International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2017, pp. 196–202, Article ID: IJCIET_08_06_022

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ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

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SAFETY MANAGEMENT AND ITS

APPLICATION WITH CASE STUDIES
S. Santhiya
M.Tech Student, School of Civil Engineering,
Sastra University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India

D. Muthu
Assistant Professor, School of Civil Engineering,
Sastra University, Thanjavur, Tamilanadu,India

ABSTRACT
The development of the construction industry depends on inceresing the safety
performance. It focuses mainly on the implementation of safety management in
construction projects. It was carried out by conducting questionnaire survey among
the contractors and engineers of various construction projects for knowing the level of
safety in their projects. The survey will include information on safety such as
proceduers, training and materials for safety practices, management reviews on
applying safety practices, safety incentives and penalties, safety approaches. The
survey involves a designed questionnaire and case study on safety management. The
survey tell different control measures and their rate of usage on building projects. The
survey depends on the types of accidents on building projects and their control
measures for prevent in accidents or for minimizting the accidents. Questionnaire
survey has been analyzed using SPSS software. The results of the study revealed that
there are many safety problems in the construction industry, such as lack of
knowledge about safety measures and materials which protect from safety hazardous
or damages.
Key words: Saftey Management, Statistical Method, Construction Management.
Cite this Article: S. Santhiya and D. Muthu. Safety Management and its Application
with Case Studies. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(6),
2017, pp. 196–202.
http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=8&Issue=6

1. INTRODUCTION
Construction industries are the most dangerous due to its working nature which has higher
rate of injury than most other industries . Construction accidents cause many human injuries,
lack of motivation among workers, work interruption, delay in progress which affect the cost,
productivity, and reputation. Expenses, such as medical costs, increased worker’s
compensation insurance and property damage . For these reasons, safety in the construction

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 Safety Management and its Application with Case Studies

industry is very important. The Major concern of Safety in construction industries is

preventing injuries and illness of worker’s .the accidents and hazards in construction sites can
be controlled and prevented by the usage of safety programs in order to reduce accident rates.
However, in developing countries, an effort must be made to raise the level of awareness,
among both employees and employers, of the importance of safety at work sites . Safety must
be the number one priority for the construction team. The construction team includes the
owner, architect/engineer, general contractor, construction manager, subcontractors and
suppliers. It is the construction team’s responsibility to ensure that the project is completed
safely with quality and economy .Good safety programs would certainly help in reducing
injuries at construction sites and also to minimize construction costs, increase productivity
and profitability and more importantly it could save lives of workers and consequently
contribute positively to the construction industry and the nation as a whole.

2. BACKGROUND AND LITEATURE REVIEW

Major Accident caused at construction sites is workers falling from high occurring primarily
on new construction projects of commercial buildings and residential projects of reasonably
low construction cost. The combination of quality and safety achieved for better resource
management and utilization. Safety is preventing or avoiding any hazardous, loss, accidents
in the site . safety rules and regulations need to be implemented not only to overcome issues
like poor quality work, unsafe working conditions, and lack of environmental control but also
reduce cost and enhance productivity .Every construction site has unique safety policy. safety
policies can be varied depend on the projects taken and the type of projects in construction
site .Larger construction projects are better organized whereas small to medium firms do not
have an adequate safety program to see safety criteria needed for construction site. An
organization will setup the safety departments to communicate the safety instruction and
motivates to adopt safety practices. An organization should give proper work environment i.e.
to provide safety equipments / materials. For controlling the unsafe practices ,the site
manager has to understand the importance of safety and also has follow the safety norms and
also keep informing about safety measures to the employee. The arrange safety training to the
employees.
Safety management is essential for the desired changes in construction industries. It helps
employee to get basic knowledge about hazardous , precautions to be taken ,and use of tools
and equipments for safety which is to achieve quality and profit in the construction project .
Safety management has to prepare a safety manual for the organization. There are only two
safety performance measures which are applied for the construction sector as a whole ; a
frequency measure and a severity measure .The frequency measure is based on the number
of accidents. A severity measure is based on the number of lost days. To improve safety
performance, initiate and maintain an organizational setup, safety department, committes
and field procedures. Safety climate refers to observations of policies, procedures and
practices relating to safety in the work place which is used to evaluate through determination
of safety climate that would enhance safety culture and positively impact safety performance
on construction sites. Prioritizing and valuing safety is to increase safety performance and
decrease employee injuries . An individual safety behavior influences and transfers positve
safety performance termed as effective way.
Safety would improve safety culture and give positive impact on safety performance on
construction projects. A safety climate questionnaire survey was conducted on the
construction sites of a leading construction company and its subcontractors. Based on survey,
two principal components were established management commitment, employee involvement
and inappropriate safety procedure and work practices.

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 S. Santhiya and D. Muthu

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Questionnaire survey was conducted among site enginners to identify their opinion towards
safety management in construction industry. Survey done through questionnaires. Based on
the survey, various factors were selected. The case study was conducted by developing a
questionnaire and collecting the responses from construction firms. For the survey
questionnaires was gathered to identify the critical factors. The methodology of the study is
as presented in Figure 3.1. The questionnaire was prepared and sent to three main individuals
responsible for the project (Contractor, Client and Consultant) and the effect of each factor
has been evaluated by adopting a five-point likert scale of 1 to 5 (1 = Strongly Agree; 2 =
Agree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Disagree; and 5 = Strongly Disagree;). The questionnaire survey was
conducted to determine the importance of critical success factors for safety management
which was observed by contractors, clients and consultants working within Construction
Industry. In this paper, factor analysis was used to identify the critical success factor for
safety management in construction industry.
The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS v.21) was utilized to conduct factor
analysis. The direct personal interview method and online filling using Google forms are used
for filling the questionnaire and collecting the data. The survey has been conducted at all the
levels and types of construction projects. The various levels of projects are huge level,
medium level and low level which are considered based on total construction cost and size of
the project. The questionnaires are distributed to the construction firms and the data are
collected by means of direct interview method .Then the collected data are analyzed by
means of manual method as well as using software method. The l analysis has been done by 4
approaches. They are Reliability Test, Friedman Test, One way ANOVA Test, Correlation
Test.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Reliability Analysis
Cronbach’s alpha measures a set of value or items into a single or as a group of individuals.
In such cases, we ask a series of questions and combine the answers into a single numerical
value.
It is used to measure reliability. The value doesn’t indicate that as a single dimension , if a
cronbach’s alpha value is high Additional analyses to be performed to identify the
dimensionality. Exploratory factor analysis is one method of checking dimensionality.
Cronbach’s alpha can be written as a function of the number of test items and the average
inter-correlation among the items.

Table 1 Reliability Analysis

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

.922
52

4.2. Friedman Test

The Friedman test is the non-parametric test for identifying the differences between groups
when the variable should be ordinal. Nonparametric means the test doesn’t assume your data
comes from a particular distribution. It’s used in place of the ANOVA test when you don’t
know the distribution of your data.

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 Safety Management and its Application with Case Studies

Table 2.Friedman Test

S.NO FACTORS N MEAN

1 Safety plans and procedures 84 3.9643

2 Everyone aware of the content of safety policy 84 3.6905

3 Competent safety professional available at site 84 3.7143

4 Employees given specialized training where needed 84 3.9643

5 Safety aterial displayed on the sit 84 3.8690

6 Access roads suitable for the movement of plants and vechiles 84 4.0238

7 First aid centre at site 84 4.1310

8 Storage area are required for petrol,flammable material etc... 84 3.8810

9 Proper arrangement for regular collection and disposal of waste material 84 4.1190

10 Adequate water supply for sanitation 84 4.0357

11 Workers wearing suitable yhand gloves while handling rough object 84 3.8810
12 Temporary screens are provided to protect others from welding rays,grinding 84 3.8690
sparks
13 Staircases provided with temporary railings 84 3.8571

14 Safety nets fixed where needed 84 3.9643

15 Proper electrical connection are provided for the vibrators 84 3.9286
16 Workers wearing fullbody safety equipment while working at heights 84 4.0000
17 Workers anchoring their safety harnesses 84 3.9524
18 Workers using suitable ppe as per the hazards 84 3.9048
19 Porkers lifiting proper weights 84 3.8452
20 Workmen trained in material handling 84 3.9524
21 Proper flooring done with adequate load bearing capacity 84 4.0476
22 Adequate place for bulk storage of construction materials 84 4.0238
23 Stacks protected from collapse 84 4.0476
24 Material protected from weather and rain 84 4.0357
25 Flame cutting and welding taking place with proper fire precautions 84 4.0595
26 Adequate precautions taken while removing the timber supports etc...in side 84 3.7262
of pits
27 Workmen trained to work inside confined space 84 3.7976
28 Register maintained to enter the names while entering and leaving the 84 3.8095
confined space
29 Required fire extinguishers provided near the electrical panels 84 3.8810
30 Any artifical resuscitation charts displayed near electrical panels 84 3.9881
31 Scaffolds designed as per the load requirement 84 4.0357
32 Handrails,midrails and toe boards fixed for the platforms 84 3.9762
33 Proper access to reach the platforms 84 4.0595
34 False work has been designed by a competent person 84 3.7619
35 Proper walkway provided over the reinforcement bars 84 3.8214
36 Workers anchored safety harness to a strong anchoring point 84 3.8810
37 Vechiles inspected and the license is current 84 3.9762
38 Bench mounted drilling machines firmly secured to a strong and stable bench 84 4.0119
39 Operators wearing fit clothing and gloves etc...while operating the machine 84 3.8214
40 Handles of the tools free from splits and cracks 84 3.8929
41 Grinding machines wheels adequately guarded 84 4.0714
42 Grinding machines wheels fitted as per the designed speed and correctly 84 3.9524

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 S. Santhiya and D. Muthu

fitted on the spring wheel

43 Riving knife provided to prevent kick back 84 3.7857
44 Area arround the machine neat and tidy 84 3.8095
45 Workers trained in the fall protection procedures 84 3.9762

4.3. Discussion
Based on various researchers, it is observed that safety managers have the opportunity to
influence and enhance the sense of safety and the quality of the work environment. It is also
been observed that a set of recommendations and strategies is to be provide to contractors for
improving their safety performance. The most safety factors Proper arrangement for regular
collection and disposal of waste materials Workers wearing full body safety equipment while
working at heights Scaffolds designed as per the load requirement. Flame cutting and welding
taking place with proper fire precautions. Proper flooring done with adequate load bearing
capacity.

4.3.1. Model for Effective Saftey Management

On the job site of every project, the project manager shall establish a safety system to avoid
any working accident. This work has four aspects of job

4.3.2. Establishment of Safety Organization

Each project needs a safety organization under the direct leadership of project manager. The
typical construction organization is described in the figure below:

4.3.3. Safety Inputs Storage

The costs of ensuring safety are regarded as indirect cost. Some contractors normalize that
safety cost be divided into two parts: the first part is withdrawn by the headquarter and used
as accident treatment fare, when there are more accidents happening, this part will increase
consistently. The second part is engaged by the project team and used as accident treatment
fare on the job site. In such case, the project manager is obligated to take measures to avoid
working accidents to decrease the cost of the project.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OTHER PROJECT DIRECTOR

SAFETY DIRECTOR
DIRECTORS Responsible for
Responsible for safety service,
Responsible for safety implementing company
information, safety audits,
input from estimators, safety policy on projects
investigating accidents, liaison
Plant departments,
design office etc. with safety authorities and
committees
PROJECT MANAGER
Responsible for attention to safety at tender stage,
liaison with service departments, site manager
training and management

SITE MANAGER SAFETY ADVISOR

Primarily responsible for all health, safety Responsible for
and welfare matters on sites expert advice on
safety matters

Figure 1 Safety organization -structure

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 Safety Management and its Application with Case Studies

4.3.4. Establishment of Safety Regulations

Worker must abide by the safety operation regulation of his work species. So the
management staff involved in an international project must study laws and regulations that
relate to safety construction and labor protection and carry it out rigidly to avoid working
accidents happening. Every work aspect has its own safety regulation and special
requirements. Training to all labors in the job site is necessary. Through training, workers on
the site can get a complete knowledge of safety requirements and safety technique of their
work aspect and enhance their ability of self-protection.

4.3.5. Establishment of Reward and Punishment Rules

During the construction of an international project, the working accident will result in great
economic loss. If all the employee are concerned about the safety construction, a lot of money
will be economized. So it is helpful to develop the safety of construction that reward the job
team with excellent safety performance and records, at the same time, the one with bad safety
performance will be punished.

5. CONCLUSIONS
Generally, the work environments in construction activities are more hazardous, than other
industries due to the use of heavy equipment, dangerous tools, and hazardous materials, all of
which increase the potential for serious accidents and injuries. From the case studies and also
from the surveys taken from the engineers and contractors , the result of various tests would
analysis the level of safety .the basic levels of safety is most important for all construction
industries and the factors which are associated with safety namely access roads suitable for
the movement of plants and vehicles ,first aid center at site, proper arrangement for regular
collection and disposal of waste material, stacks protected from collapse , material protected
from weather and rain, proper arrangement for regular collection and disposal of waste
material, adequate water supply for sanitation workers, wearing suitable hand gloves while
handling rough object ,chemicals etc...,employees given specialized training where needed
first aid center at site safety ,material displayed on the site everyone aware of the content of
safety policy competent safety professional available at site. From that I conclude, the basic
safety measures are needed for all types of construction. From the case study, the result gives
few safety suggestions for any types of construction are awareness of workers, commitment
of top management and the allocation of safety materials.

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