Obstacles in Implementing Safety Management on Hong Kong Building Sites. S.W Poon and Francis K.W. Wong

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1 Obstacles in Implementing Safety Management on Hong Kong Building Sites S.W Poon and Francis K.W. Wong Department of Real Estate and Construction The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong * Department of Building and Real Estate The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 1.0 ABSTRACT The accident rate of the Hong Kong construction industry has remained exceptionally high over the years. In recent years the Hong Kong SAR Government adopted the self-regulatory approach to improve site safety and implemented the Site Supervision Plan System on building sites. Based on two surveys, the major difficulties in implementing safety management are identified as control of multi-layered subcontractors, lack of competent technical staff, inadequate safety awareness of workers, tight project schedule, insufficient training, traditional procurement method, limited resources in implementation and monitoring, and developers unwillingness to pay for safety aspects. Recommendations on overcoming these obstacles are highlighted and discussed. 2.0 INTRODUCTION In view of the prolonged high accident rates in the Hong Kong construction industry, the Hong Kong SAR Government has adopted the proactive self-regulatory approach to replace the ineffective enforcement approach. Supervision Plan System has been implemented since end of 1997 and construction companies are encouraged to set up their own safety management system. Two separate surveys were undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the site supervision plan system and the safety management system respectively, and to explore the obstacles and difficulties during their implementation. 3.0 SITE SUPERVISION PLAN SYSTEM The Buildings Department has implemented the site safety supervision system since December As defined in the Building Ordinance, a supervision plan sets out the plan of safety management of building works or street works. The system focuses on the clarification of the safety roles and duties of the Authorised Person (mostly architects), the Registered Structural Engineer and the Contractor, who work together in a typical building construction project. The three parties are required to prepare a site supervision plan before commencement of the works. 369

2 This safety management comprises the traditional quality supervision and the new safety supervision. The former requires the practitioners to ensure the building works are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Building Ordinance and Regulations. The latter requires the three professionals to pay necessary supervision on the building works so as to minimise hazards and risks to workers on site. Site safety supervision plan can further be classified into two types of supervision, the engineering safety supervision and routine safety supervision. Technically Competent Persons (TCP) are deployed to carry out safety supervision. There are five grades of TCPs for each functional stream and their responsibilities are defined in the documents. 3.1 Survey The survey was undertaken in Eight hundred questionnaires were sent to four types of building professionals including architects, building surveyors, structural engineers and contractors to seek their views on the implementation of the Supervision Plan System. 30 replies from contractors and 48 responses from the architects, structural engineers and building surveyors were received. 3.2 Problems in Implementation Lack of well-trained Technically Competent Persons - A large number of qualified technically competent persons are needed for supervising the building sites in Hong Kong. Lack of safety training for contractors employees - Less than a quarter of the responses have provided safety training to the employees after implementation of the system. Site safety management for multi-layers of subcontracting - Multi-layered subcontracting is very commonly used in the Hong Kong s construction industry. There are always communication problems and disputes arise from this practice. It is often difficult for main contractors to manage and supervise the works carried out by subcontractors. Inadequate understanding of the system by contractors and other building professionals - Over 80% of respondents indicated that they have incomplete or no knowledge about the system. Inadequate systematic safety information and documentation - Only about 46% of respondents have obtained ISO 9000 certification and this implies that over half of them do not have proper information system regarding quality of works. It is doubtful whether they have the competence to handle the safety documents and supervising the construction works simultaneously. Insufficient resources for the Site Monitoring Section of the Buildings Department - The Site Monitoring Section of the Buildings Department has only eleven professionals responsible for safety monitoring and control of 1,500 building sites. 370

3 3.3 Suggested Solutions Training of TCP and site staff - Building related companies should provide compulsory safety training for their site staff. Management control in multi-layers of subcontracting - Subcontractors meetings, usually chaired by the main contractor, should be held either biweekly or even weekly in order to strengthen the communication link among the parties. Site safety performance should also be reviewed in the meetings. Education and promotion of the importance of the supervision system to contractors and other building professionals - Safety promotion activities such as conferences and seminars should be provided to the personnel in construction. Likewise, the building professionals should attend and present their interest and concern on safety matter. Safety information control system - Electronic safety management system should be set up so that information can be managed in a systematic manner and processed within a short duration. Safety audit by external parties - All building sites should be audited by independent professional agents regarding the monitoring of safety performance. 4.0 SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Safety management is an organisation arrangement within a company, which will facilitate the proprietor to identify hazards at work and target resources and efforts to eliminate such hazards. It is widely believed that implementation of safety management would improve safety performance. The Hong Kong SAR Government recommended the following components to be included in the safety management system: Safety policy Safety training Job hazard analysis Process control programme In-house safety rules and regulations Accident/incident investigation Personal protection programme Evaluation, selection and control of subcontractor Programme for inspection of hazardous conditions Safety organisation Safety committee Safety promotion Health assurance programme Emergency preparedness 371

4 4.1 Survey A survey was undertaken in 1998 by sending randomly questionnaires to 130 Group B and C contractors as listed in the Hong Kong Builder Directory replies were received representing a response rate of 29.2%. 4.2 Problems in Implementation The following are the difficulties in implementing safety management by contractors. They are listed in the order of descending importance. Difficulty in controlling multi-layered subcontractors - Owing to the subcontractors high mobility, it is difficult to check whether they comply with safety rules and regulations. Inadequate safety awareness of the workers - Many site workers do not adopt safety measures because of the inconvenience that may be caused. Also, they think that adopting safety measures symbolizes the characteristics of unskilled workers. Tight project schedule - Contractors usually take risk as they think the chance of serious accident will not be high and the damages paid in the case of late completion is far more than the losses in the event of accidents, assuming no serious accidents will occur. Insufficient safety training provided - Many training courses provided are not enough in terms of quality and quantity although there have been improvements in recent years. Competitive bidding - Cutting cost is common in order to produce the lowest bid. Safety is always to be considered as the least concern aspect, it is obviously to be sacrificed first. Developers unwillingness to pay for safety aspects - Most developers are reluctant to spend time and money on safety management and consequently put this load wholly on the contractors. Limited resources to support the system - The majority of contractors are not large in scale and lack of sufficient resource in safety management. Poor enforcement of legislation - The deterrent effect of the legislation is not severe enough. Prosecutions are in money terms and the fines are small when compared with the contract sum. Safety policy not communicated down to lower level - The long chain of documents down to lower level subcontractors always result in ineffective communication. 372

5 Poor investigation of accidents - Information from poor accident investigation is neither specific nor detailed. The actual causes can seldom be made known to the construction-related personnel for feedback and improvement purposes. 4.3 Suggested Solutions When selecting subcontractors, past performance should be considered in addition to their tender price. Contractors should include detailed health and safety arrangements in the contract and regular safety evaluation on subcontractors should also be carried out. The main contractor should provide training for subcontractor s workers as far as possible. Sufficient induction training, safety measures promotion, accident publication, awards and punishments should be adopted to make the workers more aware of their safety at work. In the planning and design stage, time and effort should be spent on incorporating the safety needs into the design. Therefore, the chance for changing anything for safety purpose during construction will be lower and construction procedures will be smoother despite the tight schedule. Contractors should pay attention to the safety training courses provided by the Government or relevant organisations. Workers should attend these courses and their attendance would serve as prerequisite to work on sites. Developers should take contractor s past safety performance into account, besides the tender price, when they select the appropriate bidders. Regarding developer s unwillingness to pay for safety performance, the Government should promulgate the adverse impact of poor safety records on the projects and developers interest, and give incentive to developers for good safety records. Companies should allocate resources to implement safety management. The Labour Department should conduct site safety inspection more frequently. The main contractor s site manager should coordinate the activities of all parties on site. All subcontractors must be informed of the new safety policy or new regulation. Safety investigation should be carried out immediately after an accident has occurred. Training for accident investigation is necessary. 373

6 5.0 CONCLUSION Self-regulation is a common and good attempt to improve safety conditions of Hong Kong s construction industry. However, there are many obstacles for the implementation of site supervision plan system and safety management system. From the two surveys, the education and training of workers and site personnel has still an important role to play in overcoming many of these identified problems. 6.0 REFERENCES Wong, H.Y. & Poon, S.W. 1999, 'Implementing Safety Management System in the Hong Kong Construction Industry', Conference on Construction Challenges into the Next Century, HKIE. Francis, K.W. Wong and Donald, C.H. Ding 1999, 'Effective implementation of the Site Supervision Plan System for the Building Industry in Hong Kong', Conference on Construction Challenges into the Next Century, HKIE. Buildings Department (1997) Draft Code for Site Safety Supervision. Buildings Department (1998) Technical Memorandum for Supervision Plans. Ping, T.W. 1998, 'Professionals View on the Effectiveness of the Safety Supervision Plan System in Enhancing Construction Safety Factors', unpublished BSc Dissertation, Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong. 374