Evaluation of Health and Safety in the Saudi Arabian Construction Industry 2003- 2013

1. Evaluation of Health and Safety in the Saudi Arabian Construction Industry 2003- 2013

2. Introduction Over the past 30 years, Saudi Arabia has experienced a significant expansion of its construction and development industry (Mahamid, 2013), which currently employs around 15% of the Kingdom’s entire workforce (Al Haadir & Panuwatwanich, 2011). The statistical report released by the Saudi Ministry of Planning in 2009 indicates that between 1980 and 2000, the construction industry contributed around 30% to 40% of non-oil production at the end of each implementation year of the National Development Plan (Al‐Kharashi & Skitmore, 2009). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

3. Source: BMI Infrastructure Key Projects Database Source: BMI Infrastructure Key Projects Database Mohammed Aldhafeeri

4. Mohammed Aldhafeeri

5. Why it is important Humanitarian issue 2. Workers usually come from the poorest countries, they look after their children and families 3. The Saudi Government has been interested in protecting workers since 1983 (ILO,2013). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

6. Qasim, 9 died. Najran, 1 died. Makkah, 1 died, 18 injured Riyadh, 3 died, 11 injured. Mohammed Aldhafeeri

7. Health and Safety in the Construction industry: The construction sites are considered as the riskiest workplace, according to the nature of the work (working in the height, installations, electrical tools… etc). The risk of a death is five times higher in this industry than it is in manufacturing-based businesses, and there is a two and a half times greater risk that employees working on construction projects will suffer a major injury (Davies & Tomasin, 1996). Workplace safety is a key concern for construction organizations all over the world. In the USA, in 2013, there were 828 fatal work-related injuries in the construction sector, with an increase of 32 (3%) on the previous year (BLS, 2015). In the UK, 42 people died as a result of construction-related injuries between 2013 and 2014 and 1,900 people suffered serious injuries in construction accidents in the UK between 2013 and 2015 (HSE, 2014). In Australia, the death toll associated with construction accidents reached 256 people in 2013 (Hashem, Omar, & Yahya, 2013). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

8. Health and safety in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia: All data has been gathered from General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) Mohammed Aldhafeeri

9. Health and safety in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia: The comparison with other industries: Mohammed Aldhafeeri

10. Health and safety in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia: The comparison with other industries: Mohammed Aldhafeeri

11. The cost of accidents in the construction industry assumed that the cost of accidents in the industry is roughly 40% to 50% of the total cost, because the proportion of the construction accidents is based on 40% to 50% of the total accidents in the all industries in Saudi Arabia. . Mohammed Aldhafeeri

12. Kinds of accidents at construction sites Falling from heights has been considered as the most common accidentin Saudi Arabia Construction industry Mohammed Aldhafeeri

13. Figure 7. Numbers of fatal injuries to employees, in the UK from 1974 to 2014. (HSE, 2014) Mohammed Aldhafeeri

14. Accident rates: Gammon Construction Limited (GCL) compared to Hong Kong Construction Industry (HKCI), (Choudhry et al., 2008). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

15. Theories of Accident Causes: There are many theories: Heinrich’s domino theory (1930) summarizes it in 5 steps Mohammed Aldhafeeri

16. The Accident Root Causes Tracing Model (ARCTM) by (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000), This tool is used by construction accident investigators to determine the first cause of a mishap or mistake by asking questions about the workplace. Mohammed Aldhafeeri

17. Distal and Proximal Factor, by (Suraji, A., Duff, A. R., & Peckitt, S. J. (2001). Distal factors are external restrictions, such as limitations in a project design or management, which lead stakeholders to work in an unsafe way. These limitations include elements affecting the social, political and economic environment in which the project is conducted, the firm’s management, and the individuals involved. Meanwhile, proximal factors refer to elements such as unsuitable construction preparations, construction management, construction processes, site environments, and operative actions. These can be recognized as the direct causes of accidents at construction sites. Mohammed Aldhafeeri

18. Factors affecting health and safety Studies and papers in this field are extremely low. Data is also very poor and difficult to find Mohammed Aldhafeeri

19. Safety Motivation Safety Behaviour Safety Outcomes Safety Climate Al-Haadir et al. (2013) have their own construction safety theory. They argue that a safety climate (SC) facilitates the link between safety motivation (SM) and safety behaviour (SB) in Saudi construction employees. The final model of construction safety, adopted from (Al-Haadir et al., 2013). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

20. One of the study’s objective is to examine the understanding, practice and awareness of health and safety issues at construction sites in Saudi Arabia by using semi-structured interviews. 8 participants have been interviewed and they all have different disciplines, experience and areas of work. Mohammed Aldhafeeri

21. Summary Health and Safety in the construction is extremally poor More than 390,000 accidents Accident rate, 35 per 1000 workers Injuries cost about US 461 million, (Assumed). Mohammed Aldhafeeri

22. Recommendation: Total Quality Management Top management Safety climate Training Lean approaches (5S, Visual Management) Regulation Teamwork and leadership Mohammed Aldhafeeri

23. THANK YOU Mohammed Aldhafeeri

24. Personal Details Phone No. +966506599842 Email; m.aldafery@gmail.com Twitter; @maldafiri Mohammed Aldhafeeri