Safety Management Practices in Construction Projects of Rawalpindi & Islamabad

Abstract

The Construction Industry (CI) is one of the most accident prone industries of the world, so there is a need to make this industry as safe as possible. There is a different safety management technique which has been used throughout the world especially in developed countries. But most of the countries which are in the development phase like Pakistan lack in this area. There are several reasons behind the high rate of injuries in CI. The first and the most important is the complex nature of this industry. The ignorance in the use of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), the shift work and the stress are some of the reasons for such a rate of accidents in CI. Currently there is no regulatory authority for safety management in Pakistan (like OSHA in USA). The primary construction regulatory body (PEC) has yet to lay down safety laws and regulations, to be adopted by all the stakeholders in CI. Clients demand high speed and high quality of work at the lowest cost. Unsafe conditions exist on many sites and labourers are subjected to numerous hazards. There are no training programs for the staff and workers, hazards are not pointed out and safety meetings are not held on most of the construction sites. These facts not only led to unsafe project sites but have also resulted in construction delays, cost overruns, poor productivity and poor product and process. Hence, there is an urgent need to form a safety regulatory authority, run safety awareness programs; arrange formal and informal education and training in safety for all stakeholders. In addition to it different safety techniques can be used to minimize the risk of injuries. These include the PPEs, Safety policies, pre-task planning and safety guiding sessions. There should be a dedicated department to safety to improve the safety performance at construction sites. The Centaurus is one of the rare projects in Pakistan having such a department. The safety performance of this project is rated relatively high as compare to other projects.