For organisations looking to compete and produce very good products at reduced cost using safe and conducive processes, occupational health and safety is a very significant resource (Machabe and Indermun, 2013). There are important reasons for the need for the effective health and safety management in construction industry, which could lead to either eradicating or reducing work-related accidents and ill health. Among these are (Health and Safety Authority, 2006):
2.6.1 Legal Reasons
It is a legal requirement for employers to make sure their workers are healthy and safe as much as is practically possible and to regulate their work duties such that their safety is still being ensured. This requires that business owners are proactive when it comes to the management of health, safety and well-being tasks and deal with them in a methodical manner. Employers can be aided in the development of their health and safety through
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this guidance, as it gives recommendations on the management of health and safety, thereby helping them to adhere with the law.
2.6.2 Economic Reasons
Aside from minimising the production cost as a result of ill heath, efficient health and safety management improves organisation’s performance. Several incidents which occur at work that could make workers miss three or more days of work tend to raise the business’s cost of production. Over one million work days are lost as a result of work- induced illnesses and traumas which are hard to quantify due as they tend to have long latency periods. The causes of the incidents and mishaps are usually due to failings in the management of occupational health and safety within businesses. According to Alli (2008), the economic cost of work-related accidents and mortality is very high, at the industrial, national and global level. If training, interruptions to work, disruptions to production, medical expenses, etc. are taken into account; their total estimate result in a loss which is almost equivalent to four percent of global GNP annually.
The amount spent by some OECD nations on compensation was estimated to be $122 billion in 1997, as well as a loss of 500 million work days due to mishaps and ill health. If property losses from accidents, and more specifically major industrial accidents, are included, studies suggest that insured losses are approximately US $5 billion annually and are on the increase (Mitchell, 1996). Moreover, these figures are based mainly on acute and intensive events and do not include uninsured losses, delayed losses associated with acute events such as oil and other toxic chemical spills, or the environmental impact and losses caused by chronic industrial pollution. In addition, according to the Government of Vietnam (2006), the total annual cost to the EU of work-related injuries and ill health in 2001 was estimated at between €185 and €270 billion, or between 2.6
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per cent and 3.8 per cent, of the EU’s GNP. In comparison, the cost of occupational accidents in Vietnam for 2006 was estimated at US $3 billion.
2.6.3 Moral and Ethical Reasons
The proactive management of safety and health in the workplace helps organisations such as construction industries prevent injuries and ill health at work. This guidance should enable companies to minimise the personal loss brought about by mishaps and ill health at work.
2.6.4 Outdate Of the Manual Methods
Another important reason for the need of occupational health and safety management lies in the fact stated by Al-Kilani (2011) that the manual methods used on construction industries are fast giving way to mechanical methods in the effort to increase productivity. The numerous new construction materials that are being introduced into the industry meet the tight schedules and targets placed by clients’ demands, implement control measures required to bring projects on track, and ensure effective and efficient utilization of the numerous resources involved in the construction of projects. To this end, in these construction industries, new plant and equipment are being developed and produced regularly in response to the needs of the industry.
The introduction and use of these new equipment and plants increase occupational injuries and health-related problems (Seeley, 1996). To curtail this, there is need for employees or workers’ safety and health management (Al-Kilani, 2011) as the increasing use of mechanization of construction work in a positive way can speed up construction. Furthermore, it reduces the overall cost of construction and, in a negative way, can also increase susceptibility of workers to injuries and health-related problems caused by the modernized plants and machines. Studies such as those by Kartam (1997) and Al-Kilani
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(2011) have revealed that mechanization goes with hazards as the use of plant and equipment is prone to accidents and injuries. Also, the construction sector is one of the most hazardous sectors globally.
Moreover, according to Idoro (2011), despite the numerous advantages gained from the use of mechanizations such as plant and equipment in the construction industry, its use has several disadvantages. These include the hazards associated with the increased use of mechanisation, and major concerns about the impact of mechanisation on OHS are very important if this industry is to achieve its main objectives. Hence the affirmation by Idoro (2011) that increased mechanisation can lead to increased numbers and severity of accidents and injuries, which will have adverse effects on OHS in construction sites. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (2006) investigated the causes of occupational accidents and injuries in the construction industry in Scotland; however, the occupational safety and health performance of the Scottish construction industry was at the end of the study compared with those if the OHS performance of the construction industry of the UK. Notably, the result of the HSE found that, for a period of four years, (1996–2000), the Scottish construction workers suffered 835 fatal and major injuries per 100,000 workers compared to 552 injuries reported in the rest of the construction industry in the UK.
Furthermore, Machabe and Indermun (2013) have stated that there is a link between human behaviour and workplace safety. In reality, people are different and their values differ; what others hold with high esteem might be considered insignificant by others. Some people derive pleasure from engaging in risky behaviour while others guard vigilantly against risks. Organisations must endeavour to develop a safe and secure workplace framework. Having a strong workplace framework would will assist
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organistaions in creating a safe and secure work environment. Thus, it could be argued that the high rate of occupational injuries and accidents and hazards in the Nigerian construction industry show that the available framework for managing health and safety has not proven. To be thus effective, there is a need for this study to provide a more efficient framework towards enhancing the health and safety management in the Nigeria construction industry.