IDENTIFYING THE CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE WORKERS SAFETY ISSUES DURING NIGHTTIME CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Construction Safety has always been a matter of concern especially in the construction industry of Pakistan. The safety conditions are highly dependent on the nature of the work and the commitment of the management towards the implementation of safety practices. In recent years there has been observed an increased tendency in executing the construction activities during nighttime. It is preferred in order to avoid traffic congestion and other difficulties that commonly arise during daytime as well as for the projects where the completion time of the project is very important. However, construction activities during nighttime introduce some unique and significant hazards that must be proactively addressed to create safe work environment for construction workers. An in-depth literature review identified six aspects related to nighttime construction hazards. These six aspects were characterized by 76 factors. A questionnaire technique was adopted to identify the significance of factors. After pilot testing some amendments were made in the questionnaire. The final questionnaire consisted of 62 factors relating the worker safety on night. Hence, the final questionnaire distributed to 150 construction professionals representing Clients, Consultants and Contractors. The 104 respondents were finally selected for analysis. Relative Importance Index was used to check the importance of each factor and based on that the significance of factors and ranking of the factors was carried out. The overall ranking of the factors showed that safety practices got the least importance in terms of benefit of nighttime construction, the schedule compression being the most important one. Face shield is the only equipment mostly available on site, the availability of all other equipment is rare. The survey results showed that safety supervision was frequently available on site at night. However, the workers’ unsafe behavior in terms of wearing safety garments was the main cause of accident. Whereas, insufficient lighting and fall from height were also critical factors which caused an accident at night. The most critical factors in terms of workers safety for nighttime construction in aspect five were that the workers were not giving importance to the safety practices. While, the visibility issue and insufficient lighting are also significant in creating the hazards for the workers working at night. Regarding aspect six the safety supervisor, health and safety consultant and project managers have been identified as the important persons for implementing the safety practices at night. 7 | P a g e At the end, it was recommended that the construction companies should provide training to the construction workers about the safety practices at night. And also provide them awareness that what could happen if they do not use the equipment for their protection. The companies should also hire the dedicated and skillful technical person on site in order to enforce the implementation of safety practices at night. A sufficient amount of fund should also be included by the client at the bidding stage, so that the contractor can buy the safety equipments for the workers.