Full Project – Safety compliance for high rise projects in Nigerian construction industry

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1          Introduction

Generally, this research is focused on safety compliance for high rise construction projects. Besides that, this study is also intended to recommend appropriate ways to improve the compliance of safety practice. Basically, this chapter covers the background, problems statement, aims and objectives, and scope of the study. The research methodology involved in conducting this study is also briefly explained.

1.2         Background of the Research

Construction industry in developing countries has performed far below the expectation in the areas of health and safety, the situation in Nigeria is no exception. This is due to the fact that, there is no existing functional legislation with regards to occupational health and safety in Nigeria Isaac et al., (2014). Occupation safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria is traced back from the slave trade period in Nigeria. According to Kalejaiye (2013), records show that the medical examination board of the Liverpool infantry introduced occupational health and safety in Nigeria in 1789.

A current trend in modern cities all over the world is the development of high-rise buildings mainly to overcome the challenges of urban over population, for optimal use of scarce land resources, as status symbol, as tourist attractions and for beautiful skylines (Ede, 2014). Regardless of these advantages, the development of high-rise buildings in Nigeria has been experiencing drawbacks. The retarding growth translates to the very fewness of high-rise buildings in existence in Nigerian cities just as even most of the few in existence are poorly utilized due to some persistent factors. With the continuous increase in the population of Nigeria (which have moved from 140 million in 2006 to 170 million in 2014), leading to ever increasing surge in rural – urban drift, land scarcity and the consequent high cost of available land can only be expected to be on the increase especially in Abuja. Bearing in mind that tall, thin buildings have smaller footprints than the equivalent number of low-rise housing units, making them occupy less land area; it is a wonder that building high is not growing at some significant rate compared to the galloping growth of Nigerian population. The low rate of building tall will heighten the burdensome challenge of housing in Nigerian urban cities Ede, (2014).

However, in 1981 Nigeria signed the Geneva Convention on OSH (Adeogun Okafor, 2013), yet 32 years after, implementation of proceedings of the convention the nation has suffered setbacks making it at insignificant level of achievement towards the OSH implementation. Adeogun & Okafor (2013) based on their studies also found that, the implementation and adoption of occupation safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria is still at preliminary stages. Similarly, Diugwu (2012) Okolie (2012) states that occupational safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria has received little attention from the government. The ill-fated occupation safety and health (OSH) regulatory system in the country does not encourage mandatory reporting of accidents. However, Diugwu et al. (2012) blame the big gap in occupational safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria on the dysfunctional health and safety laws in the country. As a result, all the sectors in the country are clearly unregulated in relation to OSH (Diugwu et al., 2012).

The protection of safety and welfare of people in the workplace that may be indirectly affected by the activities in the workplace- occupational safety and health (OSH) should be contingent on healthy legal instruments which require optimum compliance (Akpan, 2013). On a Sad note, Idubor (2013) argue that compliance with occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations cannot be isolated in the improvement of Nigerian construction industry. Nigerian Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Inspectorate Division (FMLPID) – is the body empowered by the Factories Act F1 LFN 2004 to enforce occupational safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria (Umeokafor et al., 2014). Hence, it is quite evident in the literature that enforcement and lack of compliance to OSH in Nigeria cannot be overemphasizing, as it has resulted in numerous casualties and accidents on site in the Nigerian construction industry. Falls from high elevation has been identified in the literature as the most frequent type of accident that occur. However, it is also evident that most of these accidents occur due to either lack of compliance to OSH and enforcement or both. Therefore, in this research occupational safety and health will be the main theoretical cornerstone in exploring the level of compliance to OSH in Nigerian construction industry.

1.3         Problem Statement

High rise structure, faced with several problems and experience accidents that endanger the lives of its occupants, destroy facilities and equipment within them, and affect other neighbouring structures Ede, (2014). The most feared hazards of tall buildings around the world are fire, terroristic attaches and building collapse.

According to Mohamed (1999), accidents on construction sites, causes many human tragedies, de-motivate workers, disrupt site activities, delay project progress, and adversely affect the overall cost, productivity and reputation of the construction industry. In recognition of the problems above, countries all over the world have seen the necessity of improving occupational health and safety management on construction sites, particularly to reduce the number of accidents on construction sites.

Occupational safety and health has been a major sort of concern for employees, employers and government for the past decades globally, effort to reduce the number of occupational injuries, and fatalities the Nigerian government opted to regulate the construction industry Olutuase et al, (2014). The Nigerian construction industry has recorded a disproportionate number of fatalities and disabling injuries as shown in Table 1indicates the rates of fall and injuries in Nigerian construction projects for the past decades. Falls from elevation and injuries are among the most costly and damaging categories of accident that occur. Based on the injury and fatality rate report from the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Labor and Productivity.

Table 1: Death, fatality rate and number of accident reported to Nigerian federal ministry of labour and productivity (FMLPID; 2002 -2012).

Accidents and fatalities rate at construction industries is still high in Nigeria based on the recorded fatality rate of workers from 2002 to 2012 which is very far behind compared to developed countries like Japan, France and the United States of America USA with the rate of below 20 per 100,000 workers (NIOSH, 2010; Kortum, 2011).

The regulations of occupational safety and health OSH in Nigeria has received little attention, with little emphasize to strict adherence to safety in the construction industry and very minimal impact made by the inspection officers towards ensuring strict compliance. The accidents records above indicate an alarming rate of injuries and fatalities on sites (Diugwu et al., 2012). Hence, there is need to find a way of minimizing the rate of falls and injuries in Nigerian construction industry. Thus, this research seeks to investigate the level of compliance to occupational safety and health (OSH) in Nigerian construction industry.

1.4         Research Questions

1. What is the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high rise construction projects of Nigerian construction industry?
2. What are the factors that prevent compliance to safety practices in high rise construction projects of Nigerian construction industry?
3. What is the appropriate ways to improve the compliance to safety practices in high rise construction project of Nigerian construction industry?

1.5         Objectives of Research

The aim of this research is to investigate the level of compliance to safety in high rise construction project with special focus on safety at construction process in Nigeria. In achieving this aim three (3) objectives has been outlined;

1. To investigate the current level of compliance to safety regulations and policies in high rise construction projects of Nigerian construction industry.
2. To investigate the factors that prevents the compliance to safety practices in high rise project of Nigerian construction industry.
3. To recommend appropriate ways to improve the compliance to safety practices in high rise construction of Nigerian construction industry.

1.6         Significance of Research

This research will be of great significance to the tradesmen that are highly expose to hazard in carrying out their respective duties, as vast majority of tradesmen are ignorant of the safety compliance level. This research will however, alert the relevant authorities in ensuring occupational safety and health compliance in Nigerian construction industry. Hence, minimize the rate of accidents as a result of lack of compliance to occupational safety and health in the industry.

This research will also be of great significance to academia and practitioners in the field of construction management by exploring inadequacies and inefficiencies in occupational and health safety compliance in the Nigerian context. In addition, exploring the potentials for more studies to be conducted towards formulating comprehensive frameworks for ensuring safety compliance most especially in high rise building construction.

1.7  Scope of Research

The research will focus on the safety compliance for high rise construction project at construction stage, in the central district area of Abuja the capital city of Nigerian. Abuja as the capital city of Nigeria has various construction development taking place to achieve the target master plan of the great city The capital city will be selected due to the high number of construction activities going on, which are predominantly high-rise projects associated with both industrialized and conventional concept of construction Iwuagwu (2011).

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Full Project – Safety compliance for high rise projects in Nigerian construction industry