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University of Salford, Manchester School of the Built Environment Influence of Human Factors on the safety performance in Saudi Arabian Construction industry Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of Degree of PhD. YASIR AZMAT March 2020 i ABSTRACT In Saudi Arabia, the construction industry is inflicted with the occurrence of many accidents. Reports released by the government show that the Saudi Arabian construction industry is responsible for the highest number of accidents as compared to the other industries in the country. Research studies pointed out that accident occurs due to various factors such as unsafe working conditions and unsafe actions of the workers. In Saudi Arabia, workers' unsafe actions are blamed as one of the key reasons behind the occurrence of accidents. However, there is no exploratory study available related to Saudi Arabian construction industry which has identified the human factors that influences the workers to carry out unsafe acts which contribute in the occurrence of the accidents by the use of mix methods including review of accident reports. Accident causation theories suggested that workers' unsafe actions are influenced by numerous factors that are associated with the job and the organisation. Therefore, this research study was focused on the identification of the human factors which cause accidents in the construction industry and explore the challenges and barriers the Saudi Arabian construction industry is facing in maintaining safe worksite. The research objectives in this research study were fulfilled with the use of three research techniques: archival reports, interviews, and questionnaire surveys. In the first step, accident reports of eight construction companies were studied, followed by conducting the interviews with twenty-three construction professionals. In the last step, the questionnaire survey was conducted with 150 participants working in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. Results of the accident reports revealed twenty-six human factors associated with the individuals, task and workplace that caused eighty-six accidents in eight construction sites. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed seven challenges and barriers involving the Saudi government and construction companies which are affecting the safety performance of the Saudi Arabian construction industry. The result of the questionnaire survey revealed that workers' non-compliance to safety rules, lack of training, lack of awareness and unsafe working conditions are the significant human factors that contribute towards the occurrence of accidents in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. Results from the accident reports, interviews and questionnaire surveys imply that in the Saudi Arabian construction industry, H&S issues are multifaceted involving a combination of more than one human factor. These results also emphasised that workers' unsafe actions are influenced by their limited knowledge and awareness about the identification of the hazards at the workplace and the control measures that need to be applied to mitigate those hazards. Management fails to provide safe working conditions at the construction sites with no proper hazard management which increases the H&S risks for the workers. Most of the workers are coming from Asian countries where there is not a proper safety culture. These workers have no or limited skills about their job and mostly have to learn the skills at the job site. Saudi Arabian construction sites do not provide enough training related to the task they have to perform resulting in increasing the chances of mistakes or errors which can cause an accident. To reduce the occurrence of the accidents and improve the safety performance of the Saudi Arabian construction, there is a need for strong commitment and ii control measures especially from the government and the construction companies. Construction professionals need to realise the significance of the H&S which is eventually to protect them from being involved in the accidents. This research study contributed to knowledge with the identification of the human factors which influence the workers to work unsafely and explored the underlying human factors that affect the overall safety performance of the Saudi Arabian construction industry. This research provided practical and detailed recommendations that will be applicable in the Saudi Arabian construction industry to minimise the accidents and improve safety performance. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Yingchun Ji for his continuous support and guidance throughout the PhD programme. This thesis would not be possible without the support of my beloved mom, brothers, sisters, wife, and son. I would like to thank the construction companies who provided me with data for this thesis. Participants involved in the interviews and questionnaire surveys require special thanks as their opinions and feedback were very useful in this thesis. PUBLISHED RESEARCH JOURNAL Azmat, Y., & Saad, N. (2018). The Safety Policies Practiced in the Construction Industry of Saudi Arabia. J Ergonomics, 8(242), 2. iv Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ ix List of Figures............................................................................................................................ x 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Background ............................................................................................................ 1 1.3 Research Justification ............................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Problem Definition ................................................................................................................ 5 1.5 Research Aim and Objectives ................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Overview of the Research Design .......................................................................................... 6 1.7 Structure of this research study .............................................................................................. 6 1.8 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 8 2. Literature Review - Global ................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Overview of the Construction Industry .................................................................................. 9 2.3 Safety performance of the Global construction industry ....................................................... 12 2.4 Theoretical overview of the accident causation theories ...................................................... 19 2.5 Theoretical review of the involvement of humans in the occurrence of the accidents .......... 24 2.6 Human factors and its components ..................................................................................... 27 2.6.1 Individual .................................................................................................................. 28 2.6.2 Job ........................................................................................................................... 30 2.6.3 Organisation ............................................................................................................. 31 2.7 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 33 3. Literature Review – Saudi Arabia ...................................................................................... 34 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Overview of the Saudi Arabian construction industry .......................................................... 34 3.3 Safety performance of the Saudi Arabian construction industry ........................................... 38 3.4 Causation of accidents in the Saudi Arabian construction industry due to human actions ..... 44 3.5 Relationship between human factors and the safety performance of Saudi Arabian construction industry ................................................................................................................. 47 v 3.6 Influencing human factors affecting the safety performance of the Saudi Arabian construction industry ................................................................................................................. 49 3.6.1 Workers actions ......................................................................................................... 50 3.6.2 Workers attitude and behaviour towards safety .......................................................... 51 3.6.3 Planning .................................................................................................................... 53 3.6.4 Training ...................................................................................................................