W099: safety and health in construction: research roadmap report for consultation

This research road map for safety and health in construction outlines the conceptual framework of the domain along with a review of the state of the art and vision for the future, both for the industry and research community. This leads to a review of the research contribution and a development strategy and research agenda for 2020

Learning to adapt health and safety initiatives from mega projects: an Olympic case study

Finding new ways to improve health and safety management in construction continues to generate much interest. Despite a reduction in deaths, injuries and ill health in recent years, UK construction still has high rates of fatal and major injuries compared to other industries. One of the key concerns is the difficulty of organisational learning in construction manifested as reactive responses to health and safety issues. The Olympic Delivery Authority launched a learning legacy programme in conjunction with industry, government and academia to capture important lessons learnt in a number of areas, including health and safety. Communication has long been considered an important factor in the implementation of health and safety initiatives. Previous research has typically focused on programmes run by single organisations. The London 2012 Olympic Park construction project offered a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of safety initiatives and communication across a range of organisations working side by side. It also offered an exciting opportunity to track health and safety messages as they are communicated to the workforce. The main aim of this research project was to evaluate the range of health and safety initiatives used at the Olympic Park in terms of messages communicated to workers, workers’ awareness, attitude and behaviour, and the transfer of knowledge within and outside the Park. A semistructured inventory was used to survey the workforce (managers, supervisors and workers) using interviews and focus groups on seven Park sites. A follow-up survey was conducted after three months, at which time interviews and focus groups were also held at non-Olympic comparison sites. Data were also collected through the observation of meetings and document review. The data were analysed using template analysis in line with the communication–human information processing (C–HIP) model. The transfer of knowledge into and out of the Olympic Park, and the impact of the communication processes on workers, were key issues identified from the analysis. The results were used to produce industry recommendations that are applicable beyond the realm of a mega project. Important recommendations include, but are not limited to, the important role of the client, the need for planning and the focus on workers’ comprehension and safety behaviour. The most important recommendation was that methods used at the Olympic Park should be used on more traditional projects

SME-micro engagement with occupational safety and health (OSH) - the role of the owner-manager.

The heterogeneous nature of Medium, Small and Micro enterprises (SMEs and Micros) means that standard definitions of what they are may be difficult to use in practice; this in turn complicates data collection. The standard definition used by the European Communities for headcount can facilitate data collection in order to classify the enterprise size as Medium, Small or Micro. In addition to the definition of size, access to participants in SME-Micros can also difficult. This paper reviews current literature investigating the role of the Owner-Manager and factors that facilitate and inhibit SME-Micros engagement with OSH, including access to and translation of OSH information. This paper presents emerging findings from a study investigating OSH engagement among SME-Micros (≤250 employees). Emerging findings reveal issues with OSH information and legislation translation; the different OSH information needs of SME-Micros and the importance of the Owner-Manager