Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity
The construction industry is facing constant pressure to improve its poor safety record and low productivity rate. A significant amount of research has been undertaken to identify the best practices to enhance productivity and safety. Nevertheless, the mainstream research in the field of constructio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Buildings |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/3/317 |
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| author | Nariman Ghodrati Tak Wing Yiu Suzanne Wilkinson Mani Poshdar Saeed Talebi Faris Elghaish Samad M. E. Sepasgozar |
| author_facet | Nariman Ghodrati Tak Wing Yiu Suzanne Wilkinson Mani Poshdar Saeed Talebi Faris Elghaish Samad M. E. Sepasgozar |
| author_sort | Nariman Ghodrati |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The construction industry is facing constant pressure to improve its poor safety record and low productivity rate. A significant amount of research has been undertaken to identify the best practices to enhance productivity and safety. Nevertheless, the mainstream research in the field of construction focuses on one of these issues rather than implementing a holistic approach to resolve them. Consequently, the interactions between productivity and safety cannot be fully understood. Recent studies have demonstrated that management strategies and practices for improving labour productivity can trigger a series of unintended consequences that affect safety performance in construction projects. However, the behavioural aspects of these unintended consequences have yet to be investigated. This research addresses the gap by measuring the impacts of seven management strategies for improving labour productivity on the safety behaviour of construction labourers. A total of 191 construction labourers participated in a survey designed based on the Management Strategy Assessment Index (MSAI). The results show that the implemented management strategies for improving labour productivity have a greater impact on shaping safety compliance (SC) behaviours than safety participation (SP) behaviours of labourers. This study took a further step by breaking down the management strategies to their constitutive practices and measuring their impacts on SC and SP, and labour productivity. This paper provides further insight into the complex relationship between the productivity and safety behaviour of construction labourers. The findings can help project managers to improve labour productivity without harming their safety unintentionally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:48:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d965e322d4e54629b9463224a97bc5e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-5309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:48:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Buildings |
| spelling | doaj.art-d965e322d4e54629b9463224a97bc5e42023-11-30T20:54:52ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092022-03-0112331710.3390/buildings12030317Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and ProductivityNariman Ghodrati0Tak Wing Yiu1Suzanne Wilkinson2Mani Poshdar3Saeed Talebi4Faris Elghaish5Samad M. E. Sepasgozar6School of Future Environment, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New ZealandSchool of Built Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 102904, Auckland 0745, New ZealandSchool of Built Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 102904, Auckland 0745, New ZealandSchool of Future Environment, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New ZealandSchool of Engineering and the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7XG, UKSchool of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UKSchool of Built Environment, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaThe construction industry is facing constant pressure to improve its poor safety record and low productivity rate. A significant amount of research has been undertaken to identify the best practices to enhance productivity and safety. Nevertheless, the mainstream research in the field of construction focuses on one of these issues rather than implementing a holistic approach to resolve them. Consequently, the interactions between productivity and safety cannot be fully understood. Recent studies have demonstrated that management strategies and practices for improving labour productivity can trigger a series of unintended consequences that affect safety performance in construction projects. However, the behavioural aspects of these unintended consequences have yet to be investigated. This research addresses the gap by measuring the impacts of seven management strategies for improving labour productivity on the safety behaviour of construction labourers. A total of 191 construction labourers participated in a survey designed based on the Management Strategy Assessment Index (MSAI). The results show that the implemented management strategies for improving labour productivity have a greater impact on shaping safety compliance (SC) behaviours than safety participation (SP) behaviours of labourers. This study took a further step by breaking down the management strategies to their constitutive practices and measuring their impacts on SC and SP, and labour productivity. This paper provides further insight into the complex relationship between the productivity and safety behaviour of construction labourers. The findings can help project managers to improve labour productivity without harming their safety unintentionally.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/3/317construction safetysafety behaviourlabour productivitymanagement strategies |
| spellingShingle | Nariman Ghodrati Tak Wing Yiu Suzanne Wilkinson Mani Poshdar Saeed Talebi Faris Elghaish Samad M. E. Sepasgozar Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity Buildings construction safety safety behaviour labour productivity management strategies |
| title | Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity |
| title_full | Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity |
| title_fullStr | Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity |
| title_short | Unintended Consequences of Productivity Improvement Strategies on Safety Behaviour of Construction Labourers; A Step toward the Integration of Safety and Productivity |
| title_sort | unintended consequences of productivity improvement strategies on safety behaviour of construction labourers a step toward the integration of safety and productivity |
| topic | construction safety safety behaviour labour productivity management strategies |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/3/317 |
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