Assessment of Safety and Health Laws and Enforcement Practice in Ethiopian Construction Industry: A Case of Selected High-Rise Building Projects in Addis Ababa
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The nature of construction work is dangerous, risky, and needs attention in integrating well-being and
safety management into the entire process. In Ethiopia, the state of occupational safety and health
(OSH) is weak, especially in the construction industry. Compliance with OSH law is one of the
significant factors for OSH improvement; unfortunately, its level is low in Ethiopia. Hence, the
objective of this research was to assess the OSH law & enforcement practice in the Ethiopian
construction industry by taking a case of five Financial Institution high-rise building projects in Addis
Ababa. Of these, four projects were undertaken by Chinese international contractors and one by the
local GC-1 contractor. Questionnaires were distributed to Project Managers, Site Engineers, Safety
Engineers, and Office Engineers from the contractor side, while Resident Engineers of the consultant
side & Client Representatives. Interviews were also conducted with the Foreman of the contractors.
Group discussion was conducted with representatives of the organizations who have a direct and
indirect stake in OSH related to the construction industry. A case study was conducted with the
mentioned five projects. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using descriptive
statistics. Accordingly, the result of the study revealed that all the Chinese international contractors
seem to have relatively better practices and awareness compared to the local contractor. However,
they are doing below the current safety and health (SH) practice of their country. The findings of the
study indicated a significant gap and discrepancies between stakeholders in the project sites in
implementing of OSH law and a lack of enforcement for the implementation of the law by major
stakeholders. The analysis of results from the interviews focus groups, and observations made on the
project sites indicated that lack of commitment on the 'contractor's side as well as lack of follow-up
and enforcement by the consultant, building officer, and labor inspector. Even though there are some
limited fines enacted in the labor law, building proclamation, and building regulations on those who
do not implement OSH properly in project sites, not implemented on the study project sites. It is
recommended to improve the attitude and commitment of stakeholders for SH in construction projects
and carry out regular undeclared visits to project sites by regulatory bodies to enforce the
implementation of OSH. The regulatory body needs to design policies and strategies that ensure the
implementation of OSH enforcement on construction project sites. Also, the contract agreement
recommended that to include a safety budget in
Description
Keywords
Safety, Health, legislation, High-Rise buildings, Financial institutions