Level of adherence to safety measures on construction sites in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The construction industry is known to be one of the most hazardous industries in terms of the activities on the construction site and it has poor safety records. In order to have a comprehensive understanding and gainfully benefit from safety measures on site, the causes of accidents and level of adherence to safety rules needed to be examined. Therefore, this research assessed the level of adherence to safety measures on construction sites in Abuja, Nigeria. A well-structured self-administered questionnaire survey of 140 selected firms was conducted in Abuja. Findings showed that the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the most used safety measure on construction site. Using factor analysis, the causes of accidents were classified into three dimensions namely poor safety planning; poor adherence and worker attitude, while safety measures were grouped into five underlying factors: personal protective equipment; effective enforcement; safety prevention mechanism; safety arrangement and safety culture. The study concluded that there is high adherence level to safety measures by the medium and large construction firms in the study area. It is recommended that construction firms should ensure that operatives comply with the prescribed safety and health measures so as to reduce accident occurrence on construction sites.