Abstract:
A well-trained workforce is the most important pre-requisite to ensure a safe working environment on a construction site and for safety performance of an organization. In order to determine which training is needed for construction workers, supervisors and management, training needs assessment should be carried out. Unfortunately, poor safety practices owing to lack of safety training have badly affected construction industry in Pakistan when rates of occupational injuries and diseases are very high in the industry. For the construction safety training to become effective, training needs for all tiers must be known. Probably, no study in this regards is carried out in Pakistan. The objective of this research is to investigate training needs for workers and various management tiers in the industry. This research is based on a questionnaire survey which was used to collect from clients, consultants and contractors in the industry. For the development of the questionnaire, detailed literature review was carried out and safety training indicators were identified. The assessment of training needs was carried out by finding out the commitments of management, supervisors and workers for these safety training indicators through 44 question statements by using a five point likert scale. The outcome of this assessment helped in defining the pertinent areas of construction safety training for the construction industry. The questionnaire was pilot tested after discussing with the experts in the construction industry as well as academia. Based on a previous research, the sample size was selected which came out to be 96. To get responses, random sampling was adopted and questionnaire was distributed by hand, online, visiting ongoing construction sites and companies involved in civil engineering works in Pakistan. A total of 98 valid responses were analyzed. Various statistical tests were performed on the gathered data to make necessary inferences. Results demonstrate that safety training indicators formulated to find safety training needs in the industry are followed at only 47.15 % with a population mean as 40.3 ≤ μ ≤ 49.8. The most poorly followed safety training indicator was „construction safety management plan‟ followed at only 38.46% along with „safety in the mindset‟ (44.58%). The workers and management show commitment for the training indicator of „accident reporting‟ which is at 62.07% however, needs a lot of improvement in „accident recording and investigation mechanism‟.
