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Health and Safety Improvement Amongst Ghanaian Communities as A Corporate Social Responsibility of Construction Companies

Received: 16 April 2019     Accepted: 21 May 2019     Published: 11 November 2019
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Abstract

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose construction site hazards with hazards present in typical Ghanaian communities to engender some safety knowledge transfer from construction companies to project host communities as a corporate social responsibility to the construction companies. Design/Methodology/Approach–Fifty-one volunteers who are health and safety professionals in Ghana part took in the survey to determine the common health and safety hazards present in most Ghanaian communities. The identified hazards were compared to typical construction site health and safety hazards identified from the literature. The survey also sought to establish the general health and safety awareness levels among Ghanaian communities. Findings – Findings of the study reveal that H&S awareness in the Ghanaian community is poor, and therefore needs improvement. It also identified 26 construction hazards that are also common in the Ghanaian communities and established that H&S knowledge in the Ghanaian construction industry is more advanced than that of the Ghanaian community. The findings further reveal that the respondent’s perception of poor health and safety in the Ghanaian community was influence by their job positions in the communities. Originality/Value–The poor state of H&S knowledge among Ghanaian communities has been recognized by various researchers, but this study is the first attempt to compare this state with the construction industry and to present a wide-ranging lesson to be learnt from health and safety improvement in the construction industry.

Published in American Journal of Construction and Building Materials (Volume 3, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11
Page(s) 23-29
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health and Safety, Hazards, Ghanaian Construction Industry, Safety Performance

References
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[17] Kartam, N. A., Flood, I., & Koushki, P. (2000). Construction Safety in Kuwait: Issues, Procedures, Problems and Recommendations. Safety Science, 163-184.
[18] Kheni, N. A., Dainty, A. R., & Gibb, A. G. (2008). Health and safety management in developing countries: a study of construction SMEs in Ghana. Construction Management and Economics.
[19] Laryea, S., & Mensah, S. (2010). Health and safety on construction sites in Ghana, The Construction, Building and Real Estate Research Conference of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (pp. 2-3). Paris: Dauphine University.
[20] Nnedinma Umeokafor, (2018) "Community interventions in construction health and safety and the implications: Evidence from Nigeria", Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, Vol. 23 Issue: 3, pp.312-329, https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMPC-10-2017-0041 Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMPC-10-2017-0041.
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  • APA Style

    Williams Justice, Fugar Frank, Adinyira Emmanuel. (2019). Health and Safety Improvement Amongst Ghanaian Communities as A Corporate Social Responsibility of Construction Companies. American Journal of Construction and Building Materials, 3(2), 23-29. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11

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    ACS Style

    Williams Justice; Fugar Frank; Adinyira Emmanuel. Health and Safety Improvement Amongst Ghanaian Communities as A Corporate Social Responsibility of Construction Companies. Am. J. Constr. Build. Mater. 2019, 3(2), 23-29. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11

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    AMA Style

    Williams Justice, Fugar Frank, Adinyira Emmanuel. Health and Safety Improvement Amongst Ghanaian Communities as A Corporate Social Responsibility of Construction Companies. Am J Constr Build Mater. 2019;3(2):23-29. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11,
      author = {Williams Justice and Fugar Frank and Adinyira Emmanuel},
      title = {Health and Safety Improvement Amongst Ghanaian Communities as A Corporate Social Responsibility of Construction Companies},
      journal = {American Journal of Construction and Building Materials},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {23-29},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbm.20190302.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajcbm.20190302.11},
      abstract = {Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose construction site hazards with hazards present in typical Ghanaian communities to engender some safety knowledge transfer from construction companies to project host communities as a corporate social responsibility to the construction companies. Design/Methodology/Approach–Fifty-one volunteers who are health and safety professionals in Ghana part took in the survey to determine the common health and safety hazards present in most Ghanaian communities. The identified hazards were compared to typical construction site health and safety hazards identified from the literature. The survey also sought to establish the general health and safety awareness levels among Ghanaian communities. Findings – Findings of the study reveal that H&S awareness in the Ghanaian community is poor, and therefore needs improvement. It also identified 26 construction hazards that are also common in the Ghanaian communities and established that H&S knowledge in the Ghanaian construction industry is more advanced than that of the Ghanaian community. The findings further reveal that the respondent’s perception of poor health and safety in the Ghanaian community was influence by their job positions in the communities. Originality/Value–The poor state of H&S knowledge among Ghanaian communities has been recognized by various researchers, but this study is the first attempt to compare this state with the construction industry and to present a wide-ranging lesson to be learnt from health and safety improvement in the construction industry.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose construction site hazards with hazards present in typical Ghanaian communities to engender some safety knowledge transfer from construction companies to project host communities as a corporate social responsibility to the construction companies. Design/Methodology/Approach–Fifty-one volunteers who are health and safety professionals in Ghana part took in the survey to determine the common health and safety hazards present in most Ghanaian communities. The identified hazards were compared to typical construction site health and safety hazards identified from the literature. The survey also sought to establish the general health and safety awareness levels among Ghanaian communities. Findings – Findings of the study reveal that H&S awareness in the Ghanaian community is poor, and therefore needs improvement. It also identified 26 construction hazards that are also common in the Ghanaian communities and established that H&S knowledge in the Ghanaian construction industry is more advanced than that of the Ghanaian community. The findings further reveal that the respondent’s perception of poor health and safety in the Ghanaian community was influence by their job positions in the communities. Originality/Value–The poor state of H&S knowledge among Ghanaian communities has been recognized by various researchers, but this study is the first attempt to compare this state with the construction industry and to present a wide-ranging lesson to be learnt from health and safety improvement in the construction industry.
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Author Information
  • Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

  • Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

  • Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

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