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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Article
Characteristics of the Construction Industry in
Developing Countries and Its Implications for Health
and Safety: An Exploratory Study in Ghana
**Elijah Frimpong Boadu, Cynthia Changxin Wang and Riza Yosia Sunindijo *** Faculty of Built Environment, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; [email protected] (E.F.B.); [email protected] (C.C.W.) ***** Correspondence: [email protected]
Received: 14 May 2020; Accepted: 6 June 2020; Published: 9 June 2020
Abstract: From both practical and theoretical perspectives, understanding the health and safety (H&S) implications of the characteristics and foundation upon which the construction industry in developing countries is built and operates is essential for H&S management within the industry. While many studies have provided evidence of factors affecting construction H&S in developing countries, none has fully considered the H&S implications of the industry’s characteristics. The current study thus examined how the peculiar characteristics of the construction industry in developing countries impact on the industry’s H&S management. Data were collected using questionnaire surveys from construction industry professionals in Ghana. Nine distinct characteristics were identified and ranked, as well as their relationships and statistical significance determined through correlation and analysis of variance (ANOVA), respectively. The findings showed that these characteristics of the construction industry in developing countries, particularly the lack of skilled and educated workforce, reliance on labour intensive methods and lack of single regulatory authority, present huge challenges to the management of H&S. Accordingly, this research recommended strategic interventions which are tailored towards the context of the industry’s characteristics. With the construction industry in developing countries exhibiting similar characteristics, the findings of this research can serve as a framework for country-specific study. The study contributes to the broader H&S performance improvement research in developing countries by throwing light on the characteristics of the industry that pose challenges to H&S performance.
Keywords: construction industry; health and safety; developing countries; characteristics
1. Introduction The construction industry significantly contributes to economic growth and social development of nations. In Ghana, the construction industry is the second largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 13.7%, just behind crops [ 1 ]. Other studies have established that significant relationships exist in one way or another between the rate of growth of the construction industry and the rate of macroeconomic growth of developing countries [ 2 ]. Other industrial sectors of the economy depend on the products of the construction industry to produce other goods and services. For example, the construction of roads, infrastructure, water supply and electricity lines can boost the production of goods and services while creating employment for the people. In a developing country like Ghana where unemployment is high, the construction industry is an important source of jobs for the unemployed and/or unskilled [ 3 ]. The Ghana Statistical Service in its 2015 published labour force report revealed that the construction industry employs over 600,000 workers, amounting to about 7% of the working population in Ghana [ 4 ]. The number may actually be higher in reality because the number of informal workers is not recorded.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020 , 17 , 4110; doi:10.3390/ijerph17114110 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
However, despite the importance of the construction industry for national economy, construction activities sadly pose serious H&S risks to workers, users of construction facilities and the public. A report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) [ 5 ] acknowledged that the construction industry contributes about 30 percent of fatalities in the world’s occupational settings. Other researchers have corroborated that the construction industry has an infamous reputation as being one of the most dangerous sectors in the world [ 6 – 8 ]. Other studies reveal the occurrence of relatively high proportion of accidents on construction sites in developing countries [9–11]. A study by Hamalainen et al. [ 12 ] asserted that the rates of occupational accidents in these developing countries are unacceptably high and predict that the rates will increase parallelly with the pace of industrialisation. In Ghana, the Ghana Statistical Service [ 4 ] reported that in 2015, occupational injuries occurred at a frequency of 43 per 1,000,000 hours worked, with an incidence rate of 63 injuries per 1000 workers and severity rate of 418 days lost per 1,000,000 hours. Moreover, Hamalainen et al. [ 9 ] found that the occupational accident fatality rate in low- and middle-income African countries such as Ghana is 21.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers, which was far worse than the rates in developed countries as compared in Table 1. It must be noted that the accident and fatality rates in reality are likely to be much worse in developing countries, such as Ghana, considering that many non-fatal accidents in workplaces go unreported [13].
Table 1. Occupational accident fatality rate for different countries.
Country AFRO * RegionSuch as Ghana Australia UK France Germany USA
Accident fatality rate per 100,000 workers 21.1^ 1.5^ 0.55^ 3.14^ 0.81^ 3.
- Low- and middle-income countries of the African Region (AFRO). Sources: For AFRO regions such as Ghana [ 9 ], for Australia [14], for UK, France and Germany [15] and for the USA [16].
A plethora of studies have considered factors affecting H&S performance of the construction industry in developing countries [ 17 – 23 ]. Many of these studies provide evidence of challenges in managing H&S in the construction industry. Some challenges identified are weak regulatory systems, poor management commitments, lack of H&S training, lack of H&S procedures, inefficient enforcement [ 22 ] and lack of national framework for managing H&S [ 21 ], among others. For instance, Durdyev et al. [ 18 ] studied key factors affecting construction safety performance in developing countries by taking evidence from Cambodia. Through literature review, their study identified 30 factors that affect H&S performance of the construction industry in developing countries. These factors included among others, lack of training, reckless operations, poor equipment, lack of skilled labour and lack of personal protective equipment. Moreover, Kheni et al. [ 23 ] looked at the H&S management in developing countries by considering the practices of construction small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. Their study found that few construction SMEs implement health and safety measures to control risks on their project and that SMEs need to do more to ensure compliance with H&S laws. While all these studies provide in depth analysis and evidence of factors that affect effective implementation of construction H&S in developing countries, they do not consider the implications of the characteristics and foundation upon which the industry is built and operates. Therefore, this research posits that the structure of the construction industry in developing countries and its inherent characteristics expose the industry to H&S challenges. The aim of this research is, therefore, to identify, through an extensive literature review and empirical study, the peculiar structures and characteristics of the construction industry in developing countries and their implications for H&S. Following this introduction section (Section 1), the rest of this paper is organised into four more sections. The next section reviews literature relating to nine unique characteristics of the construction industry in Ghana and their implications on H&S. This is followed by the research methods and
and procedures that are rooted in the past. For this reason, Ofori [ 30 ] has advocated for H&S systems that reflect the cultural, economic, political and social changes that have taken place within the country over recent decades.
2.2. Procurement Systems The traditional procurement system inherited from the British system is still the most popular form of procurement route for many projects in Ghana. The popularity of this procurement method in the construction industry in Ghana is mainly due to the predominance of the public sector and the demand for openness and public accountability. The clients’ familiarity with the system is another factor that contributes to its popularity. However, despite its popularity, there is a counterargument that shows the problems with using the traditional procurement method, including time-consuming, discourage innovation, decreased buildability and the fragmentation of the project teams [ 33 , 34 ]. According to Rwelamila and Smallwood [35], the traditional procurement method does not complement H&S due to the separation of the design and construction processes. Generally, the method of project procurement in the construction industry in Ghana has been in the form of competitive tendering. The system was further reinforced by the promulgation of the Public Procurement Act in 2003 (Act 663), which requires all public sector contracts (except in exceptional situations) to be awarded through the process of competitive tendering with a focus on tender price. Competitive tendering, together with the practice of awarding contracts based on the tender cost, results in a fierce competition among the large number of construction businesses in the country. Consequently, this may result in under-pricing by many construction firms in a bid to win contracts and subsequently not being able to perform upon award of the contract [ 36 ]. Besides, lowest price is not the best approach to achieve the overall lowest cost upon project completion [37]. A study by Smallwood [ 38 ] argued that competitive tendering marginalises H&S in construction. He remarked that, for instance, in South Africa, due to competitive market conditions, construction firms commonly find themselves in the iniquitous position that if they make the requisite allocations for H&S, they run the risk of losing a tender or negotiations to a less committed competitor. Similarly, Ngowi and Mselle [ 39 ] posited that this practice within the industry is a disincentive to the effective management of H&S. They remarked that in developing countries, contractors gain little competitive advantage from good H&S management because the industry culture compels contractors to drive their prices low. In this case, a way to cut costs is to cut corners when it comes to H&S.
2.3. Huge Number of Informal Sector Participation The Ghanaian construction industry is divided into two sectors: the organised, “formal”, and the unorganised, “informal” sectors of the industry. The formal sector is based on the institutional arrangement and regulatory systems [ 22 ]. The sector is made up of firms that are legally registered and carry out organised construction projects with a combination of skilled workers, labourers and/or expatriates. The formal sector operates under set rules and regulations, including adherence to national laws on employment, procurement and H&S. Furthermore, the government is aware of all the activities of the sector and collects taxes from the firms. Informal sector consists of units engaged in construction activities with the primary objective of providing employment and incomes to the individuals involved. These units usually operate on a small-scale basis, with low levels of organisation and with little or no division between labour and capital as factors of production. Labour relations, where they exist, are based mostly on casual employment, kinship or personal and social relations rather than contractual arrangements with formal guarantees [ 4 ]. This sector mostly consists of small builders and clients seeking to carry out construction of single dwelling houses for their families. According to Wells [ 40 ], an increasing number of private clients in developing countries choose to bypass general contractors and the more formal processes for awarding contracts, in favour of buying materials and managing the process themselves, while engaging directly with informal sector
enterprises to supply labour. Contracts between the parties are mostly verbal, and the building process takes place in stages. Wells and Wall [ 41 ] referred to this method of organising the construction process, without the use of contractors or formal contracts, as the “informal construction system”. Clients using this informal procedure to construct their houses usually buy materials in small quantities, as and when they have the funds. The popularity of the informal construction process has also expanded the market for small producers and suppliers of construction materials. These informal sector enterprises are mostly not registered according to national or local governments regulations, and workers fall outside of the framework of labour regulation and do not enjoy any legal protection or entitlement to certain social benefits, such as sick leave, maternity leave and annual leave. Consequently, regulations or legislations, such as those relating to labour, conditions of employment and H&S, for the informal construction workers are generally flouted [ 40 ]. According to Ishfaq et al. [ 42 ], informal sector construction workers are predominantly illiterate, lack understanding of occupational health and safety (OHS) laws and therefore do not generally implement safety procedures on their construction sites. Moreover, the government has insignificant influence on the operations of the informal sector and receives little or no revenue through taxes; hence, it is very difficult to obtain reliable statistical data about the informal sector and monitor the H&S performance of those operating within it.
2.4. Large Number of Small Contractors The construction industry in Ghana is characterised by a multiplicity of small firms [ 43 ] because the industry presents little barriers to entry, and this allows even individuals and business entities without the requisite resources, personnel or qualifications to register as construction firms [ 44 ]. Ayisi [ 45 ] opined that the more than 20,000 building construction firms registered with the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) are a relatively huge number, given the size of the Ghanaian economy. Moreover, figures from the MWRWH put the registered contractors at about 34,000 in 2010 [ 46 ]. A study by Egmond et al. [ 43 ] revealed that out of a total of 7095 construction firms registered in 2002, ninety percent are small contractors and undertake less complex construction jobs. The total amount of work executed by these small firms ranged between 10 percent and 20 percent of the total construction output [ 47 ]. Such firms cannot compete with foreign contractors who are much better equipped to capture a major share of the local construction market, especially when it concerns more complex projects [ 43 , 47 ]. Addo-Abedi [ 48 ] reported that most of the small and medium-sized firms are domestic contractors, and they are managed as family-run businesses. In another vein, it is acknowledged that small contractors generally do not manage H&S risks as effectively as larger contractors [ 49 ] and, consequently, suffer higher risks of occupational accidents than larger firms [ 23 , 50 ]. Sunindijo [ 51 ] studied key barriers and strategies for improving safety among small construction organisations and revealed that large contractors demonstrate good safety performance because they have the resources and leverage to develop and implement robust safety management systems, but small firms are far behind. The issue of cost is seen as the key factor affecting H&S performance of the small contractors. For instance, buying personal protective equipment (PPE) and employing safety officers on projects invariably means additional costs [ 52 ], but with the size and capital of these small contractors, the resources and facilities to enable safe construction are not readily available [ 52 , 53 ]. Other authors including Pinto et al. [ 54 ] reinforced this point by stating that the financial fragility and instability of small contractors can impede the extent to which good H&S practices can be adopted. For these small firms, business survival is their top priority, and therefore, H&S issues are not of great concern [55].
2.5. Fragmented Industry Furthermore, the industry is known to be complicated and fragmented [ 28 ] involving many stakeholders such as clients, the design team and the construction team among others [ 56 ]. The construction environment is characterised by the separation between design and construction with
and safety within the industry. It has authority to formulate and enforce codes of conduct on matters such as health and safety. Contractors who fail to adhere to lawful directives issued by CIC shall be guilty of an offence. This kind of statutory arrangement is absent in the Ghanaian construction industry, and as a result, enforcement of H&S standards on construction sites is weak.
2.7. Reliance on Labour Intensive Methods The construction industry in Ghana, like many other developing countries, relies on labour intensive methods. Typical infrastructure, for example, feeder roads, small-scale irrigation systems, buildings, small dams, among others, are constructed using labour-based methods [ 22 ]. Labour in Ghana is comparatively cheap, making the adoption of labour-based methods a more economic option than equipment-intensive or capital-intensive methods. Kheni [ 22 ] mentioned that the capital cost of acquiring equipment and/or machinery is a hefty one for contractors in Ghana considering the problems they face in accessing credit facilities for such items, and this compels many, especially the smaller contractors, to specialise in labour-based construction methods. Accordingly, Koehn et al. [ 70 ] asserted that construction in developing countries like Ghana involves more workers per activity on site, typically, 2–10 times as many workers per activity compared with developed countries. This means that more site operatives are exposed to H&S hazards.
2.8. Reliance on Temporary Labour Force Construction firms in Ghana like many others throughout the world have only a small core of regular workers while bulk of its field workers are employed on a temporary and casual basis [ 22 , 40 , 71 ]. Wells [ 40 ] attributed this phenomenon (of firms shedding their permanent labour force and replace them with temporary and casual workers) to increased competition within the industry, declining workloads and/or restrictive employment regulations. These temporary workers often do the same job and carry out the same tasks as permanent employees, but they do not receive the same level of training or work conditions (e.g., bonuses, promotion, etc.). According to Morrison [ 72 ], temporary workers face higher risks on the job due to a lack of training and a perception that they could be seen as “disposable”. This is reinforced by Dawson et al. [ 73 ] when they asserted that temporary workers belonged to a category of workers who are “at risk” in the workplace. Ideally, these workers need to be trained to perform their jobs safely, to recognise, understand and avoid potential hazards to themselves and others [ 74 ]. However, many temporary and casual workers have less access to training particularly on H&S, as the contractors may not be willing to invest to train non-permanent workers. A study by Mitullah and Wachira [ 75 ] emphasised that these kinds of workers do not belong to any form of labour union, and this makes it difficult for them to compel their employers to adhere to good labour and safety standards. Again, the abundance of cheap labour in developing countries means that the construction firms can dismiss employees who perform unsatisfactorily and replace them with new employees easily. This causes them to accept work in unacceptably high-risk situations without complaining or demanding that their employers put in place H&S measures, and this leads to many accidents on site [70].
2.9. Lack of Skilled and Educated Workforce The construction industry in developing countries like Ghana has inadequate supply of skilled, educated and experienced workforce. A survey within the Ghanaian construction industry revealed that among the workforce involved in the sector, 67.2% are unskilled, 24.8% are semi-skilled and 8% are highly skilled [ 76 ]. This means that, despite the availability of plentiful cheap labour at the disposal of the construction industry in Ghana, demand for construction skills is only partially met, especially for artisans and tradespeople [ 77 ]. This has been attributed to the limited capacity of existing technical and vocational training institutes in terms of small class sizes, workshops, insufficient teaching and administrative personnel and outdated curriculum [ 78 ]. Again, the informal apprenticeship system is
not well developed to train highly skilled workforce because sometimes the master craftsmen who do the training may themselves have limited skills. The need for the development of a skilled workforce for construction industries of developing countries has been acknowledged [3,79]. In addition, many of the workers on construction sites in developing countries are barely literate, and these illiterate employees are often difficult to convince on matters relating to H&S [ 22 ]. What is often important to illiterate workers on the construction sites is the wage that they would earn for working on site, thereby making other issues relating to conditions of employment secondary to them [ 22 ]. Similarly, Koehn et al. [ 80 ] have emphasised that a key barrier to H&S management is the difficulty in training illiterate workers. While the construction industry is hailed as an avenue for employing unskilled labour, this has partly contributed to its negative image of having poor H&S record. Cooper and Cotton [ 81 ] posited that the lack of skills and education of construction operatives is a major cause for construction site accidents. Similarly, the lack of training for these workers on H&S matters worsens the situation [ 69 ]. For that matter, Darko and Lowe [ 3 ] and Frimpong et al. [ 79 ] have advocated for the provision of training programmes for construction artisans in Ghana in order to provide them with the necessary skills required for efficient and safety performance at the construction sites.
3. Research Method This research study adopted quantitative research methodology. Quantitative research is used to verify a theory rather than develop one, by applying the principles of deductive reasoning. Generally, quantitative research comprises the collection and analysis of data through statistical procedures. Mostly, this analysis is done with the aim to determine the truth or otherwise of hypotheses or theory [ 82 ]. Therefore, this method is appropriate to answer the questions about how the characteristics of the construction industry in developing countries influence H&S management. The study included a population of professionals in the construction industry in Ghana who have direct and indirect involvement in H&S management on projects. These participants included contractors, consultants, clients of public projects, trade unions/ associations and suppliers. The participants were from different professional backgrounds in the construction industry including engineering, quantity surveying, architecture, project management, occupational H&S, building technology, etc. A total of 110 questionnaires were administered to construction professionals working in various construction organizations in Ghana. The choice of participants and distribution of 110 questionnaires stemmed from assurances given by some respondents on one of the researchers’ ongoing studies. To be exact, in an ongoing study by the researchers into H&S performance improvement in Ghana, 110 out of the total respondents in that ongoing study indicated their willingness to participate in this research. This resulted in the convenient choice of the research participants and the distribution of 110 survey questionnaires. Although convenience sampling method may be prone to sampling error and lack of representation of population, these participants are spread across 5 typical regions of Ghana, with different professional backgrounds and varied levels of construction industry experience. In total, 46 complete/valid responses were received, and 3 responses were discarded due to incomplete responses. This represents a relatively high response rate at about 44.5%. The survey questionnaires were designed to seek the views of professionals within the Ghanaian construction industry, on the extent to which some identified characteristics of the construction industry in Ghana affect H&S management within the industry. The questionnaires were made up of two sections. Section one collected details of research respondents including their professional background, number of years of experience in the construction industry and the nature of their organisations. Section one consisted of nine key characteristics of construction industries in developing countries that have been identified through the literature. This section measured the level of agreement of industry professionals on how the identified characteristics affect H&S management. Likert scale was used in the questionnaire with ranges between 1–5, where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral,
Table 3. The extent to which characteristics of the construction industry in Ghana influence OHS management within the industry.
S / n Characteristics
Consultants Contractors Government Inst. Overall Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean StandardDeviation Variance Rank Skewness Kurtosis 1 Colonial Influence 3.23 8 3.41 8 3.45 5 3.37 0.73 0.54 8 −0.38 −0. 2 Procurement system 3.69 6 3.82 4 3.45 5 3.65 0.76 0.57 6 0.08 −0. 3 Huge number of informal sector participation 3.85 4 3.53 6 3.64 4 3.70 0.66 0.43 4 0.43 −0. 4 Large number of small contractors 3.77 5 3.71 5 3.45 5 3.70 0.58 0.34 4 0.19 −0. 5 Fragmented industry 2.54 9 3.29 9 3.00 9 2.98 0.77 0.59 9 −0.26 −0. 6 Lack of single regulatory authority 3.92 3 3.94 3 4.09 2 4.00 0.63 0.39 3 0.00 −0. 7 Reliance on labour intensive methods 4.31 2 4.41 2 4.09 2 4.24 0.52 0.27 2 0.24 −0. 8 Lack of skilled and educated workforce 4.62 1 4.76 1 4.36 1 4.59 0.57 0.33 1 −1.07 0. 9 Reliance on temporary labour force 3.69 6 3.47 7 3.36 8 3.50 0.77 0.6 7 0.29 −0. Number of respondents: Consultants = 13, Contractors = 17, Government institutions = 11, Overall = 46 (including Trade unions = 3, Suppliers = 1 and Others = 1); Note: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree and 5 = strongly agree.
Overall, respondents strongly agreed that the lack of skilled and educated workforce within the construction industry has the most negative influence on the management of H&S within the industry. This emphasises the point that many construction site operatives in developing countries are unskilled and/or illiterate and often difficult to manage on matters relating to H&S [ 22 ]. Respondents believe that the matter of the construction industry being an employment avenue for many unskilled and illiterate workers presents a huge challenge to H&S management. In a related matter, respondents are of the view that the reliance on labour intensive methods of construction has a huge influence on OHS management. Many contractors do not have the appropriate plants and equipment, as well as the technologies to safely carry out their tasks. Consequently, many contractors adopt labour-intensive methods that result in more workers per activity on site. For instance, a contractor working without a concrete mixer may employ around 10 labourers to mix say 15m^3 of concrete per day, a task which could have been done by 3 workers if there was a concrete mixer. As a result, more workers (mostly unskilled and uneducated) are exposed to H&S hazards. Moreover, the lack of a single regulatory authority to oversee the construction industry in Ghana was highly rated by respondents as having a negative influence on H&S management within the industry. There is little enforcement of H&S regulations in the industry partly due to the lack of the single regulatory authority. Similarly, the laxity in enforcement of H&S regulations is partly responsible for the poor H&S performance of the industry. In essence, respondents agreed that enforcement is key to achieving better H&S in the industry, as it ensures compliance with H&S regulations and reduces the risk of work-related accidents and illness to acceptable levels [ 8 ]. On the other hand, respondents were virtually neutral on the influence of the fragmented nature of the industry. This reinforces the point that, though this characteristic of the construction industry may have significant influence on H&S management, it is not limited to developing countries alone. A comparison of the responses given by the various organisations is also shown in Table 3. The responses from consultants, contractors and government organisations are specifically highlighted. It is noted that the average responses of these three organisations are relatively close, although the rankings are not the same in all instances. This indicates that these different organisations do not differ significantly in this belief about how the various characteristics of the construction industry influence H&S management. However, although the fragmented nature of the industry was ranked last by all these organisations, the average response given by consultants indicates that their organisation essentially disagrees that it has a negative influence on H&S management.
4.3. ANOVA Results and Discussion An analysis of variances (ANOVA) has been done in order to determine whether the nature of the respondent’s organisation has an influence on their responses. Table 4 presents the results of the ANOVA following the responses obtained from consultants, contractors and government institutions. Prior to performing the ANOVA, skewness and kurtosis index were used to identify the normality of the data. The assumption of normality was evaluated and determined to be fulfilled as the distributions were associated with skewness value of −1.07 to 0.43 and kurtosis value of −0.69 to −0.13 (see Table 3). According to Byrne [ 83 ], normality of data could be assumed if the skewness and the kurtosis values ranges between −2 to +2 and −7 to +7 respectively. Furthermore, the assumption of homogeneity of variances was tested based on Lavene’s F test, and the results showed that 2 variables (CHA2 and CHA7) violated the homogeneity of variance assumption needed for a regular ANOVA (see Table 5). Therefore, the Welch ANOVA test was performed instead of the regular one-way ANOVA test.
of design and construction stages. Consultants may perceive that delivery methods other than the traditional design-bid-build as threats to their profession as their traditional leading roles and decision-making powers on projects are taken away and mostly given to contractors. This difference may also be explained by the party that is most affected by fragmentation. Contractors are responsible in constructing facilities based on design drawings. When a design has constructability issues and is difficult to be constructed, this can affect H&S in the project. This issue may be obvious to contractors, but designers who are not usually involved in the construction process may not appreciate the significance of the matter. The reasons above may have influenced the different perceptions shared by consultants and contractors on the H&S impact of the industry fragmentation.
4.4. Correlation Analysis and Discussion The relationship between the years of industry experience and the various identified characteristics of the industry was analysed using the Pearson’s product–moment correlation coefficient. The number of years, which is a proxy of the amount of experience in the industry, influences the way construction practitioners make decisions. It is posited that this experience serves as a learning platform for construction practitioners to appreciate the norms and characteristics of the industry, thus allowing them to operate within constraints of these norms and characteristics. Previous studies have shown that education, age and work experience are key determinants of H&S perceptions, hazard identification and risk management [ 86 – 88 ]. Therefore, correlating the number of years’ experience with the identified characteristics provides an idea about how the beliefs and perceptions of the industry professionals have been shaped by their level of professional experience within the industry. In Table 7, the matrix showed three significant correlation between the variables. The results showed that there is a strong negative correlation between years of industry experience and the fragmented nature of industry (r = −0.512, p ≤ 0.01). This essentially means that the more experienced the respondent is, the lesser the level of agreement with the H&S challenges posed by the fragmentation in the construction industry. The fragmentation is typically associated with the traditional procurement system, which is the dominant and popular procurement method in the construction industry in Ghana. Therefore, the more one is experienced in the industry, the more the person is familiar with this practice and may not recognize it as a significant challenge to H&S performance within the industry. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between colonial influence and lack of single regulatory authority (r = 0.427, p ≤ 0.01), which essentially means that the respondents who agreed that colonial influence within the industry influences H&S performance, also agreed to the challenges posed by the absence of a single regulatory authority and vice versa. It is acknowledged that the construction industry in Ghana is heavily based on the foundations laid in the colonial era [ 27 ], which did not make provision for a single regulatory body to oversee the industry. Accordingly, the more the industry continues to depend on the systems, procedures and practices which are rooted in the past, the more it is going to lack an established regulatory body to champion the industry’s growth and improvement including H&S. Finally, the matrix shows a negative relationship between colonial influence and reliance on temporary workforce (r = −0.364, p ≤ 0.05). This shows that a significant number of respondents who expressed higher levels of agreement to the effect of colonial influence on H&S performance in the construction industry did not agree to the H&S impact of the reliance on temporary workforce and vice versa. Admittedly, the presence of a huge number of contractors has resulted in heightened competition for jobs in the construction industry and decreased workload for many contractors. This together with other factors such as restrictive labour and employment regulations have caused many contractors to rely on temporary and casual workforce in recent times [ 40 ]. This phenomenon was not the practice in the past, and this may have accounted for this significant negative relationship between the two characteristics.
Table 7. Correlation results.
- Pearson’s Correlation Experience CHA1 CHA2 CHA3 CHA4 CHA5 CHA6 CHA7 CHA8 CHA
- Experience CorrelationSignificance - CHA1 CorrelationSignificance 0.1050.489 - CHA - Correlation 0.036 0.192 - Significance 0.814 0. - CHA3 CorrelationSignificance 0.2220.137 −0.8050.037 0.0930.538 - CHA 4 CorrelationSignificance −0.9130.017 0.1100.466 0.0550.715 −0.9220.015 - CHA5 Correlation −0. - a 0.247 0.024 −0.187 0.228 - Significance 0.000 0.098 0.872 0.215 0. - CHA6 Correlation 0.213 0. - a 0.092 0.106 0.119 0.000 - Significance 0.155 0.003 0.545 0.483 0.432 1. - CHA - Correlation −0.282 0.282 0.156 −0.234 0.168 0.232 −0.134 - Significance 0.058 0.057 0.300 0.118 0.264 0.121 0. - CHA8 CorrelationSignificance 0.0850.575 0.0530.727 −0.5950.08 0.0130.934 0.0790.603 −0.8930.020 0.1820.227 0.1130.456 - CHA - Correlation −0.072 −0.364 b 0.037 −0.215 0.048 −0.202 −0.180 0.136 0.171 - Significance 0.635 0.013 0.807 0.152 0.751 0.178 0.232 0.369 0.
analysis and evidence of factors impacting on construction H&S management in developing countries, none has fully considered the H&S implications of the characteristics and foundation upon which the industry is built and operate. In filling this research gap, this study through literature review and empirical investigation has identified the peculiar structures and characteristics of the construction industry in developing countries and their implications for H&S. The recommendations provide practical insights to government and professionals within the industry to tackle the basic problems that have resulted in the industry’s poor H&S performance. As a case study, data was collected from Ghana; therefore, the results are mainly relevant to Ghana. Nevertheless, the findings of this research could be used as a framework for country-specific studies in other developing countries. Literature has shown that the construction industry in developing countries shares similar characteristics, some of which have been discussed in this research along with their implications for H&S management. Typically, there is little difference in technology, procurement systems, construction methodology, skills training and availability, as well as poor H&S performance among developing countries. Therefore, the findings of this research may be applicable to many other developing countries. Moreover, considering that the characteristics of the construction industry have influence on H&S management within the industry, future research can identify more of these characteristics.
Author Contributions: E.F.B. is the lead author, completing most of the writing of this paper. R.Y.S. and C.C.W. suggested many revisions that were incorporated in the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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