Assessment of the Factors Affecting Safety Performance on Construction Projects in Gaza Strip

Abstract

The construction industry is considered one of the most hazardous industries, not only in developing countries but also throughout the world due to its unique nature. The hazards of this industry make it very essential to pay more attention to construction safety and to improve the safety performance of construction companies. However, safety is not a luxury but a necessity, and may be considered an important function to be used against unnecessary loss. Little studies have been done in this field in Gaza Strip. The objectives of this research are to identify the factors affecting the construction safety and to establish a tool to assess and improve the construction safety of construction companies. Eighty sub factors were identified and grouped into nineteen main factors. In this study, construction companies in the Gaza Strip that were qualified and registered in the Palestinian Contractors Union (PCU) and classified as first, second or third were considered as large companies and had the chance to participate. A field survey was conducted through a questionnaire including 51 construction companies in Gaza Strip. The collected data were analyzed to presents statistical measures. Importance index was calculated to rank the safety factors. The Safety Performance Attitude Score (SPAS) and Accidents Frequency Rate (AFR) are used to measure the safety performance and to develop a tool for assessing and improving the construction safety. Then the correlation between them is studied. It was concluded that the most important main factors affecting the safety performance in Gaza Strip are; personal protective equipment; signs, signals and barricades; excavation, trenching, and shorting; crane and lifting equipment and scaffolds. While the most important sub factors affecting the safety performance are; the use of gloves and face protection; the use of barricades to prevent collapse of soil during work; the use of protective head; the use of protective feet and non-excessive overtime work for worker. The research also concluded that a correlation between accidents frequency rate and the safety performance attitude score of the company and they are negatively correlated. Based on this a tool, which can be easily applied, was developed to assess and improve the safety of the construction companies. Also it was concluded that the knowledge and usage of twenty eight of signs, signals and symbols in construction projects site, the result was emphasized there are high level of knowledge with low level of use. Finally, in order to improve the safety performance of construction companies, a set of recommendations were made and topics for future researches were suggested