AbstractConstruction is one of the most hazardous industries due to its unique nature. Measured byinternational standards, construction site safety records in China are poor. This paper aims toexamine the status of safety management in the Chinese construction industry, explore therisk-prone activities on construction sites, and identify factors affecting construction sitesafety. 50124
The findings reveal that the behavior of contractors on safety management are of graveconcern, including the lack of provision of personal protection equipment, regular safetymeetings, and safety training. The main factors affecting safety performance include  poorsafety awareness of top management ,  lack of training ,  poor safety awareness of projectmanagers ,  reluctance to input resources to safety  and  reckless operations . The study alsoproposes that the government should play a more critical role in stricter legal enforcement andorganizing safety training programs.  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Keywords: Construction; Occupational accident; Safety; Factor analysis1. IntroductionAll over the world, construction is one of the most hazardous industries due to itsunique nature (Jannadi and Bu-Khamsin, 2002). Construction safety is always agrave concern for both practitioners and researchers. A number of causes influencingsafety performance in the construction industry have been identified that include workers  attitudes (Hinze, 1981); construction company size, safety policy, projectcoordination, and economic pressure (Hinze and Raboud, 1988); managementtraining (Gun, 1993; Jaselskis and Suazo, 1994); and safety culture (Tam and Fung,1998; Glendon and Stanton, 2000; Tam et al., 2001). Measures taken to preventoccupational injuries and improve safety performance have been extensively ex-plored (Laufer and Ledbetter, 1986; Harper and Koehn, 1998). Some of these studies(Fellner and Sulzer-Azaroff, 1984; Mattila and Hyodynmaa, 1988; Laitinen andRuohomaki, 1996) reveal that when goals are posted and feedback is given, thesafety index is significantly higher than that when no feedback is given. Hakkinen(1995) advocated a training program called  one hour for safety management  for topmanagement. The application of the program was successful in drawing manage-ment s attention to safety issues. One study indicates that 83% of projects achieve thezero accident goals after applying the  Zero Accident Program  (Center to ProtectWorkers  Rights, 1993; Hinze and Wilson, 2000).As regards construction safety in China, the record is poor in terms of interna-tional standards. In 1999, 923 site accidents of Grade IV 1and above (each accidentinvolves two fatalities; or 3–19 severe injuries; or 0.1–0.3 million RMB Yuan indirect economic losses) were recorded at countryside construction, in which 1097construction workers lost their lives (China Statistical Yearbook of Construction,2000). The total construction workforce was 24,286,000 in 1999, representing a rateof these Grade I–IV serious site accidents of 3.8 per 100,000 workers. The fatalityrate in these serious accidents is 4.5 per 100,000 workers. This seriously underesti-mates the total fatality rate, as single fatalities are not all reportable. (It is estimatedthat the actual fatality for USA is 15.2 per 100,000 workers according to NIOSH,2003.) This paper describes the findings from a structured questionnaire survey andinterviews on safety management to the Chinese construction industry with thefollowing objectives:• to examine the status of safety management in the industry;• to explore the risk-prone activities on construction sites;• to identify the factors affecting construction site safety; and• to propose suggestions for improving safety performance.2. Background of construction safety in China2.1.
Role of government in construction safetyThe Ministry of Construction takes the overall responsibility in overseeing theconstruction industry in China. It takes the leading role in implementing the newstrategies and policies including preparing development programs, regulating con- struction markets and construction institutions, and monitoring construction safety.The role of the central Ministry is mirrored by the provincial construction depart-ments and those of the independent municipalities. They are charged with the re-sponsibility for construction safety (see Fig. 1).Under powers in the relevant legislation on construction safety, such as  Con-struction Law ,  Inspection Standards for Construction Safety  and  InspectionStandards for Labour Protection in Construction Enterprises , the Ministry ofConstruction annually hires about 50 safety auditors to conduct nationwide safetyaudits. The scope of the audits includes the safety management system of the con-struction firms, labour protection measures, safety pitfalls on construction sites andso on in different provinces or major cities.2.2. Safety management system of construction firmsProtection of labour from occupational diseases and accidents in the constructionindustry of China is defined by law; for example, for construction sites having 50employees or more, main contractors have to nominate a full-time safety inspector;for sites with an area exceeding 10,000 m2there must be 2–3 safety inspectors;wherever the site exceeds 50,000 m2, the main contractor has to establish a safetymanagement team. 施工安全管理因素英文文献和中文翻译:http://www.751com.cn/fanyi/lunwen_53339.html