A Survey of Safety Culture in Hong Kong Construction Industry

Transcription

1 A Survey of Safety Culture in Hong Kong Construction Industry Occupational Safety & Health Council September 2001

2 Abstract Construction industry is one of the hazardous trades in Hong Kong as far as work safety is concerned. After years of development in safety technology and safety management system in the industry, many organizations come to recognize that safety cultures have to be addressed if high standards of health and safety are to be maintained. Therefore, the of Hong Kong decided to carry out a study to measure the safety culture in the construction industry. The objectives of the study are to examine people s values, attitude, perception, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to, and effectiveness of health and safety management in the construction industry based on a questionnaires survey and a software developed by the Health & Safety Executive in the United Kingdom. A questionnaire consists of 71 statements was designed to seek the views of managers, supervisors and front line workers on key aspects of the safety culture. Each of the discrete groups was also classified according to their role as the principal contractor or sub-contractor so that the results can be compared. A random sample of 14 sites was visited with a total of 641 people being surveyed. The results show that senior management generally gave positive responses in the factors evaluated; supervisor level somewhat had less positive responses. Among the three discrete groups, there were relatively high degree of contradictory responses to health and safety in the workforce level. The overall opinions and comments from the three levels of staff regarding safety culture were quite different, except on risk taking behavior and peer group influence. Most of respondents reckoned staff often took risk when they were at work and workmates were often influenced by these behaviors. The study also shows that safety culture of organization can be explored by questionnaire survey. Safety culture measures can provide us information on the previously immeasurable elements of the safety system, specifically human factors in an understandable and structured manner. The findings gives valuable information to construction management and safety practitioners in the direction of cultivating safety culture in the industry. 2

3 1. A JOURNEY TO MANAGING SAFETY AND HEALTH SUCCESSFULLY - THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF SAFETY CULTURE Hong Kong is famous for its economic success, and the construction industry has always played a major role in Hong Kong s economy. Hong Kong now boasts many world famous projects such as the Hong Kong International Airport and Tsing Ma Bridge etc. All of these have been made in Hong Kong by the skill, ingenuity and graft of Hong Kong s labour force. However, construction industry is one of the hazardous trades in Hong Kong as far as work safety is concerned. In the early 1990s, Hong Kong has moved in the direction of safety management in an attempt to improve what are poor construction site safety statistics. It was decided that the implementation of a safety management system, which has proved to be successful in Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia in reducing accidents and improving safety standards should also be introduced in the Hong Kong construction projects. Based on this initiative the Government, the Housing Authority, the two railway corporations, other utility companies and leading contractors have already made the move towards self-regulatory safety management. Together they undertake over half of Hong Kong s construction activities. After years of implementation of safety management system, many enterprises experience a remarkable improvement in safety performance. However, some of them soon found that the improvement in performance reaches a plateau (level-off) and is difficult to improve further. They begin to ask how to make further improvement on safety and health? The answer to this continuous improvement lies on the creation of a positive safety culture in maintaining high standards of safety and health at work. It is true to say that many people who work in the field of safety do really interest what a safety culture is. They have often asked me What does an identifiable safety culture look like? My replies used to paraphrase the working definition of safety culture by the UK s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (ACSNI), it is the product of people s values and beliefs, their behaviour, and their commitment to your health and safety programmes. This will be evident in people trusting what you have to say, sharing your perceptions of the importance of safety, and having confidence in the effectiveness of your preventive measures. Simply saying everyone in the organization believes that safety is the way they do things. An enterprise may spend thousands of dollars or more to launch a program to promote safety and health at work. If the people in the organization do not have positive attitudes towards work safety, injury and illness still occurs, and the programme would fail. 3

4 2. MEASURING SAFETY CLIMATE One of the better indicators of a positive safety culture is a good safety climate. Although, safety climate is often mistaken for safety culture, as they are both inextricably linked, they are distinctly separate entities. Safety culture is much broader than safety climate as it refers to the whole. Whereas safety climate refers solely to people s perceptions of, and attitudes towards safety. For example, how people consider the importance their organization gives to health and safety relative to quality or production, or how committed they believe their superiors or peers are to health and safety. A good safety climate is characterized by a collective commitment of care and concern, whereas all employees share similar positive perceptions about organization safety features. This serves as a frame of reference that shapes the attitudes and behaviours of employees. 3. A SURVEY OF HEALTH AND SAFETY CLIMATE IN HONG KONG CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY The (OSHC) decided to carry a preliminary study to measure the health and safety culture in the Hong Kong construction industry. The aim is to examine people s values, attitude, perception, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and effectiveness of health and safety management in the construction industry using questionnaires and software developed by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The outcomes of the study will be used as a reference for the formulation of policy for the Council to improve the safety culture in the industry. 4. METHODOLOGY OF THE SURVEY Target groups in the survey are managers (people in the organization at any level above supervisor), supervisors (people at the first level in the organization who have responsibility over the work of others) and front line staff (people who have no subordinates) in the Hong Kong construction industry. Identities of the respondents would be kept strictly confidential. A self-administrated questionnaire consists of 71 statements is designed so that the respondents rate their responses to these statements on a 1-5 Likert scale, from strongly disagree through to strongly agree. All the statements in the questionnaire have purposely been put into a random order and would be asked in different ways to avoid leading the respondents. Ten factors that underlie the summaries of groups of the statements have been identified in this survey to seek the views of respondents on key aspects of safety culture within an organization. These factors are 4

5 described as follows: Factor 1: Organisational commitment and communication Factor 2: Line management commitment Factor 3: Supervisor s Role Factor 4: Personal Role Factor 5: Workmates Influence Factor 6: Competence Factor 7: Risk Taking Behaviour and Some Contributory Influence Factor 8: Some Obstacles to Safe Behaviour Factor 9: Permit to Work Factor 10: Reporting of Accidents and Near Misses The computer software automatically sorts the statements into ten dimensions or factors for the purposes of analysis. The questionnaires collected would be analyzed using the HSE computer software. The software sorts the results into Favourable, Neutral and Unfavourable. Then the results from the three discrete groups are presented and compared in form of histograms. Each of the discrete groups was also classified according to their role as the principal contractor or sub-contractor so that the results can be compared. 5

6 5. RESULTS AND FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY The survey was conducted from July to September in There were 14 sites with a total of 641 participants joined the survey, in which there were 24 managers, 182 supervisors and 435 workforce. Within the three discrete groups, 392 staff was employed by the principal contractors and 249 staff was employed by the sub-contractors. While the number of people employed per sites range from 40 to 110. Among the 14 participating sites, there were 9 Housing Authority s and 2 Architectural Services Department s (refer to Table 1). No. of people Principal contractor Sub-contractor Site employed M S W Total M S W Total Type of Project Housing Authority Private ASD Housing Authority Housing Authority Housing Authority Housing Authority ASD Housing Authority Housing Authority Private maintenance project Housing Authority Housing Authority Private Total 1, (total participants surveyed) Note: M Manager; S Supervisor; W Worker Table 1 - The Category and Number of Participating Construction Sites 6

7 Factor 1 Organisational Commitment and Communication The perceived level of organisational commitment to health and safety is a major influence on health and safety performance in practice. Most of the senior management level (84%) and supervisors (79%) had a positive response to organizational commitment and communication (refer to Table 2). This can be reinforced by over 80% of their favourable responses to the statement of senior management take health and safety seriously, sufficient resources are available for health and safety here and management not place a low priority on health and safety training etc. However, only 56% of respondents in workforce level showed positive response in this area (refer to Table 2). And the positive response rate was much lower, i.e. 49% for the workforce of sub-contractors. This can be reflected especially in the area of safety communication and involvement, only 43%-51% of the workforce agreed with the statement of the company shows interest in my views on health and safety, I am always informed of the outcome of meetings which address health and safety and the health and safety committee makes an important contribution to health and safety here. The findings also indicated that 30% of the workforce recognized the importance of productivity rather than health and safety. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 2 Organisational Commitment and Communication for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 2 Line Management Commitment An important indicator of an organisation s commitment to health and safety is how people regard the importance their immediate boss places on health and safety. Similar to factor 1, most of the senior management level (83%) and supervisors (75%) had a positive response to the line management commitment. However, only 55% of respondents in workforce level showed positive response in this area (refer to Table 3). Most of the senior management (92%) and supervisors (83%) agreed that my immediate boss would be very helpful if I asked for advice on health and safety matters and my immediate boss is receptive to ideas on how to improve health and safety. On the other hand, there was only 39% of workforce disagreed with the question I don t think my immediate boss does enough to ensure health and safety. About 25% of them agreed with that and 36% of them stated neutral. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable

8 Table 3 Line Management Commitment for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 3 Supervisor s Role Supervisors have an important part to play in promoting safe behaviour. Despite 70% of senior management and supervisors reckoned that supervisors were good at ensuring health and safety at work, only 52% of workforce agreed with that (refer to Table 4). And the positive response rate was much lower, i.e. 58% and 46% for the managers and workforce of sub-contractors respectively. Around 50% of managers and workforce agree that supervisors are good at detecting unsafe behaviour. Besides, around half of the workforce responded neutral (33%) and agreement (20%) to the statement of supervisors here are not very effective at ensuring health and safety. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 4 Supervisor s Role for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 4 Personal Role Sustained success in ensuring health and safety at work demands that everyone recognizes the importance of health and safety, and actively supports the health and safety effort. Most of the senior management (79%) and supervisors (69%) had their own contributions and recognized the relative importance of health and safety. In contrast, less than half of the workforce agreed with that (refer to Table 5). This can be reflected by more than half of their agreed and neutral response (64% and 51%) to the statement there is nothing I can do to further improve health and safety here and some health and safety procedures/instructions/rules do not need to be followed to get the job done safely respectively. Surprisingly 39% - 44% of people in three discrete groups reckoned that there are too many health and safety procedures/instructions/rules given the real risks associated with the jobs for which I am responsible. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 5 Personal Role for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 5 Workmates Influence A strong influence on the way individuals behave at work is their immediate workmates or peer group. Most of the senior management level (82%) and supervisors (75%) had a positive response to the importance which their workmates give to health and safety (refer to Table 6). This can be reinforced by over 75% of their favourable responses to 8

9 the statement of all the people who work in my team are fully committed to health and safety, I trust my workmates with my health and safety, and it is important for me to work safely if I am to keep the respect of the others in my team etc. However, only 58% of respondents in workforce level showed positive response in this area (refer to Table 6). And less than half of the supervisors (46%) and workforce (34%) reported that my workmates would react strongly against people who break health and safety procedures/ instructions/ rules. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 6 Workmates Influence for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 6 Competence The statements in this section explore people s views of their health and safety training, and level of understanding which they think they have achieved. Most of the senior management (87%) and supervisors (82%) had very positive responses in this factor such as clear about their health & safety responsibilities and fully understand the health & safety procedures. However, only 62% of workforce agreed with that (refer to Table 7). There were 36% of senior management, 33% of supervisors and 46% of workforce responded neutral or disagreement to the statement of the training I had covered all the health and safety risks associated with the work for which I am responsible. Besides, there were 32% of workforce showing uncertainty in ensuring health and safety at work. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 7 Competence for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 7 Risk Taking Behaviour and Some Contributory influence The statements in this section explore some issues on the extent to which people consider others to take risks or behave unsafely at work, and some reasons why such practices may take place. Less than 60% of the respondents showed positive response in this area (refer to Table 8). It is surprisingly to find that most of the senior management (76%), supervisors (64-67%) and workforce (43-44%) agreed to the statement of some of the workforces pay little attention to health and safety and some people here have a poor understanding of the risks associated with their work. 66% of the workforce even responded neutral and agreement to the statement of not all the health and safety procedures/instructions/rules are strictly followed here. When considered the influence of unsafe behaviour by the workmates, 56% of the workforce responded neutral and agreement to the statement of people here are 9

10 sometimes pressured to work unsafely by their colleagues. Besides, around 55% of the three groups of respondents showed neutral and disagreement to the statement of people who work here sometimes take risks at work which I could not take myself. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 8 Risk Taking Behaviour and Some Contributory Influence for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 8 Some Obstacles to Safe Behaviour This section explores people s views of the relevance and practicality of the health and safety rules and procedures, as well as people s ability and willingness to comply with them. Surprisingly, less than half of the supervisors (49%) and workforce (38%) showed positive response to this section (refer to Table 9). There were actually many obstacles to advocate safe behaviour like difficulties in following some safety rules and procedures % of the respondents revealed that some health and safety procedures/instructions/rules do not reflect how the job is now done, some health and safety procedures/instructions/rules are difficult to follow, and sometimes physical conditions at the workplace restrict peoples ability to work safely. Besides, 30-33% of the workforce agreed that some health and safety procedures/instructions/rules are not really practicable, some jobs here are difficult to do safely and sometimes it is necessary to take risks to get the job done. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 9 Risk Taking Behaviour and Some Contributory Influence for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 9 Permit-to-Work System The statements in this section examine people s views of the relevance and ease of use of the permit-to-work system. Despite more than 65% of the senior management and supervisors showed positive response in this section, only 42% of workforce agreed with that (refer to Table 10). And the positive response rate was much lower, i.e. 35% for the workforce of sub-contractors. This can be reflected by 38% of the workforce agreed with the statement of the permit-to-work system is over the top given the real risks of some of the jobs it is used for. 10

11 Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 10 Permit-to-Work for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors Factor 10 Reporting of Accidents and Near Misses The statements in this section seek people s views of the reliability of the accident and near miss reporting systems. Most of the senior management (90%) and supervisors (76%) had very positive responses in this factor. However, only 56% of workforce agreed with that (refer to Table 11). In general, people from the three discrete groups recognized the importance of reporting of accidents. Surprisingly, only 39% of the workforce realized the importance of reporting near misses. Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Table 11 Reporting of Accidents and Near Misses for All Principal Contractors and Sub-contractors 6. DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This safety climate survey is successful and gives an opportunity for staff in different levels to think and discuss health and safety issues. The outcome of the survey provides valuable data regarding safety culture in the Hong Kong construction enterprises. Below are some inspirations and recommendations aroused from the survey: 6.1 The overall results shows that senior management and supervisors generally give positive responses in the factors evaluated, such as organizational commitment and communication, personal role in recognizing and supporting health and safety efforts, competence in compiling health and safety works, and reporting of accidents and near misses etc. Whilst workforces level somewhat have less positive responses. By understanding the difference of the safety perceptions of the three discrete groups, the safety committee can plan and improve health and safety issues that would be supported by staff. 6.2 The overall results shows that subcontractors generally have less positive response in the factors evaluated when compared with the principal contractors. It indicates 11

12 that the extensive use of sub-contracting in the industry may lead to problems of lack of control on-site and low levels of worker commitment. It is suggested that the principal contractors should drive further improvements in safety performance of sub-contractors through strengthening the evaluation, selection and control strategies. The evaluation and selection strategy should clearly aim at ensuring that sub-contractors with knowledge of good safety standards and a good record of putting them into practice would be selected for the work. While the control strategy should aim at monitoring the safety performance of the sub-contractor and keeping him on the right track with regard to the achievement of client s safety and health objectives. Through teamwork, all the principal contractors and sub-contractors work together to improve health and safety standards on construction sites. 6.3 In the context of organizational commitment and communication, most of the respondents support that company management has commitment to safety and health at work. This indicates that the perceived level of organizational commitment to health and safety has a major influence on cultivating a positive health and safety culture. On the other hand, the safety communication in organizations has rooms for improvement as less than half of the workforce shows positive responsive in this area. It is suggested that organizations can reinforce the use of notices, posters, handbills or safety bulletins and newsletters to inform employees about particular OSH issues, such as results of inspections, outcome of accident investigations and committee meetings etc. Planned meetings can also give opportunities for employees to have face-to-face discussions, which give support other communication activities and enable them to make a more personal contribution. Examples of meetings suitable for promoting safety include orientation meetings for new comers, problem-solving meetings, toolbox meetings and regular safety committee meetings etc. 6.4 Line management and supervisors have an important part to promote health and safety, and react to health and safety issues which may be raised. Although more than 70% of the senior management and supervisors reckons that line management/supervisors are good and effective at ensuring health and safety at work, only around 50% of the workforce agreed with that. It is our view that that the usual role of supervisors should be changed to team-leaders so as to promote effective team working. They can plan, direct, help, coach and guide the workers to work together in the pursuit of team objectives. A particular important aim is to improve their understanding of the risks involved in the work and how these risks can be eliminated or better controlled. Supervisors can communicate powerful signals about the importance of health and safety if they lead by example through positive safety behaviour. Subordinates soon recognize what their 12

13 supervisors regard as important and act accordingly. 6.5 When considered the individual s view of their own contribution to improve health and safety on site, the results reveals that less than half of the workforces show positive response. We see that successful organizations often go further than merely setting up safety committees as required by the law and actively encourage consultation of employees in different ways. An example of supporting good cooperation include forming ad hoc problem-solving teams or safety circles to involve workers at all levels in solving specific OSH problems such as issues arising from an accident or a case of ill-health. These too can develop enthusiasm and draw on worker expertise. On the other hand, a humanistic approach to management involving more regard by managers for individual s personal and work problems is likely to be effective. This assumes direct and rapid action to identify and resolve individual problems in an appropriately caring and concerned manner. Pooling knowledge and experience through participation, commitment and involvement means that health and safety really becomes everybody s business. 6.6 If all employees are to make a maximum contribution to health and safety, there must be proper arrangements in place to ensure that they are competent. The results of the survey indicate that some of the workforces show uncertainty in ensuring health and safety at work. It is suggested that systems should be developed to identify health and safety training needs arising from recruitment, changes in staff, plant, substances, technology, processes or working practices. Green card safety training for construction workers should be enhanced by including hands-on training and impressing on workers the hazards from their working situations. Besides providing training, experience of applying skills and knowledge is another important ingredient and needs to be gained under adequate supervision. Line managers and supervisors need to be aware of relevant legislation and receive appropriate training on site safety management to enable them to perform and effective management role. Safety professionals should also be required to maintain or enhance competence by refresher training. 6.7 When exploring the issue on the extent to which people take risks or behave unsafely at work, it is surprisingly to find that all the three discrete groups reckons that staffs often take risks when they are at work and workmates are often influenced by these behaviours. Overconfidence, over-optimism or over-familiarity may act to reduce their appraisal of a hazard as significant. Some of the main obstacles identified in the survey to advocate safe behaviour are poor understanding of the risks associated with the work, some health and safety 13

14 procedures/instructions/rules did not reflect how the job was done and were difficult to follow, and influence of unsafe behaviour by the workmates. 6.8 Sometimes arrangements for controlling particular risks make it necessary for people to behave in a certain way, e.g. to follow a specific procedure or to wear PPE. In high risk situations such reliance on individual behaviour is recommended as last resort control measure. It is better to eliminate or control the hazard in ways which are not reliant on human behaviour. Besides, worker behaviour is only one factor affecting safety and should not be dealt with in isolation but rather within an effective health and safety management system. A number of ways which can successfully influence safe behaviour at work are suggested as follows: Poor procedures can be a reason for people not following recommended actions. As well as being technically accurate, procedures need to be well-written, understandable to employees involved and revised periodically to ensure that they reflect current operations. Some issues need to think about in writing better procedures such as considering both the difficulty and importance of the task to be documented; finding out how often the task is carried out and the potential hazards; and thinking about who will use the procedure and the level of information they need. It should be noted that providing too much information may lead to less use of the procedure if users find it too detailed and hard to follow Belief and knowledge are important determinants of safe behaviour. Organizations must raise awareness among construction workers of safety hazards on site and urge them to take responsibility for their personal safety. Education and training are therefore vital. Training should cover such key aspects as knowledge of the work-related health and safety risks; proper use of safety-related equipment and procedures; awareness of the benefits of carrying out safe behaviour; and the views of managers and co-workers on risk-taking. Managers and supervisors should also aware that group social norms for safe behaviour exist. They need to set a good example and positively influence such standards of behaviour To ensure the success of a behavioural change, organizations can utilize techniques of goal-setting and performance feedback. With the support of the Works Bureau and the Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Council has taken the lead to encourage construction companies in Hong Kong to practice Safe Working Cycle at their construction sites. The Safe Working Cycle is a well-planned and scheduled program of events either 14

15 daily, weekly, or monthly that has specific target or goal. It involves reinforcement of safety awareness of workers and monitoring in preventive approach to ensure that any unsafe behaviour or unsafe condition are detected and resolved before it attributes to an accident. 7. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that safety culture of organization can be explored by questionnaire survey. Safety culture measures can provide us information on the previously unmeasurable elements of the safety system, specifically human factors in an understandable and structured manner. The survey may also be considered as a method to encourage staff from all levels in participation of safety issues. Partnership between workforce and management is what we advocated in establishing a positive safety culture. It is characterized by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures. The findings give valuable information to construction management and safety practitioners in the direction of cultivating safety culture in the industry. Hence, formulation of strategic plan is made possible to facilitate the improvement of safety and health standard in Hong Kong. ~ END ~ 15