CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The importance of providing safe workplace has been reiterated by various related studies because of the intrinsic hazard and risk factors that undoubtedly underlie every work situation and their negative impact on a company’s overall performance. While risk is the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard, hazard on the other hand refers to the situation or source (which could be biological, chemical, physical or ergonomic) of potential damage to somebody, property or equipment. It is believed that some industries are more hazardous that some others. The construction industry world over, is however considered as one of the most hazardous industry.
The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (2011) claims that one in six fatal accidents at work occur on a construction site. It further stated that no less than 60,000 fatal accidents occur on construction sites around the world every year. Similar conclusions were made by Keller & Keller, (2009) and Injuries Board (2009). The fact that a construction job or work environment is considered as highly risky and hazardous does not mean that its susceptibility to accident is not controllable – this largely depends on “work situation” which is humanly controllable. Safety records in the same construction industry in most advanced countries have proven this to be true. Little wonder Koehn, Ahmed, and Jayanti (2000), Idoro (2008) and Enhassi, Choudhry, Mayer & Shoman (2008) all express similar worry as to why worse safety conditions persist on construction work sites in most developing countries like Nigeria. The irony of the situation is that the causes of accidents are well known and almost all preventable and as other business issues, occupational safety and health (OSH) can be managed in the enterprise (The International Training Centre of the ILO, 2011; Indian Council of Medical Research, 2003) but the reality of it is contrary in practice.
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