Abstract
Despite the various efforts that have been made by the government and construction authorities to strengthen safety practices among SMEs in Malaysia, the construction SMEs are still unable to demonstrate good safety practices. As part of a wider intervention study to improve the safety practices of the SMEs, this study has taken the first step in identifying the barriers and strategies to improve the safety practices at construction sites in Malaysia. The study has been conducted using various approaches (workshops, site observation and questionnaire survey) that have enabled the triangulation of information. The findings highlighted that the main barriers to good safety practices are the implementation costs, poor safety culture and lack of safety commitment from the client. The proposed solutions include introducing safety as one of the construction KPIs, creating more safety-conscious culture and establishing a funding mechanism to support the cost of safety training. Subsequently, several recommendations have been provided by collating inputs based on the barriers, strategies and drivers through three-party collaboration (authorities, industry and academia) in creating a collaborative movement towards enhancing safety practices among the SMEs. The fresh insights from this study would enable authorities and SMEs to be more proactive, rather than reactive in improving safety practices in the construction industry.
Highlights
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is well acknowledged in the construction industry as one of the most important subjects by its very dynamic nature
Site observations were conducted at eight small construction sites with the use of Work Improvement in Small Construction Sites (WISCON) checklist developed by Kawakami (2016), in order to capture the insights on the current practices of OHS among construction Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
This study was initiated as part of a pilot programme by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia and the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) to better understand what it takes for the Bumiputera construction SMEs to continuously improve their OHS practices
Summary
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is well acknowledged in the construction industry as one of the most important subjects by its very dynamic nature. The construction industry has recorded one of the poorest occupational safety and health records as compared to the other industries (Lingard, 2013; Sherratt, et al, 2015; Choe and Leite, 2017). As most SMEs are ranked at the lower end of the inter-organisational hierarchy (e.g. sub-contractor) of a project, the ability for SMEs to exert influences on decision-making in the construction process is limited, despite their workers’ day-to-day exposure to OHS risks (Lingard and Holmes, 2001). The consequences of poor safety practices could negatively influence the notion of safety management towards a safe work environment
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