The Status of Construction Safety in Bangladesh: Challenges, Benefits, Effects and Suggestions

Abstract

Construction industry is an important part of the economy in many countries and often seen as a driver of economic growth especially in developing countries. As construction industry is less mechanized and more labor intensive, construction workers are backbone of this industry. So the major consideration is ensuring workers safety during construction. This paper is aimed to examine the current safety status, identify the main causes for not practicing safety measures which termed as challenges of construction safety, identify the benefits of considering safety measures, effects for not practicing safety measures and suggestions to overcome the challenges in the construction sites in Bangladesh. The study was conducted in three stages. Firstly the existing rules and regulations of construction safety were studied. Secondly physical survey was conducted among the ongoing construction sites. Thirdly 20 causes and 14 effects for not practicing safety measures that influence the safety performance in construction sites, 16 benefits for practicing safety measures were identified from literature review and ranked them based on Factor Index (FI) by conducting questionnaire survey. According to the physical survey data, it was obvious that workers were working without PPE and fall protective system. From the data analysis, the main causes for not practicing safety rules and measures are lack of enforcement of safety rules and regulations, lack of safety awareness among the construction stakeholder and lack of safety training respectively. The main benefits for practicing safety measures and rules are reduced administrative costs, the potential for reduced insurance and liability costs and improving safety is usually a competitive advantage, because of reduced costs respectively. The main effects for not practicing safety measures and rules are payment for settlement of injury/death claims, negative impact on reputation of firms and increase in project cost respectively. Finally significant suggestions to overcome the challenges were identified from the stakeholder of this industry. The survey results may help the authorities to increase the awareness of practicing safety measures and enforce the construction safety rules in the next project approach.