Assessment of workers’ safety management practices in Ugandan construction sites. Case study: public and private building construction projects in Central Region

Abstract

This study aimed at establishing workers safety management practices in Ugandan construction sites. Specifically, the objectives were to identify the existence of workers' safety management policies on construction sites in Uganda, to establish the effectiveness of the existing safety policies in construction projects in Uganda and to devise appropriate safety measures for workers safety while at the work place. The study adopted cross-sectional research design using quantitative approaches. In addition, the study used descriptive and analytical methods in order to simplify the meaning of the findings and to assess the findings critically. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 80 potential respondents. The respondents were identified by means of a purposive and random sampling technique, and the data was collected from 80 usable questionnaires. Frequencies and percentages were determined using SPSS software version 16, and RII was used to rank the factors and remedial measures according to their severity and importance. The top most critical factors affected workers safety management practices in Ugandan construction sites were: weak and inadequate policies for construction industry, corruption tendencies and management failure to provide workers with safety rules and procedures. It is recommended that Management must be committed to policy formulation, implementation and promotion of workers safety awareness as safety tool on construction sites, and also Management has to make a deliberate effort to help workers to access policy information.