Safety culture development in the construction industry: The case of a safety park in Sweden.

The problem of occupational accidents in the construction industry has necessitated a focus on proactive measures such as safety management programs. An example of this is safety parks, i.e. facilities where employees and managers from different construction companies can participate in site-specific activities and train in safety-related matters in a realistic context. Two specific focus areas are often present within these types of safety management programs: hands-on safety training and safety culture development as being within the purview of management. The purpose of this article is to investigate the developers' intentions with the park in relation to safety culture development. Twenty interviews were conducted with experts in the area of health and safety. Results indicate that the safety park can contribute as a mirror for the companies own operations, with new information and knowledge of how work can be performed with safety being prioritized, to developing communication regarding safety-related matters, and finally the stations at the park may initiate a translation process as to how the lessons learned at the park can be applied to the participants' own workplaces. All in all, the activities at the park can be said to be normative in nature, i.e. the developers seemingly have a desire to steer the safety culture development in a certain direction. There is a need for further research focusing on the concept of safety culture in these types of programs and, more broadly, in relation to its intended industry-wide effects.

Exploring safety culture research in the construction industry.

BACKGROUND: Despite numerous regulatory initiatives to improve health and safety in the construction industry, it still ranks as one of the most accident-prone industries worldwide. A dedicated focus on safety culture has been suggested as a complement to laws, regulations and management systems. OBJECTIVE: This article explores safety culture research conducted in the construction industry, with the aim to provide insight into the specific themes that tend to be in focus as well as what theoretical and methodological approaches that tend to be favored. METHODS: Searches in scientific databases were conducted twice. In a first attempt, searches resulted in 54 hits but only two articles fit the scope of the study. A revision of the search phrase resulted in 124 hits. Ultimately, 17 articles fit the scope of the study and were included. The content of the articles was analyzed and sorted thematically. RESULTS: The results show that four themes are prevalent in the existing literature: 1) unique challenges entail a need for situated applications, 2) models developed to operationalize safety culture, 3) measuring safety culture, and 4) safety management and leadership as key factors. CONCLUSION: Although research focusing on the construction industry has come to favor certain study designs and definitions of safety culture, further research may be enriched by broadening the theoretical and methodological perspectives. Specifically, researchers should conduct more in-depth qualitative studies that take the complexity of the industry into account, including the interpersonal relations between the actors involved.

Occupational accidents in Swedish construction trades.

The purpose of this study is to analyze accidents occurring in the Swedish construction industry, focusing specifically on the situation in the individual trades. The article includes all occupational accidents with at least 1 day of absence from work that were reported to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency for the year 2016. The results, focusing on accident cause, injured body parts as well as accidents per weekday, month and age, show that although the trades share commonalities regarding occupational accidents, a number of trade-specific problem areas stand out. With this in mind, conclusions are drawn regarding the situation in each respective trade and suggestions are made for future studies focusing on accidents in construction industry trades.

Occupational safety in the construction industry.

BACKGROUND: The paper is a research review focusing on occupational safety in the construction industry. OBJECTIVE: The purpose is to present research that highlights the areas of occupational safety and risks and to identify areas where research is lacking. METHODS: 146 articles from scientific journals, mainly covering the construction industry in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and Japan have been studied. The findings are presented under 11 categories: accident statistics; individual factors; legislation and regulations; ethical considerations; risk management; leadership, management, organization; competence; safety design; cost-benefit calculations; programs and models; and technical solutions. RESULTS: The research is dominated by initiatives from researchers and government authorities, while the construction industry only appears as the object for the research. There is a scarcity of research on integrated systems encompassing subcontractors, as well as a lack of research with sociological perspectives on accidents. Furthermore, only a few studies have applied a gender perspective on safety in construction, i.e. there is a need of further research in this particular area. CONCLUSIONS: A range of initiatives have been taken to increase safety in the construction industry and the initiatives are mainly reported to be successful. There are some cultural differences, but basically researchers present similar results regardless of country.

Piece rates and their effects on health and safety - a literature review.

The purpose of this study was to carry out a broad survey and analysis of relevant research articles about piece rate wages and their effects on health and safety that were published internationally until the fall of 2008. The aim was to summarize and describe the state of the art of the research in this field and if possible draw conclusions from the accumulated research results. A total of 75 research articles were examined extensively and 31 of these were found relevant and had sufficient quality to serve the purpose of this study. The findings of these relevant articles are summarized and analyzed in the survey. Since the late 1980s, there has been a change of research focus regarding piece rates and their effects on health and safety. More recent research shows a clear interest for health, musculoskeletal injuries, physical workload, pains and occupational injuries. The previous interest in risk behavior, security and accidents is still there, but no longer dominates the research scene. Although research is still sparse and fragmented, much of the accumulated knowledge about the effects of piece rate work tells us that piece rates in many situations have a negative effect on health and safety. The fact that 27 of the 31 studied articles found negative effects of piece rates on different aspects of health and safety does not prove causality, but together they give very strong support for the hypothesis that in most situations piece rates have negative effects on health and safety. In order to achieve better knowledge about the effects of piece rates in branches where piece rates are regarded problematic, further research is needed and such research has to be designed to meet the specific questions that are to be answered.