Effects of Poor Plants Management and Operators’ Behaviour on Construction Site Health and Safety Performance

Abstract

The construction work site is often a chaotic place with an incredible high amount of action taking place. Workers and machines move about in frenzy manner, with everyone focused on the task at hand. In such working environment, accidents can and do happen. This study seeks to evaluate the extent to which poor plant management and operators’ behaviour contributes to construction site accidents and incidents. The review of relevant literature provides the platform for the structured questionnaire survey, which was administered to site managers, supervisors and plant operators within the South-South Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This was followed by interviews conducted with five (5) construction companies operating within Benin City in Edo State and Warri in Delta State. The findings from questionnaire survey indicated that inadequate plant maintenance, poor supervision and untrained operators are major factors contributing to plants and equipment accidents. It was further revealed that alcohol and drug use among plant operators contribute to their unsafe behaviour on sites. Results of the interviews conducted with the sites managers and operators also revealed that there is a general lack of commitment and poor leadership among the management of contracting firms particularly the small and medium sized contractors. The paper therefore, concludes that contracting firms whether large or small should demonstrate visible commitment towards the maintenance and training of plant operators. Regular maintenance of available plants, machineries and retraining of operators should be a core value to the contractors.