Safety Practices in School Building Construction (A Case Study of School Construction Projects under NGO and Contractor)
Abstract
Construction safety is a challenging issue in construction industry all around the globe. It is even more of a challenge in a developing country like Nepal, where construction industry is booming so much that the safety aspect is in the shadow. Also, the variety in construction, such as construction of schools, tunnels, high-rise buildings, roads, bridges, etc. add to the complexity of construction industry. Moreover, the construction of schools, through NGOs or contractors or SMCs, further have different working environment and hence there is a challenge of maintaining safety as different approaches have different safety problems. In this work we studied about the safety issues in an NGO (Relief Nepal) led and a Nepalese contractor (Gaura Construction Pvt. Ltd.) led school construction sites, finding out the reasons for safety practices being poor or well and also to assess the ways to improve safety practices. For the study purpose, a field observation was carried out at five school construction sites led by the NGO and other five school construction sites led by the contractor. Data about the use of PPE as safety practice was collected using a checklist survey and the analysis showed that the practice was better in the NGO sites. Further, a questionnaire survey was carried out to identify the reason for better safety practices in the NGO’s construction sites. It was seen that the NGO led sites followed planning part, training & awareness part, first aid & health part, material handling & site management part, implementation part, and labor welfare & motivation part better than those in the contractor led sites. Questionnaire survey was then carried out in those ten sites to explore the ways that could improve the safety practices at a construction site. Safety brief before start of work each day on work site, regular training & awareness related to health & safety to workers and compulsory use of PPE on construction site were identified as best three ways. Finally, a safety-training program was conducted in one of the contractor led sites and the safety practice checklist was carried out again to observe the effects of training. The safety practice
in the site was found to be better than previous observation and the difference was significant.
How to cite this article: Bist GS, Shrestha SK. Safety Practices in School Building Construction (A Case Study of School Construction Projects under NGO and Contractor). J Adv Res Const Urban Arch 2021; 6(3): 19-41.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2456.9925.202107
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