KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND ARCHITECTURE

DEPARTMENT OF QUANTITY SURVEYING AND PROPERTY VALUATION

AN ASSESSMENT ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY OF WORKERS ON

CONSTRUCTION SITES ON SELECTED CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN
KAMPALA, UGANDA.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

BY

NASSOZI BEATRICE

18/U/EBD/8952/PD

SUPERVISOR: ENG. MUBIRU JOEL

A RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

QUANTITY SURVEYING AND PROPERTY VALUATION IN PAETIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF A BACHELOR’S DEGREE OF
SCIENCE IM BUILDING ECONOMICS.

JULY 2022
CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Construction industry is one of the leading industry in development of economy, infrastructure and
provides quality of life to the people. It also contributes at a large extent in the employment rate of any
country. On the contrary, higher rate of work related accidents resulting in fatalities and injuries have
made this industry as one of the hazardous work related industry in the world.

Occupational safety and health is an area concerned with the development, promotion, and
maintenance of the workplace environment, policies and programs that ensure the mental, physical,
and emotional well-being of employees, as well as keeping the workplace environment relatively free
from actual or potential hazards that could injure employees.

Construction industry is more risky as compared to other industries due the high burden of occupational
hazards . Building construction workers are three to four times more likely to be killed and twice as likely
to be injured compared to workers in other occupations .

The ill-health effects from construction activities are not always immediately obvious and can take a
long time, even years, to develop. Recent report of Health and Safety Executive, UK shows that there
were 76000 work related health problems identified on sites, where 31000 were the new cases reported
in year 2017. It also highlighted the loss of working hours of the workers from site. A total estimated loss
of working hours was 2.3 million in the industry due to health problems and injuries where 1.7 million
loss of working hours was specifically from health problems and which consumes about 1.1 billion
dollars per year for such losses (Ellis, 2014). It has been reported that since 2001/02, cases of health
problems were fallen down and reaching up to the low level of 452000 in 2011/2012 but this number
increased to a level of 535000 in 2013/2014. This is the similar level of health problems cases recorded
in USA in 2009/10. It has been recorded that around 13000 deaths cases occur each year due to various
health problems including occupational lungs disease and cancer. The common health problems which
has been observed are; back ach problems, musculoskeletal disorders, hearing loss, skin problems,
breathing problems and eye strain (Reed, 2012).

Besides health risks, the rate of the injuries is low in high-income countries than in middle and low-
income countries (LMICs) despite the low rate of reporting of occupational injuries in LMICs. It is
estimated that more than 16,000 fatal occupational injuries occur in the established market economies
with a fatality rate of 4.2 and accident rate of 3240 per 100,000 workers respectively. These are lower
than the fatality and accident rates in developing countries like in Asia at 21.5 and 16,434 per 100,000
workers respectively and Sub-Saharan Africa at 21 and 16,012 per 100,000 workers respectively . (Ngobi
et al 2021)

In 2013, occupational injuries in Tanzania were estimated at 36 fatal injuries per 1000 workers—a
fatality rate of 23.73 per 100,000 workers . Rwanda reported a total of in 482 non-fatal accidents among
130 respondents in a 780 man-months period construction industry in 2012 and building construction
projects were found to have higher accident rates compared to other civil engineering projects .
In Uganda, work-related injuries continue to be a big problem and the situation of the building
construction industry is considered one of the most dangerous . Reports from Uganda’s Ministry of
Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD) show that injuries among construction workers
accounted for 13% of all occupational injuries in Kampala in 2003 and were the third contributor of
injury events . Over 32.4% of all occupational accidents in the country occur in Kampala (kiconco et al
BMC 2019)

Uganda just as other low income countries is on the struggle to meet population needs. Building
construction is one of the fast growing industries in Kampala city characterized by frequent accidents
and health problems. Occurrence of occupational injuries and health problems at construction sites is as
a result of complex interactions between individuals and the work environment; however, proximate
probable risk factors include poor service and maintenance of construction equipment, inadequate
training of workers, and congestion on building sites ,inadequate supervision, poor quality materials,
psychological problems and inadequate lighting for night shifts workers ,poor sanitation and lack of safe
drinking water on site.

However, Several measures to prevent and control occupational injuries and health problems in Uganda
include Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 2006, which calls for employers to protect their
workers by ensuring that all possible measures to ensure that workers and public are free from danger
at workplaces, however, occupational injuries and health problems continue to claim lives at
construction sites.

Problem statement

Construction industry is the industry which is most associated with high rate of fatalities , injuries and
health problems since workers work in unsafe environments (poor safety and health conditions).This is
as a result of employers facing costly early retirements, loss of skilled staff, absenteeism, high medical
costs, high compensation costs and high insurance premiums due to work-related accidents and
diseases.

Most studies in Uganda have focused on general causes rather than challenges in implementation of the
measures as raised in Occupational Health and Safety Act (2006) in Uganda on construction sites.

Many of the companies in Uganda do not follow strict health and safety guidelines due to limitations on
the part of the supervisory authority. The guidelines only exist on paper leaving the safety and wellbeing
of workers at the mercy of employers. This difference can be bridged through the implementation of
sound prevention, reporting, monitoring and inspection practices.

Objectives

General objective

 To examine factors affecting implementation of occupational health and safety measures in

construction projects in Kampala, Uganda.

Specific objectives

 To identify the safety policies put in place by contractors on construction sites.

 To assess if safety training is conducted to employees on construction sites.
  To observe how issue concerning unsafe acts and unsafe conditions are inspected on sites.
 To examine how issues pertaining to health and safety are monitored on sites.

Research questions

1. What are the safety policies put in place by contractors on construction sites?
2. How is safety training conducted to employees on construction sites?
3. How are unsafe acts and unsafe conditions handled or inspected on sites?
4. How is safety and health monitored and inspected on construction sites?

Significance of the study

The findings of this study will help bring to the attention of the stakeholders in the building construction
industry and more so to the building construction firms, the importance of occupational health and
safety culture in work places, in this case the construction sites. The study will generally contribute to
the body of knowledge in the subject of health and safety in the building industry sector.

Justification

The study will examine the factors that are preventing the implementation of occupational health and
safety measures in construction projects.

Many studies on occupational health and safety have already been conducted but there are still
persistent accidents happening on construction sites. More recently, at least 15 people were fatally
injured after the three-storied building collapsed while under construction (Atuhaire, 2020; Olukya,
2020). Another 6 workers were also killed because of the collapse of a four-story building (Kirabo, 2020)

The study will identify areas that are lacking in relation to health and safety of workers and make
necessary recommendations on how they can be improved in order to provide a safe working
environment.

Scope of the study

Content

The study will cover the different health and safety measures on building construction sites for both
small-scale and large-scale projects.

Geographical

The study will be carried out in Kampala district. This area was chosen because of the easy access in
terms of transport since its very near the researcher.

REFERENCE.

15. MoGLSD. Occupational Safety and Health Profile for Uganda. Kampala:

Ministry of gender, labour and social development; 2004.

16. MoGLSD. Accidents Register. Kampala: Occupational safety and health

department, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development; 2009.

17. Irumba R. Spatial analysis of construction accidents in Kampala, Uganda.

Safety Sci. 2014;64:109–20.

18. UBOS and UNFPA. National Population and Housing Census, Provisional

Results. Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS); 2014.

19. Alinaitwe, H., J.A. Mwakali, and H. Bengt, Analysis of Accidents on Building

Construction sites reported in Uganda during 2001–2005. CIB World

Building Congress, 2007. 2007–174(174):1208–1232.

20. Chau N, et al. Relationship between Sme individual Cahracteristics and

occupational accidents in the construction industry: a case control study on

880 victims of accidents Occcured during a two-year period. J Occup

Health. 2002;44:131–9.

ILO. Occupational Safety and Health: Synergies Between Security and

Productivity. Geneva: ILO; 2006.

2. Elgstrand K, Petersson N. OSH for Development. Stockholm: Royal Institute

of Technology; 2010.
CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

3 SAFETY POLICIES

Several challenges pertaining to the implementation of OSH laws have been revealed in Uganda. The
challenges were related to: the gap in the existing legal framework, limited human capacity, poor
planning, limited transparency and accountability, and low public awareness about OSH. ( John C
Sempebwa )

There is shortage of OSH professionals; fragmentation of OSH functions among stakeholders; and
inadequate implementation of existing laws most of which are outdated. Therefore, the OSH priorities
should include: the review and update of existing OSH laws; improved planning and prioritization of OSH
matters through streamlined implementation mechanisms and stakeholder coordination; and training of
new OSH professionals while building capacity of existing practitioners (Edwinah Atusingwize 2018)

Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2006 establishes duties, rights, and responsibilities of workers and
employers, health and welfare requirements and provides for the Occupational Safety and Health Board
but it lacks a section on “Application of the Act “whose purpose is to describe the extent of
implementation of the law (E. Atusingwize Et Al 2018)

Safe and healthy working conditions do not happen by chance. Employers need to have a written safety
policy for their enterprise setting out the safety and health standards which it is their objective to
achieve. The policy should name the senior executive who is responsible for seeing that the standards
are achieved, and who has authority to allocate responsibilities to management and supervisors at all
levels and to see they are carried out (ILO, 1995).

The safety policy should deal with the following matters:

 Arrangements for training at all levels. Particular attention needs to be given to key workers
such as scaffolds and crane operators whose mistakes can be especially dangerous to other
workers;
 Safe methods or systems of work for hazardous operations: the workers carrying out these
operations should be involved in their preparation;
 The duties and responsibilities of supervisors and key workers
 Arrangements by which information on safety and health is to be made known
 Arrangements for setting up safety committees
 The selection and control of subcontractors

The policy should cover all aspects of the organization and be relevant to the employees. It is only
required to address health and safety matters relating to employees, however, employers also have a
duty to protect others from risks arising out of their work activities and so it is best practice to consider
the safety of people whose health and safety maybe affected by the organization, such as volunteers,
contractors, the general public and so on. (Designing Buildings, 2021)

It is important that all employees know and understand the health and safety policy and receive a copy
of it. This means that it should clear and easy to understand. For smaller organizations, you may be able
to give a copy to each person. In large organizations, copies could be placed on billboards or in other
appropriate places.

In the construction industry it is common for organizations to be required to submit their own health
and safety policy as part of the tender document when submitting work tenders. When companies
employ less than 20 people, they may be required to complete a list of health and safety questions.

SAFETY TRAINING

Construction firms should implement Safety Management System (SMS) to improve the health and
safety issues on construction sites. Specifically for health problems, companies should arrange an annual
health assessment program, and the reported cases should be addressed properly.

Project management should consider this problem on priority and make safety plans to manage such
issues throughout the life cycle of the project. Sufficient and proper safety equipment should be
provided to the workers and periodical training programs should be arranged to motivate the workers to
use these safety equipment as they would not feel these PPE’s as an extra feature with them. The
workers should be trained to develop a safety culture as they should not neglect the usage of PPE’s. The
project manager should assign a balanced possible task to the workers otherwise extra fatigue to
complete the task. (S. H. KHAHRO et al 2016)

In addition, the safety officer should ensure that all workers fully understand the safety and health
hazards of the processes they work with for the protection of both themselves and their fellow workers.
Also, additional training in subjects such as operating procedure and safe work practices, emergency
evacuation and response, safety procedures and other subjects pertinent to process safety and health
should be included in the training program. Hands-on training where workers are able to use their
senses beyond merely listening will enhance learning and should be provided. Other training techniques
using videos or on-the-job training should also be considered. The proprietor or contractor of the
relevant industrial undertaking should periodically evaluate the training program to see if the necessary
skills and knowledge are being properly applied by their trained workers.

Safety is everyone’s responsibility it is a “way of life” for 24 hours/day. Individual will be skilled and
equipped to have the skills and facilities to make sure an accident free workplace.

UNSAFE ACTS AND CONDITIONS

According to s research made by Dennis kirumba 2018 ,The unsafe act observation index was 36.7
percent. This implied that 36.7% of the methods and actions of workers used in the execution of the
construction activities were unsafe, potentially putting the lives of workers and the safety of property in
danger and unsafe conditions observation index was 42.8%. It depicts that 42.8% of the working
conditions at the construction sites were unsafe for workers.
The unsafe acts are caused due to inadequate provision for lights at night shifts, limited/confined
working area and rough weather, exhausting physical task ,unfamiliar nature of work ,lack of safety
equipment, lack of safety instructions, poor quality of equipment’s, equipment without safety devices
and improper use of equipment. Unsafe conditions are caused due to poor management are shortage in
supply of safety equipment, irresponsible behavior of the management towards occupational health
problems, work stress due to early production, lack of safety meetings, unsafe housekeeping, lack of
supervision, bonus for early production, lack of orientation training, unsafe methods and task during
work, lack of coordination, poor design and lack of periodical trainings and due to human element are,
negligence in safety precautions, workers resistance to safety practices, irresponsible behavior of worker
towards his health. (S. H. KHAHRO et al 2016)

Safety is everybody’s business. Creating a safe working environment is not only the task of a few
designated people within the company. The mission of contributing to the introduction and
maintenance of safe working conditions, while participating in the detection of risk and danger, is a
matter for all. So, it is for all employees to communicate any hazardous situation, they observed.

The cases should be recorded, assessed and monitored properly. Control measures should be instituted
to protect workers from occupation related exposures. Occupational Risk Assessment (ORA) should be
implemented at workplaces, which is the key element to achieve adequate safety levels, particularly to
support decision-making in safety program (S. H. KHAHRO et al 2016)

MONITORING OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

Monitoring at the work place help to ensure a healthy working environment. This includes a systematic
look at features in the working environment and working methods that can affect the health of
employees, including sanitary installations, canteens and housing where these facilities are provided by
the employer as well as verifying if the workplace complies with the safety and health standards.

Monitoring of OSH incidents in the construction industry is done by DOSH which works in collaboration
with the LD. Monitoring involves inspection of the construction workplace by OSH inspectors regularly
or upon the occurrence of an incident to assess whether OSH incidents are managed in a proper manner
as provided for in the OSH legal framework. For instance, the OSH inspector on work inspection checks
the accident register to ensure that incidents in the workplace are recorded in the accident register and
that appropriate action was taken to ensure that appropriate action was taken to compensate or
provide remedies to the victim. Inspections are also done so as to assess the OSH environment before
registering workplaces in order to limit the likelihood of occurrence of construction OSH incidents
(Ngobi, Manga, Kibwami and Tutesigensi 2021).
Theoretical Framework

Heinrich’s Domino Accident Causation Theory

Heinrich’s Domino Accident Causation Theory is recognised as among the first studies to be conducted
on occupational safety and health. Herbert Heinrich put forward this theory in his 1931 publication on
Industrial Accident Prevention: A Scientific Approach (Erick, 2017). This theory has been adopted by
many researchers especially when analyzing health and safety matters in workplaces. In his theory,
Heinrich posited that accidents occur through a sequence of events involving inappropriate social and
environmental conditions; fault or carelessness of a person performing the assigned duty, unsafe acts or
technical failures that leads to accidents and subsequent injuries. To endorse this theory, Heinrich
designed a scientific study in which he analyzed 75,000 insurance accident cases reported from
workplaces. From the analysis, he deduced that 88% of accidents are caused by unsafe act of workers,
10% due to unsafe conditions while 2% are due to natural disasters. From the study findings, he judged
that accidents can be controlled through a sequence of corrective actions that are commonly regarded
as the three ‘E’s. They include; the engineering measure that entails product design and process change;
the education measure which covers training the workers in all facets of safety and management
awareness to ensure that safety pays off. The last corrective measure he posed is the enforcement
corrective measure that ensures that all internal and external rules, regulations and standard operating
procedures are strictly adhered by the management and the workers (Cleveland State University, 2007).

Although this theory was later criticized by other researchers as being too simplistic, it has still remained
applicable in guiding studies related to occupational health and safety. Some of the techniques for
safety management proposed by Heinrich which can be applied in construction workplaces include;
management supervision; safety rules; workers safety trainings, safety conscious information through
posters and films; risk assessments; regular safety audits; accident investigation; job analysis; production
of accident analysis sheets; inspection of equipment, and changes in work procedures or processes;
establishment of safety committees and arrangements for emergency and first aid. All these needs the
intervention of relevant project stakeholders like the government bodies, management team,
employees amongst others (Priscilla et al, 2014).
Conceptual Framework

Researchers have applied Heinrich’s Domino Accident Causation Theory as their research foundation.
For example, in Priscilla et al (2014)’s study, the study conceptualized that legal framework through OSH
policy, existence of occupational health and safety Act, familiarity of the Act, OSH inspections and
audits, implement ability of the Act, government support, Implement preparedness of OSH determines
implementation of OSH programmes in construction industry This relationship is shown in figure below

. Independent variable. Dependent variable

National OSH policy

Occupational health
and safety act

Implement Implementation of occupational health

preparedness of OSH and safety programmes
act

Government OSH

Implement ability of the

act

Government support on