EVALUATION OF CONTRACTORS SAFETY AND HEALTH PERFORMANCE USING OSHA MATHEMATICAL STANDARD

Abstract

The rapid growth in the construction industries has led to increases in accidents and fatality rates which threat on the occupational safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) of 1994 obligate employer to provide and maintain a safe and healthful workplace for all employees. Ignorance and lack of safety compliance from contractors had caused employees to violate the safety procedure and the outcomes were unsafe acts, hazardous condition, injuries and accidents. Contractors play an important role in the accomplishment of the building construction. Thus, there is the need to evaluate contractor’s safety and health performance using OSHA mathematical standard. This study is a criteria – based study, and mainly derives quantitative measure in order to evaluate contractor’s safety and health performance using OSHA mathematical standard. Twenty (20) construction companies that meet the study criteria were selected. Some contractor’s performance is very satisfactorily while some are of average. It can be concluded that the number of subcontractors on sites determine the number of employees on site which determine the status of the accidents on site. Also the number of employees on sites determines the numbers of recordable injury or illness per 100 employees. To increase the benefits of safety management system practice on site by the contractors and better overall performance, it is recommended that the contractors should give credence to implementation of health and safety measures through cordial relationship with the construction workers, with emphasis on accident reduction at the construction sites.