Section

3 The construction industry and OSH

3.2 Main features of the construction industry and its specific

OSH features
The increasing competition among construction companies brings out the need to pay more attention
to construction productivity issues.

The main objectives of any construction project are to avoid any negative environmental impact, to
build with quality (avoiding defects), to ensure safety and health (avoiding occupational accidents and
diseases), to meet the deadline and to minimize costs (Figure 7).

Figure 7 – The main elements/objectives to take into account in a construction project

Achieving these five objectives is very complex, in view of the inter-relationships among them and the
pressure of the market to favour some of them (traditionally, cost and time) over those more related to
society as a whole (environment, safety and health, and quality). There is, however, a strong belief that
occupational safety and health should never be compromised in any circumstances, for social and
human reasons.

The construction industry has changed in recent decades. Today, many of those involved in the
construction process recognize the positive influence on productivity of good occupational safety and
health. In other words, they recognize that prevention measures are an investment rather than a cost.

Studies in European Union countries and elsewhere have shown that the cost of occupational
accidents is about double the cost of measures that would prevent them (European Commission,
2003) (Figure 8). These prevention measures consist of action during the design, the planning and the
execution of the construction project.

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Inspecting OSH in the Construction Industry