Gap Analysis Approach for Construction Safety Program Improvement

*Thanet Aksorn and B.H.W. Hadikusumo

Due to its hazardous nature, construction is globally perceived as an accident-prone industry. It has always been reported that construction work has a very high rate of injuries and deaths. Therefore, there is a negative stereotype concerning safety in the construction industry. In recent years, in order to survive in a highly competitive market, many construction companies have begun considering safety to be one of the main factors in reducing costs associated with work-related accidents and injuries.

In Thailand, construction work is generally labor-intensive rather than technology-intensive. Most construction workers are farmers with low levels of education and skills. Many are seasonal workers who divide time between agriculture and construction. Consequently, the rapid expansion of construction work has brought a parallel increase in injuries to unskilled workers. The accident and injuries statistics from 2004 to 2005 showed that the construction industry had the highest rate of deaths, accounting for close to a hundred workers per year, and up to 20,000 workers have suffered minor injuries on sites every year (SSO, 2005). Unfortunately, it has always been higher than all other industries.

To eliminate construction-related accidents, implementation of safety program is regarded as a key strategy by both government and private sectors. Effective safety programs can substantially reduce accidents because they can help management to eliminate unsafe practices by workers and can also create safe working environments (Anton, 1989; Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). Additionally, Henshaw (2004) stated that an effective safety program could result in a triple win; workers' lives would be saved and protected, cost would be reduced and returns on investments would be maximized, and workers' morale and motivation would be raised which, in turn, would result in the production of high quality products and services.

How can a safety program be improved? Several extended studies have been undertaken to spotlight key activities contributing to strong safety programs such as top management support, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, worker involvement, etc. In business terms, the key factors are known as critical success factors (CSFs). If these key activities are not implemented successfully, safety programs may fail miserably. Safety researchers have acknowledged and confirmed that safety program performance depends largely upon the satisfactory results of a number of key activities or CSFs. Although the connection between safety programs and safety performance has already been studied extensively, very little research has been undertaken to provide the construction industry with practical guidelines to improve safety programs.

Mr. Thanet Aksorn under Dr. B. H. W. Hadikusumo, his advisor, made a study which aimed at identifying the critical factors affecting the improvement of safety programs from safety literature and previous research and at evaluating these success factors in order to rank the urgency of improving them. To obtain these rankings, gap analysis was carried out to measure the difference between the degree of importance of CSFs and the actual status of CSFs. The results of the study can help the construction industry to identify and improve the high priority CSFs, shown by the large gaps, in order to improve safety programs.

CSFs OF SAFETY PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT
There are a set of factors that have a great impact on the success of safety program implementation. In a business context, those factors are known as CSFs. CSFs can be defined as "areas in which results, if they were satisfactory, would ensure successful performance for the organization" (Rockart, 1979). Rungasamy et al. (2002) viewed CSFs as being essential to the success of any program, in the sense that, if objectives associated with the factors were not achieved, the program would probably fail catastrophically. Top (1991) and Michaud (1995) pointed out that a successful safety program can be measured by the amount or the extent of injuries to people; damage to equipment, machines and tools; damage to environment; loss of market share; damage to company image or brand name; increased productivity; etc. Based on extensive review of safety literature, there are 16 factors that are potentially essential to obtain improved safety programs such as follows.

Clear and realistic goals: Outstanding safety program results can be achieved when safety goals are clearly established (Pierce, 1995a). Safety goals should give a clear picture, direction, and focus for performing day-today activities in order to achieve desired results. When realistic and achievable goals are set up, the progress towards accomplishing such goals can be easily measured and monitored (Weber, 1992a; Blake, 1997).

Good communication: Vredenburgh (2002) stated that when the lines of communications between management and the workforce are open, workers can directly report unsafe working practices and hazardous conditions to management. Management can also communicate
safety concerns and priorities to gain employees' awareness and compliance (Stranks, 1994).

Delegation of authority and responsibility: A safety program cannot be successful if it is implemented by only one individual. Responsibility for accomplishing safety activities must be effectively delegated to individuals at lower levels of authority (Anton, 1989). Effective delegation involves granting adequate authority and assigning clear responsibility for performing specific tasks with enough resources, such as appropriate completion time, money, and cooperation of all involved individuals (Rue & Byars, 2001).

Sufficient resource allocation: The desired goal of a safety program cannot be achieved when resources are lacking. An effective safety program is the result of a commitment by top management to give an appropriate level of resources (Erikson, 1997). Management must consider and allocate sufficient resources to carry out day-to-day activities in order accomplish short and long-term goals. The resources required for an effective safety program may include sufficient staff, time, money, information, methods, facilities, tools machines, etc. (Rue & Byars, 2001).

Management support: It is strongly accepted that management plays a very important role in an effective safety program. Management must fully and actively turn ideas into actions. This includes issuing a written comprehensive safety policy, allocating sufficient necessary resources, promptly reacting to safety suggestions and complaints, attending regular safety meetings and training, regularly visiting the workplace, following the same safety rules as others, etc. (Stranks,
2000; Rowlinson, 2003).

Program evaluation: Every safety program should be periodically evaluated to see how successfully it meets its goals and objectives. When the actual operations of a safety program do not meet their defined goals, an evaluation process can help to identify the program's shortcomings so that improvements can be applied (Rowlinson, 2003).

Continuing participation of employees: The success of a safety program depends largely on the level of employee involvement because workers tend to support the activities that they helped to create. According to Ariss (2003) and Smith (2003), workers should be given opportunities to be involved in the design and operation of a safety program, such as joining a safety committee, reporting hazards and unsafe practices to supervisors, identifying training needs, investigating accidents, suggesting required personal protective equipment, etc.

Personal motivation: Although people have sufficient knowledge and skills to accomplish their jobs safely, unless they have motivation, they will not normally perform their work accordingly (Neal & Griffin, 2002). Johnson (2003) suggested that, in order to have a better safety record, all people in the workplace must be motivated to perform their jobs safely. Such motivation can include offering opportunities for achievement and recognition, additional responsibilities, rewards, and personal growth.

Personal competency: A successful safety program is a result of assigning the right person for the right job. The right person is defined as a person who is physically and mentally capable of carrying out the assigned tasks with the right knowledge, experience and skills (Mohamed, 2002).

Teamwork: According to Krause (1997) and Ulloa and Adams (2004), a safety program succeeds when everyone, regardless of rank or status within the company, realizes that accident prevention is everyone's responsibility. Every function must share responsibility in implementing safety activities in order to achieve the goals set by the team. Such goals can be planning and controlling work, handling day-to-day safety problems, etc.

Positive group norms: Group norms are the accepted attitudes about various things in a group of people (Stranks, 2000). In practice, Johnson (2003) explained that members of a group try to conform to accepted attitudes to avoid boycott from other members. If a positive group attitude towards safety can be built and embedded, safety can then be managed successfully.

Personal attitude: Attitude is a tendency to respond positively or negatively to certain people, objects or situations and is built up from experience (Stranks, 1994; Schultz, 2004). Individuals, however, differ in their perceptions of risk and willingness to take risks. A successful safety program can be achieved if a positive employee attitude towards safety is reinforced.

Effective enforcement scheme: Not conforming to safety rules is known as a violation (Pierce, 1995b). Violation can be countered with enforcement. Management must provide the methods for enforcing obedience to the safety rules and regulations. By providing an effective enforcement mechanism, management can achieve employee compliance (Construction Safety Association of Ontario, 2002).

Safety equipment acquisition and maintenance: The workplace must be carefully assessed to determine possible hazards in order to properly select safety equipment. An effective safety program will result in fewer injuries due to good management of safety equipment acquisition and maintenance. Managing a safety equipment program takes up a large percentage of time.
This includes purchasing the correct equipment, maintaining it in good condition, and inventory control. Moreover, it requires cooperation from a number of people: safety personnel, purchasing, production, warehouse supervisor, maintenance managers, etc. (Toole,
2002).

Appropriate supervision: A sound safety program requires employers to provide sufficient supervision in protecting workers from workplace hazards (Weber, 1992b; Levitt &
Samelson, 1993). Successful supervision requires competent personnel for assigning work according to worker's ability, praising workers when they perform their duties safely, communicating by listening and speaking, setting a good example by following safety rules and correcting safety problems (Stranks, 2000).

Appropriate safety education and training: A successful safety program can be achieved if all employees are given periodic educational and training programs to improve their knowledge and skill at workplace safety (Cooper & Cotton, 2000).

This study concluded that safety continues to be one of the major problems in the construction industry. To achieve better site safety performance, emphasis has been placed on implementing effective safety programs. His study identified 16 factors contributing to the improvement of safety programs and then evaluated their degrees of importance and actual status based upon the respondents' perceptions. The results of his study showed that all respondents rate management support as the most important factor, followed by appropriate safety education and training, teamwork, clear and realistic goals, and effective enforcement scheme. On the other hand, positive group norms and personal competency were perceived as the two least important factors. His study also showed that five CSFs, namely appropriate safety education and training, followed by clear and realistic goals, safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, delegation of authority and responsibility, and good communication, have better actual status amongst all factors. In other words, it is implied that these factors have been given appropriate consideration in construction sites. On the contrary, appropriate supervision and sufficient resource allocation were considered the factors with the poorest actual status. Thus, more effort must be made to improve the actual status of these two factors.

In light of his research, gap analysis was carried out to determine how to improve safety programs. This analysis suggested that larger gaps between degree of influence and actual status of success indicate more unsatisfactory practices. Thus, correcting the factors which have large gaps must be emphasized more strongly. His study also found that the first five critical problems of safety program implementation are management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement scheme. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level. Meanwhile, there are five factors, namely delegation of authority and responsibility, good communication, clear and realistic goals, appropriate safety education and training, and safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, showing satisfactory practices as characterized by very small gaps.

This study was published in the “Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2007” and full journal article is available upon request.

Abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract: To improve construction site safety, emphasis has been placed on the implementation of safety programs. In order to successfully gain from safety programs, factors that affect their improvement need to be studied. Sixteen critical success factors of safety programs were identified from safety literature, and these were validated by safety experts. This study was undertaken by surveying 70 respondents from medium- and large-scale construction projects. It explored the importance and the actual status of critical success factors (CSFs). Gap analysis was used to examine the differences between the importance of these CSFs and their actual status. This study found that the most critical problems characterized by the largest gaps were management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement. Raising these priority factors to satisfactory levels would lead to successful safety programs, thereby minimizing accidents.

Keyword: Critical success factors, Safety programs, Safety management systems, Safety performance, Construction industry


Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management, School of Civil
Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, THAILAND.
*Corresponding author: artty_th@yahoo.com