ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS OF SOUTHERN REGION ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The road construction is considered as one of the most hazardous construction sector; here the workers are more prone to accidents. The issue of workplace health and safety is extremely relevant. This study assessed the health and safety considerations of southern region road construction projects. To achieve this objective stratified random sampling method was used in order to constitute the population in to a homogenous group. Seven contractors and six consultant organizations were involved in this study and mainly by using a five point Likert scale questionnaire survey and interview conducted with Ethiopian road authority representatives. The data was checked, edited, and analyzed by using SPSS computer package. The results of the study revealed that there are many occupational safety problems in the road construction industry in Ethiopia. The problems such as little attention is given for the implementation of health and safety policy and organization, less communication and training programs to the employees, lack of documented and organized safety management systems, less provision of appropriate PPE, lack of investigating and recording of occurred accidents on the site. Less implementation of the safety programs on the contract documents. On the other hand, inappropriate or unfamiliar signs used and roadways poorly marked is the most frequently occurred cause of accident and major reason for injury, fatal, non-fatal accidents and property damage. Based on the analysis of results, this study demonstrated that health and safety practice and implementation in southern Ethiopia is poor and the attention given by the stakeholders to the implementations of accident prevention was found unsatisfactory, even though safety was considered in contract documents but not implemented to a reasonable extent.