wife, children and the wider family. Without their encouragement and understanding it would have been impossible for me to finish this work. - 2 - ABSTRACT Health and safety issues have always been a major problem and concern in the construction industry. Wherever reliable records are available, construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on health and safety criteria, particularly in developing countries. Efforts have been made to address this problem, but the results have been far from satisfactory, as construction accidents continue to dominate the overall construction industry. Despite the programs implemented by government authorities and measures introduced by companies themselves, the number of construction accidents still remains alarmingly high. In developing countries, safety rules usually do not exist; if they do, the regulatory authority is usually very weak in implementing such rules effectively. The UAE is one of developing countries that are currently enjoying a strong growth in construction activities. Unfortunately, some sectors of its construction industry suffer from poor safety and health conditions. Any framework of the existing occupational and health conditions is fragmented and inadequately enforced, making construction sites more hazardous. It may even be argued that relevant regulations are outdated and irrelevant in day-to-day construction operations. From this perspective this research explores the approved methods adopted in the UK in order to improve the existing code of practice in the UAE and thus introduce the foundations on which appropriate health and safety systems may be built. A framework for Health and Safety management in the UK is suggested. To reach this objective an overview of the published materials as well as the legislation has been undertaken. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to potential construction industry players and interview sessions have been conducted to meet the first objective of the project which to determine the health and safety measures currently applied on construction sites. In addition, structured interviews were carried out with selected managers from a selection of construction and oil companies, medium and large size. This thesis specifically, it investigates the safety perceptions, attitudes, and behaviour of construction workers and management safety practices. Based upon the analysis of the results, this study has demonstrated that the majority of those questioned UAE construction companies have a poor degree of risk awareness and do not seems to take health and safety as an important issue. - 3 - CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... - 2 - ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... - 3 - CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... - 4 - 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... - 12 - 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Aim and objectives ................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Scope of the study ..................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Significance of the research ...................................................................................... 15 1.5 Organisation of the chapters ..................................................................................... 16 Designing the research questionnaire and interviews ......................................................... 17 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 18 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Health and safety definitions .................................................................................... 18 2.3 Scope of the construction industry and general problem description ....................... 20 2.4 The construction sector in the UAE .......................................................................... 23 2.5 Accidents statistics in the construction ..................................................................... 26 2.6 Factors responsible for site accidents........................................................................ 30 2.7 Globalisation and Cultural effect .............................................................................. 32 2.8 Challenge in developing countries ............................................................................ 36 2.9 Health and safety standards on construction sites in the UAE ................................. 38 2.10 Summary ................................................................................................................... 40 3 LEGISLATIVE GOVERNING HEALTH AND SAFETY IN CONSTRUCTION ....... 41 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Health and safety legislation worldwide level .......................................................... 41 3.3 Health and safety regulations in the UK ................................................................... 45 3.4 Existing code of practice in the UAE ....................................................................... 48 3.5 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 52 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 53 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 53 4.2 Hypothesis ................................................................................................................. 53 4.3 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research: ................................................................ 54 4.4 Justification of the research methodology adopted for current study ....................... 66 4.5 Planning and design of the surveys ........................................................................... 69 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................ 72 5 DESIGNING THE RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEWS................. 72 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 72 5.2 Pilot questionnaire .................................................................................................... 74 5.3 Pilot interviews ......................................................................................................... 78 - 4 - 5.4 Structured interviews using repertory grid technique ............................................... 81 5.4.1 Repertory grid technique .................................................................................... 81 5.4.2.9 Elicit through discussion..................................................................................... 85 5.4.2.10Elicit from triads ...................................................................................................