Management and Economics of Construction Safety in Hong Kong

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTROCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTROCTION

SAFETY IN

HONG KONG

s.W. Poon s. L. Tang Francis K. W. Wong

.w ~ * "

ill

wa

if±.

HONG KONG UNIVERSITY PRESS

Hong Kong University Press 141F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong

© Hong Kong University Press 2008 ISBN 978-962-209-906-7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means , electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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Secure On-line Ordering http://www.hkupress.org

Printed and bound by Colorprint Production Ltd. , Hong Kong, China

CONTENTS

Preface

vii

Chapter 1

Construction Accident Statistics

Chapter 2

Factors Affecting Effectiveness of Safety Programmes and Safety Performance on Construction Sites

33

Chapter 3

Construction Safety Management Systems

51

Chapter 4

Construction Safety Legislation in Hong Kong

63

Chapter 5

Safety Auditing and Its Use in Proactive Prevention of Accidents

75

Chapter 6

Construction Accident Investigation

87

Chapter 7

Role of the Site Supervisor

105

Chapter 8

Financial Costs of Construction Accidents and Optimum Safety Investment

119

Chapter 9

Social Costs of Construction Accidents and the Impact of Safety Investment on Social Costs

131

Chapter 10

Human Pain and Suffering Costs of Construction Accidents

147

About the Authors

1

171

PREFACE

Notwithstanding the many efforts and achievements made over the past 10 years or so, construction safety in Hong Kong has remained an issue to all stakeholders in the construction industry, including developers , contractors , subcontractors, supervisors , workers , the government as well as the general public. In 1998, the accident rate per 1,000 workers reached a record high of 247.9; this figure dropped to 60.6 in 2007. Similarly, the number of construction accidents has shown a consistent and gradual decline since 1998, from 19,588 in that year to 3,042 in 2007 , the lowest in the past 10 years. However, construction accidents in 2007 accounted for 18.9% of all industrial accidents in Hong Kong, and on comparing the accident rate (60.6) with the corresponding rate of 29.3 for all industries , construction is more accident-prone with the highest accident and fatality rates among all industries in Hong Kong (Occupational Safety and Health Statistics 2007 , Labour Department). This book addresses the concern for construction safety in Hong Kong, and is intended to provide a useful reference to practitioners in the field as well as students in undergraduate/postgraduate studies. The book draws upon available literature on the subject and results of recent research studies , and provides comprehensive information and analysis on various aspects of construction safety management and economics , including safety programmes and their performance , safety management systems , safety legislation, safety

- - - - - vi i i

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

auditing, accident investigation, site supervision, and financial costs, social costs, and human pain and suffering costs of construction accidents. The book consists of two parts, the management and economics of construction safety. Chapter 1 provides the background for the subsequent chapters. Chapters 2 to 7 focus on the discussion of construction safety management, and the last three chapters, Chapters 8 tolO , are concerned with the monetary and non-monetary costs of construction accidents. Chapter 1 begins by giving an overview of construction accident statistics in the five Asian countries or regions, namely Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. The data are also compared with the data from the UK. Hong Kong has recorded significant progress during the period, but still has the highest accident rate and fatality rates among the six places. Chapter 2 reports on three research studies carried out in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the UK, with an aim to examining the problems and difficulties encountered in the implementation of safety programmes and to offer some possible solutions. Chapter 3 describes the construction safety management system as required under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation, and reports on a survey which aimed to solicit feedback and difficulties from companies in implementing safety management in Hong Kong. In Chapter 4, the background and the recent development of construction safety-related legislation in Hong Kong are introduced. Chapter 5 discusses the use of safety auditing as a tool to measure the performance or the effectiveness of safety management, and concludes from the results of a survey that safety auditing should be used in the proactive prevention of accidents. In Chapter 6, some methods of accident investigation together with the types of reports used are presented. Chapter 7 discusses the role of the site supervisor in safety management of a construction site. Chapter 8 discusses the financial costs of construction accidents , and concludes from the results of a research study that the optimum safety investment on a building project in Hong Kong is about 0.8% of the contract sum. Chapter 9 discusses the social costs of construction accidents and the impact of safety investment on social costs , and based on a research study, has come up with the "social cost reduction to safety investment increment ratio" indicating an upward trend in social safety investment and a corresponding downward trend in social costs. An estimate of the human pain and suffering costs of construction accidents is presented in Chapter 10.

ENT

1

Introduction This chapter presents the construction accident statistics of Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. Data from relevant organizations' reports have been extracted for study. Reference will also be made to the data from the UK.

2

Construction accidents in five Asian countries or regions The construction accident statistics recorded since 1997 in Hong Kong are reviewed with those available in the region including Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. These countries or regions have been chosen because of their close vicinity and their comparable performance in economy (Table 1). Some of them have provided only basic data while others have included more details. In many cases , the statistics have been interpreted indirectly such as by backward calculation, and their correctness rests entirely with the authors. As far as possible, the original terms and descriptions will be retained when quoted. Finally the overall data will be compared with those

2

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

available in the UK where the construction industry can be regarded as a developed and mature one. Table 1 Estimated population and nominal GOP per capita. Countryl Region

Estimated population in 2006/07 (million)

Nominal GDP in 2007 (US$ per capita)

127.8 48.2 4.7 23.0 7.0 60.6

40,044 16,797 29,475 16,243 29,296 40,674

Japan South Korea Singapore Taiwan Hong Kong UK

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki

2.1

Japan

2.1 .1

Defin ition

According to reports published by the Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association,japan had a total of 5.6 million construction workers in 2006 , representing about 12% of the entire industrial workforce of 63.8 million people. With 26,872 accidents and 508 fatalities recorded, the construction industry accounted for 22% of all industrial accidents and 35% of fatal cases. The accident rate per 1,000 workers is calculated as the number of casualties per 1,000 workers in a year, involving four days of absence or longer. The number of accidents in the construction industry and in all industries during the 10-year period 1997-2006 is shown in Table 2. Table 2 Accident rates in Japan 1997-2006. 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Construction industry

41,688 (0.266)

38,117 (0.257)

35,310 (0.257)

33,599 (0.251 )

32,608 (0.244)

All industries

156,726

148,2 48

137,316

133,948

133,598

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Construction industry

30,650 (0.243 )

29,263 (0.233 )

28,414 (0.231 )

27,193 (0.226)

26,872 (0.221 )

All industries

125,918

125,75 0

122,804

120,354

121,378

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou.or.jp)

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

3

In Table 2, the figures in brackets represent the ratio of number of accidents in the construction industry to number of accidents in all industries. This ratio has declined slightly yet steadily from 0.266 in 1997 to 0.221 in 2006. Besides depicting the accident rate per 1,000 workers, the frequency of accidents is also presented as the number of workers killed or injured by accidents per million working hours. The figure is calculated by dividing the number of casualties (multiplied by 1,000,000) in accidents that have occurred during the statistical period by the total number of working hours of all workers exposed to danger in the same period. The formula is shown below. Frequency =

Number of casualties

-------------

Total No. of working hours

x 1,000 ,000

Table 3 shows the frequency of accidents per million working hours. A big drop has been registered in the construction industry in 2005, and the figure indicates a slightly upward trend in the recent few years. The figure for all industries, on the other hand, has relatively small fluctuations during the 10-year period. Table 3 Frequency of accidents per million working hours in Japan 1997-2006. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Construction industry

1.11

1. 32

1.44

1.10

1.61

1.04

1.60

1.77

0.97

1.55

All industries

1.75

1.72

1.80

1.82

1.79

1.77

1.78

1.85

1.95

1.90

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou.or.jp)

Serious accidents have also been on the decline in]apan. By definition, serious accidents are those involving death, injury or disease affecting three or more workers while working on a single occasion. The severity rate is represented by the number of lost working days per 1,000 working hours. The figure is determined by dividing the number of lost working days (multiplied by 1,000) during the statistical period by the total number of working hours of all workers exposed to danger in the same period. The formula is as follows: Severity rate

Number of lost working days

= ---------------

Total number of working hours

x 1,000

4

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The lost working days for death cases is taken as 7,500 days. If disability is involved it will be assessed based on the degree of disability as shown below. Table 4 Degree of disability and lost working days. Degree of disability lost working days Degree of disability lost working days

1-3

4

5

6

7

8

7,500

5,500

4,000

3,000

2,200

1,500

9

10

11

12

13

14

1,000

600

400

200

100

50

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou.or.jp)

In case of injuries involving no disability, the following formula is used: Working days lost

=

No. of days absent from work x (300/365)

Table 5 illustrates the severity rate of construction accidents and of all industries in Japan between 1997 and 2006. The severity rate for the construction industry in 2005 was significantly reduced. Comparing the rates in the construction industry with the rates in all industries, the construction industry is indeed more hazardous. Table 5 Severity rates of accidents in Japan 1997-2006. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Construction Industry

0. 3 7

0.39

0.30

0.70

0.47

0.28

0.25

0.57

0.14

0.37

All industries

0.16

0.14

0.14

0.18

0.18

0.12

0.12

0.12

0.12

0.12

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou.or.jp)

2.1.2

Accident rates and death rates 1997-2006 Table 6 presents a summary of accident rates and death rates in Japan's construction industry for the period 1997 to 2006. The number of accidents per 1,000 workers has dropped consistently, and the accident rate per million working hours has also shown a downward trend albeit with certain fluctuations. The death rate has fluctuated between 0.19 and 0.13 person per 1,000 workers.

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

5

Table 6 Construction accidents and deaths in Japan 's construction industry

1997-2006.

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

41,688

38,117

35,310

33,599

32,608

Number of deaths

848

725

794

731

644

Number of workers (10,000)

563

548

544

533*

526*

No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

6.7

6.3

6.5

6.3

6.2

Accidents per million working hours

1.11

1.32

1.44

1.1

1.61

1.5

1.3

1.5

1.8

1.9

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

30,650

29,263

28,414

27,193

26,872

Number of deaths

607

548

594

497

508

Number of workers (10,000)

503*

488*

498*

n/a

n/a

No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

6.1

6.0

6.0

5.8

n/a

Accidents per million working hours

1 .04

1 .61

n/a

n/a

n/a

1.8

1.5

1.3

n/a

n/a

Number of labour accidents

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

Number of labour accidents

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou .or.jp) * estimates n/a not available

2.1.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in construction

Table 7 categorises the occurrence of deaths in construction in Japan in 1997, 2003 and 2006. The frequency of the various causes for fatalities has remained about the same. Fall from height has ranked the most severe cause with about 40% of all fatal cases. Other important causes are mainly due to hazards arising from crushing by moving objects or materials such as automobiles, machines, flying or falling objects and soils. The risks leading to fatalities

6

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

also include collapse of temporary works and contact with electricity, which are characteristic of construction sites. Table 7 Categorization of occurre nce of accident deaths in Japan 's construction industry 1997, 2003 and 2006.

Category

Number in 1997

Rank in 1997

Number in 2003

Rank in 2003

Number in 2006

Rank in 2006

Fall from height

359 (42.3%)

Construction machinery, etc.

127 (15.0%)

2

76 (13.9%)

2

70 (13.8%)

2

Automobiles, etc.

11 7 (13.8%)

3

75 (13.7%)

3

67 (13.2 %)

3

Flying and falling objects

56 (6.6%)

4

26 (4. 7%)

6

35 (6.9%)

4

Collapsing of soil

35 (4.1 %)

5

32 (5 .8%)

4

20 (3 .9%)

6

Construction of temporary works and facilities

30 (3.5%)

6

31 (5 .7%)

5

30 (5 .9%)

5

Electricity

26 (3 .1 %)

7

4 (0. 7%)

7

4 (0. 8%)

7

Others

97 (11.4%)

68 (12 .4%)

90 (17.7%)

Total

848 (100%)

548 (100%)

508 (100%)

1.5

1.5

n/a

No. of deaths per 10,000 employees/ workers n/a

23 6 (43.1 %)

190 (37 .4%)

not available

Source: Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industry 2007, Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (www.kensaibou .or.jp)

2.2

South Korea

2.2.1

Definition

In 2005 the total number of construction workers in South Korea was slightly in excess of2.1 million, and 15,918 accidents and 609 fatalities were recorded, representing 18.6% of accidents and 24.4% of fatalities of all industries respectively. In South Korea an accident is defined as an event which causes an injury to a worker who requires more than 3 days absence from work.

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

2.2.2

7

Accident rates and death rates 1996-2005

According to reports of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) , the number of accidents and deaths in construction is shown in the following table. Table 8 Construction accidents and deaths in South Korea 1996-2005. 1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

19,762

18,291

13, 172

10,955

13,35 9*

Number of deaths

789

798

650

583

614

Number of workers (10,000)

245

254

179

181

219 *

No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

8.1

7.2

7.3

6.0

6.1

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

3 .2

3 .1

3 .6

3 .2

2.8

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

16,771

19,92 5

22 ,680

18,896

15, 918

Number of deaths

659

667

762

779

609

Number of workers (10,000)

244

277

263

201

213

No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

6.9

7.2

8.6

9.4

7. 5

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

2.7

2.4

2.9

3 .9

2.9

Number of labour accidents

Number of labour accidents

Source: Statistics on industrial accidents and occupational diseases, Korea Occupational Safety and Health agency (www.kosha .or.kr); Lee, 2000; Lee, 2005; Jung, 2005; Kim, 2003 *

estimates

Construction accidents and deaths were at the lowest in 1999, which were due to the shrinkage in construction activities following the economic and financial crisis in 1997. With the gradual recovery of the economy, the figures have gone up in the 2000s. It should be noted that the death rate was reduced from 0.38 in 1994 to 0.24 in 2002 but rose again since 2003. 2.2.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident victims and deaths in construction

The following table categorizes the occurrence of accident victims and deaths in 2003. The number of deaths due to fall from height is more than half of all fatal cases. The other causes are similar to those in Japan, with

8

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

the exception that occupational disease is included here and is the second major cause for death. Table 9 Categorization of occurrence of accident victims and deaths in South Korea's construction industry 2003. Category

Accidents in 2003

Ranking

Deaths in 2003

Ranking

Dropping/Fall from height

7,117 (3 1.4%)

Turnover

3, 928 (17.3%)

2

20 (2.6%)

5

Falling and flying objects

3,421 (15.1 %)

3

48 (6.3 %)

3

Caught in

2,597 (11.5%)

4

16 (2.1 %)

6

Collision

2, 506 (11.0%)

5

13 (1.7%)

7

Collapse and destruction

442 (1.9%)

6

47 (6.2 %)

4

Occupational disease

3 98 (1.7%)

7

124 (16.3%)

2

Electric shock

291 (1.3%)

8

47 (6.2 %)

4

Others Total No. of accidents per 1,000 workers/No. of deaths per 10,000 workers

3 86 (50.6%)

1,981 (8.8%)

61 (8.0%)

22,680 (100%)

762 (100%)

8.6

2.9

Source: Lee, 2005

2.3

Singapore

2.3.1

Definition

In 2006, Singapore had a total of about 254,500 workers employed in the construction sector, roughly 10% of the nation's labour force. A total of2 ,415 persons were injured or killed in construction accidents. In Singapore, an accident is one which causes loss of life to a person, or disables a person from work for more than 3 days, or causes an injury to a person resulting in the person being detained in a hospital for at least 24 hours for observation or treatment. The frequency rate is defined by the following formula: Frequency rate

Total number of accidents

= --------------

Total number of manhours worked

x 1,000,000

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

9

The frequency rates in the construction, shipbuilding and repairing, and other fa ctories are shown in the table below. Table 10 Acc ide nt freque ncy rates per million man hours in Singa pore

1997- 2006. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Construction

3.0

2.7

2.8

2.6

2.8

2.8

2.7

3.0

3.0

3.5

Shipbuilding and re pairing

7.3

6. 1

5. 1

3.8

4 .1

3.1

3.4

3.0

2.8

2.2

Other factories

2.1

2.0

2.0

1 .8

1 .9

1 .7

1 .7

1.8

1.6

1.3

All industries

2.6

2.5

2.4

2. 1

2.3

2.2

2.2

2.2

2. 1

1.9

Source: Annual Report 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg) In the p eriod 1997-2006 , the accid ent frequency r a te was w ors t in shipbuilding and repairing, but significant improvement can be seen in the last five years. The construction industry ranked second in terms of accident frequency rate, but relatively little progress has been achieved throughout the period. As in Japan, Singapore has also tabulated the severity ra te though the components are not exactly the same. Severity rate

=

Total mandays lost Total number of manhours worked

x 1,000 ,000

Table 11 Severity rates in Singa pore 1997- 2006.

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Construction

968

84 6

64 7

65 4

405

553

5 10

536

403

272

Shipbuilding and repairing

840

708

680

552

72 4

394

454

830

1 75

257

Other factories

196

141

13 1

1 76

129

156

163

183

161

86

All industries

466

4 16

337

349

256

299

288

340

227

125

Source: Annual Report 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg) According to Table 11 , the severity rate in construction peaked in 1997 and dropped since then to its lowest in 2006. A very significant drop has been

10

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

recorded in the shipbuilding and repairing industry in 2005. In Singapore the accidents are further classified into three categories a ccording to the degree of injury, i. e., temporary disablement , permanent disablement and fatal cases , as illustrated in Table 12.

Table 12 Categorization of constru ction acc ide nts in Singa pore 1997-2 006. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006* Temporary disablement

1,41 7

1,414

1,412

1,309

1,404

1,273

1,133

1,1 73

1,258

2,364

Permanent disablement

49

51

44

37

24

26

29

19

20

27

Fatal cases

72

67

48

49

27

38

31

24

22

24

Fatal no.

72

73

51

52

28

39

32

30

24

24

1,538

1,532

1,504

1,395

1,455

1,337

1, 193

1,2 16

1,300

2,415

Total

The figures are victim-based Source: Annual Report 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg)

*

2.3.2

Accident rates and death rates 1997-2006 Table 13 show s the a ccident r a tes p er 1 ,000 w orkers a nd per million w orking hours , and deaths per 1,000 w orkers in Singapore b etween 1997 and 2006.

Table 13 Constru ction acc ide nts a nd deaths in Singa pore 1997- 2006. 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Number of labour accidents

1,538

1,532

1,5 04

1,395

1,4 55

Number of deaths/death cases

72/72

73/67

5 1/4 8

52/4 9

28/27

Number of workers (10,000)

2 1.4

21.3

19.7

2 0.0

18 .4

Accidents per 1,000 workers

7.2

7.2

7.6

7.0

7.9

Accidents per million working hours

3 .0

2.7

2 .8

2 .6

2.8

3 .4/3 .1

2.6/2 .4

2 .6/2 .5

1. 5/1.5

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers 3 .4/3 .4

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Number of labour accidents

1,337

1,193

1,2 16

1,300

2,415*

Number of deaths/death cases

39/38

32/3 1

30/24

24/22

24124

Number of workers (10,000)

17.2

15 .6

14.8

18.4

25.5

Accidents per 1,000 workers

7.8

7.6

8.2

7.1

9.5*

Accidents per million working hours

2.8

2.7

3 .0

3 .0

3 .5

Number of deaths/death cases per 10,000 workers

2.3/2.2

2.112.0

2.0/ 1 .6

1.3/1.2

0.9/ 0.9

11

Source: Annual Report 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom .gov.sg) The figures are victim-based *

The two accident rates have shown little or no improvement over the period, however, the death rate has been reduced substantially since 1999. 2.3.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in construction

Table 14 categorizes the occurrence of accident deaths in 1998 and 2006. In both years, deaths caused by fall from height have accounted for more than half of all construction accident deaths , while cases due to struck by falling objects rank second. Table 14 Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in 1998 and 2006 in Singapore's construction industry. Category

Number in 1998

Rankin 1998

Number in 2006

Rankin 2006

Fall from height

34 (5 0.7%)

Struck by falling objects

14 (20.9%)

2

5 (20.8%)

2

Step on/strike against object

9 (13.4%)

3

1 (4.2%)

4

Electrocution

4 (6.0%)

4 2 (8.3%)

3

Caught in or between objects Others Total Deaths per 10,000 workers

15 (62.5%)

6 (9.0%)

1 (4.2%)

67 (100%)

24 (100%)

3.4

0.9

Source: Annual Report 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom .gov.sg)

12

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

2.4

Taiwan

2.4.1

Definition

In 2006, the number of construction workers in Taiwan was around 830,000 which was about 8% of the total workforce. However, the fatality and accident rates were about three times of those for all industries (see Table 15). Table 15 Fatality rates per 1,000 workers in Taiwan 1999-2006. 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Construction

0.203

0.22 3

0.210

0.188

0.175

0.1 31

0.172

0.161

Manufacturing

0.078

0.063

0.067

0.059

0.041

0.0 30

0.03 8

0.035

Mining and Quarrying

0.729

0.517

0.489

0.524

0 .3 56

0.190

0.198

All industries

0.085

0.077

0.065

0.055

0.044

0.045

0.038

0.069

Source: Statistics of occupational injuries, Industrial Safety and Health Association of Taiwan (www.isha .org.tw)

The accident rate used in Taiwan refers to absence of workers from work for 3 days or more due to any disease, injury, disabilities or death caused by building structures , equipment, raw materials , etc. in the place of employment, or as a result of the performance of duty or other occupational causes. The rate of injury or illness , disability and death is shown in Table 16. Table 16 Rates of injury, disability and death per 1,000 workers in Taiwan 1999-2006.

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

10.33

12.14

12.30

11.79

12.13

12.57

12.03

12.51

Disability

0.96

1.03

1.07

1.02

0.84

0.81

0.77

0.72

Death

0.20

0.22

0.21

0.19

0.18

0.13

0.17

0.16

13.4

13.6

13.0

13.1

13.5

13.0

13.4

5.0

4.9

4.7

4.6

4.6

4.4

4.5

Injury or illness

Total in construction Total for all industries

11.5 4.4

Source: Statistics of occupational injuries, Industrial Safety and Health Association of Taiwan (www.isha .org.tw)

2.4.2

Accident rates and death rates 1994-2005

Based on the reports of the Industrial Safety and Health Association of Taiwan OSHA), information relevant to construction accidents in Taiwan is compiled

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

13

in the table below. The accident rate has remained at a high level since 1995. Over the years the death rate has been around 2 workers per 10,000 workers , and in 2004 a remarkably improved death rate of 1.3 was recorded. Table 17 Construction accidents and deaths in Taiwan's construction industry

1994-2005. 1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

5,230*

4,734

4,962

5,531

6,750

8,257

186

176

160

188

183

146

Number of site workers (10,000)

88.66

84. 54

75.66

72.47

72.08

71.08

Number of accidents per 1,000 workers (injury + disability + death)

5.9

5.6

6.6

7.6

9.4

11.5

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

2.1

2.1

2.1

2.6

2.5

2.0

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Number of labour accidents

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Number of deaths

n/a

n/ a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Number of site workers (10,000)

n/a

n/ a

n/a

n/a

72 *

n/a

Number of accidents per 1,000 workers (injury + disability + death)

13.4

13.6

13.0

13.1

12.6

13.0

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers

2.2

2.1

1.9

1.8

1.3

1.7

Number of labour accidents Number of deaths

Source: Statistics of occupational injuries, Industrial Safety and Health Association of Taiwan (www.isha.org.tw) estimates * n/a not available

2.4.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in construction Table 18 depicts the ranking of causes of accident deaths in 1998 and 1999 in Taiwan , and the results are quite similar for both years. Fall from height has ranked top of the list with a frequency below 40%. Taiwan has also recorded the highest number of deaths due to contact with electricity.

- - - - - 14

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 18 Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in Taiwan 's construction industry 1998 and 1999. Category

Deaths in 1998

Rank in 1998

Deaths in 1999

Rank in 1999

Falling from height

65 (3 4. 5%)

Electrical accident

33 (17.4%)

2

18 (12.4%)

2

Collapsing, cave-in

17 (9.0%)

3

11 (9.4%)

3

Flying and falling objects

16 (8. 5%)

4

3 (6. 3%)

4

Crashed

14 (7.4%)

5

12 (3 .7%)

6

Tumble

4 (2.1 %)

6

4 (4.7%)

5

Others

39 (2 0.7%)

Total Death rates per 10,000 workers

54 (3 7.2%)

44 (3 0.1 %)

188 (100%)

146 (100%)

2. 5

2.0

Source: Yu, 2000

2.5

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

2.5.1

Definition

In 2006 the number of construction workers in Hong Kong was reduced to around 52,900 compared to the peak of 81,000 in 1997 due to prolonged stagnant construction activities. Likewise, the total number of workers for all industries shrank to 549,100 from 787 ,000 in 1995. Continuing the downward trend, the accident rate in 2006 went down to 64 per 1,000 workers, accounting for 20% of all industrial accidents. However, 62% of all fatal accidents happened on construction sites. In Hong Kong an accident in an industrial undertaking is one which results in the death of a person, serious bodily injury to a person or the incapacity for a period exceeding 3 days immediately following the accident of a person, and must be reported to the Commissioner of Labour in accordance with the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. The accident rate per 1,000 workers in the construction industry is calculated by: Number of all industrial accidents in the construction industry Total number of manual workers at construction sites

x 1,000

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

15

(Occupational Safety and Health Statistics 2006 , published by Occupational Safety and Health Branch, Labour Department, October 2007) The number of manual workers refers to the data published in the Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics of the Census and Statistics Department. The figure does not include workers engaged in the construction of village-type houses in the New Territories , minor alterations , repairs , maintenance and interior decoration of existing buildings. Cheung (2005) has pointed out that the safety performance of public sector sites is much better than that of the private sector ones (Table 19). Table 19 Accident rates per 1,000 workers on public/private sector sites. 2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Public sector sites

81.7

68.9

53.6

40.4

29.4

Private sector sites

233.7

154.0

107.5

89.0

83.7

Source: Cheung, 2005

In Table 19, the accident rates on public sector sites were less than half of those on private sector sites. There have been many new safety systems undertaken by the stakeholders such as safety management and the pay for safety scheme. Contractors responsible for public sector sites are normally large organisations which have the resources to run these systems. Thus, safety performance would be better on public sector sites.

2.5.2

Accident rates and death rates 1998-2007 The statistics for the period 1998-2007 (Table 20) have revealed a great improvement in site safety. The number of accidents reached the maximum of over 19,000 cases in 1998, and the peak accident rate was recorded in the early 1990s with over 300 accidents per 1,000 workers per year. The rate has gradually decreased, and the figure of 60 per 1,000 was recorded in 2004 and 2005. The death rate has also improved from almost 10 workers per 10,000 in the early 1990s to between 3 and 4 since 2000. The improvement can be attributed to recent measures on mandatory training for site workers and implementation of new self-regulated legislation such as site safety supervision plan and safety management. Subject to verification, the improvement was also due to fewer activities in construction during the last six years or so. A more recent means to further improve site safety is the clients' or developers' initiative in implementing the "payment for safety scheme" (Lau , 2006).

16

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 20 Co nstru ction accidents and deaths in Hong Kong 1998-2007.

Number of labour accidents

1999

2000

2001

2002

14,078

11 ,925

9,2 06

6,239

56

47

29

28

24

7.90

7.09

7.96

8.03

7.32

Number of accidents per 1,000 construction workers

247.9

198.4

149.8

114.6

85.2

Number of accidents per 1,000 workers of all industries

64.7

55. 1

51.7

44.6

37.4

Number of deaths per 10,000 construction workers

7.1

6.6

3.6

3 .5

3.3

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers of all industries

1.02

0.80

0.66

0.53

0.42

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

4,367

3,833

3,548

3,400

3,042

25

17

25

16

19

Number of workers on sites (10,000)

6.41

6.35

5.93

5.2 9

5.02 *

Number of accidents per 1,000 construction workers

68.1

60.3

59 .9

64.3

60.6

Number of accidents per 1,000 workers of all industries

3 1.3

31.5

30 .6

31.5

29.3

Number of deaths per 10,000 construction workers

3.9

2.7

4.2

3 .0

3.8*

Number of deaths per 10,000 workers of all industries

0.51

0.43

0.53

0.47

0.46*

Number of deaths Number of workers on sites (10,000)

Number of labour accidents Number of deaths

*

1998 19,588

estimates

Sources: Occupational safety and health statistics 2006 and 2007, Occupational Safety and Health Branch, Labour Department (www.labour.gov.hk); Cheung, 2005

Construction site safety is one of the contractual obligations of the contractor who has to allow for the cost of meeting the obligation in the tender. However, such allowance is normally not separated or identified in the tender rates. As an incentive to the contractor, a schedule of specified safety-related items can be included in the Bills of Quantities so that these items can be certified and paid to the contractor if the specified activities have been satisfactorily performed. Such an incentive scheme has been promulgated by the government in late 1990 and some developers also provide similar schemes to the contractors of their projects. The impact of implementing such a scheme is ye t to be investigated.

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

17

In the private sector, the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA) and the Hong Kong Construction Association (HKCA) have in 2005 introduced a similar scheme which is adopted voluntarily by developers to show their will of providing continuous improvement in safety performance. The developer employs a representative, e.g., Project Architect! Engineer, or resident professional staff to implement the scheme. The contractor will enter into a construction contract and records of progress in safety performance to benchmark industry index are kept. Upon certification by the developer's representative on contractor's satisfactory completion of the safety related items, the contractor will be paid at the predetermined rates and prices set out in the schedule of rates for site safety (0.5 - 2% of the contract sum). While the effect of implementing the scheme is yet to be assessed, in October 2005 , 17 core developers participated in PFSS and in July 2006, 24 projects have been enrolled in the scheme. Table 21 shows the year of implementing various safety measures. Table 21 Safety measures and year of implementation. Year of Implementation (Accumulated No.)

Abbreviation

Safety Measures

1991 (1)

PASS1

Performance Assessment Scoring System

1994 (4)

PFSS

Pay for Safety Scheme

1994 (4)

PASS2

Performance Assessment Scoring System

1994 (4)

SP

Safety Plan

1995 (5)

CPOSR

Consulting Paper on Self-Regulatory SMS

1996 (6)

GCS

Green Card Scheme: Mandatory Safety Training Programme

1997 (9)

CSR

Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations

1997 (9)

FIUR1

Factories & Industrial Undertakings Regu lations

1997 (9)

OSHO

Occupational Safety & Health Ordinance Cap 509

1998 (12 )

CSSMH

Construction Site Safety Manual & Handbook

1998 (12 )

SSPS

Site Supervision Plan System

1998 (12 )

OSHR

Occupational Safety & Health Regulation

1999 (13)

FIU02

Factories & Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Ordinance

18

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

2000 (16)

PASS3

Perfo rm ance Assess ment Sco rin g System (Revised to in c lu de PFSS Provisio n)

2000 (16)

CP IS

Co ntracto r Perfo rm ance Index System (The sco recard system)

2000 (16)

CPSSS

Code of Practice for Site Safety Superv isio n

2001 (17)

ASTS

Auto matic Suspensio n fro m tendering System

2002 (20)

SSC

Site Safety Cyc le

2002 (20)

FIU R2

Facto ri es & In dustri al U ndertakings (Safety Management) Regul atio n

2002 (20)

CPOSM

Code of Practice o n Safety Ma nagement

2003 (21)

CS R

Co nstru ctio n Sites (Safety) (A mendment) Reg ul ation

The graph in Figure 1 shows the accident rate and fa tality rate with respec t to the time frame of implementing various safety measures since 1991. Figure 1 Acc ident and fata lity rates in Ho ng Kong sin ce 199 1. Yea r

91

02

03

04

05

06

07

Acc ide nt rate 364 302 295 275 233 220 227 248 198 150 11 5 85

68

60

60

64

61

Fata l ity rate

92

93

94

95

96

8.5 7.7 14.2 8.5 9.6 6.8

97

5

98

99

00

01

7. 1 6.6 3.6 3.5 3.3 3.9 2.7 4.2 3.0 3.8

______ Acc ident rate -----.-- Fata l ity rate 400

16

350

14

300

12

250

10

200

8

150

6

100

4

50

2

0

0 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

19

There appears a positive linkage between the reduction in both accident and fatality rates with the implementation of various safety measures. However, the effectiveness of these measures requires a research study to confirm. 2.5.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in construction

Regarding the causes of industrial deaths in the construction industry, Table 22 shows the number of total deaths in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The number of victims fallen from a height has remained the most important concern. Table 22 Categorization of industrial deaths in the Hong Kong construction

industry 2004,2005 and 2006.

Category

Deaths in 2004

Fall from height

8(47%)

Struck by falling objects

3 (18%)

Contact with electricity or harmful substances

1 (6%)

Striking against or struck by objects or moving vehicles

Rank in 2004

Deaths in 2005

Rank in 2005

14 (5 6%)

1 (6%)

3

2

1 (6%)

3

3

1 (6%)

3

1 (6%)

3

3 (19%)

2

4

2 (8%)

4

3 (18%)

2

6 (2 4%)

Trapped by collapsing objects

1 (6%)

4

3 (12 %)

Trapped in/between objects

1 (6%)

4

Total

17 (100%)

25 (100%)

Rank in 2006

9(56%)

2

Asphyxiation

Deaths in 2006

16 (100%)

Source: Occupational safety and health statistics 2006, Occupational Safety and Health Branch, Labour Department (www.labour.gov.hk)

2.6

United Kingdom

2.6.1

Definition

In 2006/07 , there were 1.256 million employees and 0.81 million selfemployed workers, making up a total of 2.066 million workers in the UK construction industry. For all industries , the total number of employees and self-employed was 26.413 million and 3.893 million respectively. As the UK's past records have shown that the accident rate of self-employed workers is much lower, hence, as far as possible the rate here refers to that of the employees only.

- - - - - 20

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

In the UK, major injuries include specified serious injuries to workers, including fractures, amputations and other injuries leading to resuscitation or 24-hour admittance to hospital. The over-3-day injuries are other injuries to workers that lead to absence from work, or inability to do their usual jobs for over 3 days. In 2006/07 , the rate of major injuries and over 3-day injuries to employees fell from 9.4 in 2005/06 to 8.6 per 1,000 employees. 77 fatal injuries (50 employees and 27 self-employed workers) in construction were recorded, comared with the figure of 60 fatal injuries (43 employees and 17 selfemployed workers) in 2005/06 (Health &: Safety Executive, UK).

2.6.2

Accident rates and death rates Table 23 shows the accident and the death rates per 1,000 employees in the UK between 1997/98 and 2006/07. Table 23 Accident and death rates in the UK construction industry 1997/98 to 2006/07. 1997/98

1998/99

1999/00

2000/01

Major injuries (M) per 1,000 employees

3.82

4.03

3.96

3.81

3.56

Over-3-day injuries (0) per 1,000 employees

9.66

8.63

9.17

8.29

7.99

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 employees

2001/02

13.5

12.7

13.1

12.1

11.6

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 self-employed workers

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 workers (employees + selfemployed workers)

8.5

8.3

8.8

8.2

7.9

Deaths per 10,000 employees

0.57

0.44

0.55

0.65

0.53

Deaths per 10,000 selfemployed workers

0.31

0.28

0.32

0.50

0.30

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

2002/03

2003/04

2004/05

2005/06

2006/07

Major injuries (M) per 1,000 employees

3.55

3 .28

3 .27

3 .08

2.95

Over-3-day injuries (0) per 1,000 employees

7.88

6.80

6.54

6.28

5 .66

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 employees

1104

10.1

9.8

904

8.6

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 self-employed workers

1.9

1.9

1.8

2.0

1.8

M + 0 injuries per 1,000 workers (employees + selfemployed workers)

7.8

n/a

n/a

604

5.9

Deaths per 10,000 employees

0049

0043

0048

0.36

0040

Deaths per 10,000 selfemployed workers

0.20

0.25

0.17

0.21

0.33

n/a

21

not available

Source: Health and safety statistics 2006/07, Health and Safety Executive, UK (www. hse.gov.uk)

Both the accident rate and death rate with respect to 1,000 employees has generally declined over the period. The death rate per 1,000 workers has also shown a downward trend and has gone down to the lowest in 2004/05 (Statistics of fatal injuries 2006/07 , Health and Safety Executive). 2.6.3

Categorization of occurrence of accident deaths in construction

Table 24 categorizes the occurrence of accident deaths to construction workers in 2004/05 and 2006/07.

- - - - 22

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 24 Categorization of accident deaths to construction workers in the UK

2004/05 and 2006/07.

No. of deaths in

Rankin 2004/05

No. of deaths in

Rankin 2006/07

2004/05

2006/07

Fall from height

28 (38.9%)

23 (29.9%)

Hit by objects

14 (19.4%)

2

16 (20.8%)

2

Trapped by something collapsingl overturning

13 (18.1%)

3

8 (10.4%)

4

Hit by moving vehicles

5 (6.9%)

4

6 (7.8%)

5

Contact with electricity or harmful substances

3 (4.2%)

5

12 (15.6%)

3

Slips and trips

2 (2.8%)

6

Handling, lifting and carrymg

2 (2.8%)

6

5 (6.5%)

6

5 (6.5%)

6

Drowning or asphyxiation Others Total

5 (6.9%)

2 (2.6%)

72 (100%)

77 (100%)

Source: Statistics of fatal injuries 2006/07, Health and Safety Executive, UK (www.hse. gov.uk)

The number of persons fallen from a height has accounted for the highest fatality rate. The other common fatal injuries to workers are struck by moving or falling objects, and by vehicles, accounting for over 40% of all fatalities.

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

3

Summary

3.1

Accident rates

23

The typical expression of the accident frequency rate per 1,000 workers does not reflect the actual scenario of the working atmosphere in the industry. The acciden t rate expressed as the frequency per million working hours is adopted by Japan and Singapore. Taiwan joins these two countries in identifying the severity rate, which includes death as well as temporary and permanent disablement. Thus, there is a need and trend to present more thorough information by the authorities in different places. It may not be possible to compare directly the accident rates in different countries or regions as the components that form the statistics vary from place to place in respect of the legal requirements in reporting, the economic sectors covered and the definition of the workforce. However, in individual countries or regions, the accident rates over the last ten years or so can be studied to see if any improvements have been made. Figure 2 shows the accident rates in these six places and their general trends during the 10-year period 1997 to 2006. The average accident rates during the whole 10-year period as well as the semi-averages for the two 5-year periods are tabulated in Table 25 to illustrate their trend of improvement, if any. Figure 2 No. of acc ide nts per 1,000 e mployees/wo rke rs 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Japan S. Korea

6.7

6.3

6.5

6.3

6.2

6.1

6.0

6.0

5.8

7.2

7.3

6

6.1

6.9

7.2

8.6

9.4

7.5

Singapore

7.2

7.2

7.6

7

7.9

7.8

7.6

8.2

7.1

Taiwan Hong Kong

7.6

9.4

11.5

13.4

13.6

13

13.1

12.6

13.0

nfa nfa nfa nfa

Year

85.2

68.1

60. 3

59.9

64.3

UK employees

13.5

12.7

13.1

12.1

11.6

11.4

10.1

9

9.4

8.6

UK workers

8.5

8.3

8.8

8.2

7.9

7.8

nfa

nfa

nfa

nfa

n/a

227.4

not available

247.9 198.4 149.8 114.6

- - - - - 24

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

No. of accidents per 1000 employees/workers

1000

... ...0
..:0:

100

~ -....
>0

c... E ~

0 0 0

...

~

c..
r::: ~

"'C

·0

....0 U

r
10

0

Z

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Year

Japan -~•. - - Taiwan

•

UK workers

----* •

Singapore

S. Korea

--I.t---

Ho ng Kong

-~•. - - UK employees

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

No. of accidents per 1000 employees/workers (with Hong Kong omitted)

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Year

--4.t-- Singapo re

S. Ko rea

Japan

-~.~- Taiwa n

--1.1-- UK wo rkers

--4.t-- UK empl oyees

Table 25 Average number of acc idents per 1,000 workers 1997-2006. Average number of accidents per 1,000 workers 1997-2001 (5-year)

6 .4

2002-2006 (5-year)

6.0+

1997-2006 (10-year)

#

Japan S. Korea Singapore Taiwan Hong Kong

6.7

7.4

11.1

7.r 7.5+

calculation based on data up to 2005 based on data in 2002

12.0+

UK

(employees/ self-employed workers)

187.6

12.6/8.3

67.6

9.7/7.8#

127.6+

11.2/8 .Y

25

- - - - - 26

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

When the average accident rate per 1,000 workers is considered in the two 5-year periods,]apan has shown some slight improvement. Hong Kong has made tremendous improvements particularly during the period 2002-2006. On the other hand, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan both have recorded an increase in the accident rate in the second 5-year period.

3.2

Death rates The death rate per 10,000 construction workers in the various places can be directly compared as there should be little, if any, disagreement regarding its definition. Figure 3 shows the death rates in the six places and their general trend during the 10-year period. The average death rates during the whole 10-year period as well as the semi-averages are tabulated in Table 26 to illustrate their trend of improvement, if any. Figure 3 No. of deaths per 10,000 workers (10,000 employees for UK) Year

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Japan

1.5

1.3

1.5

1.8

1.9

S. Korea

3.1

3.6

3 .2

2.8

2.7

Singapore

3.4

3.4

2.6

2.6

1.5

Taiwan

2.6

2.5

2.0

2.2

2.1

Hong Kong

5.0

7.1

6.6

3.6

3.5

UK employees/UK workers

0.57

0.44

0.55

0.65

0.53

Year

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Japan

1.8

1.5

1.3

n/a

n/a

S. Korea

2.4

2.9

3.9

2.9

n/a

Singapore

2.3

2.1

2.0

1.3

0.9

Taiwan

1.9

1.8

1.3

1.7

n/a

Hong Kong

3.3

3.9

2.7

4.2

3.0

UK employees/UK workers

0.49

0.43

0.48

0.36

0.4

nfa not available

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

7

... ...0
6

~

..:0:

~ -....
5

>0

c... E ~

0 0 0 0'

4

... ~

c..

....

3


..c tIS

~

"'C

0

2

0

Z

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Year

•

Japa n

----*

Taiwan

____

•

S. Korea Hong Kong

•

Singapore UK emp loyees/ UK workers

Table 26 Average number of deaths per 10,000 workers 1997-2006. Average number of Japan S. Korea Singapore Taiwan deaths per 10,000 workers

Hong Kong

UK (workers)

1997-2001 (5-year)

1. 60

3. 1

2.7

2 .3

5.2

0.47

2002-2006 (5-year)

1.66+

3.0+

1.7+

1.r

3.4

0.35

1997-2006 (10-year)

1.63+

3.]+

2.2+

2.0+

4.3

0.41

calculation based on data up to 2005

27 - - - - -

- - - - - 28

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

In Asia, japan has the lowest average death rates of 1.63 victims per 10,000 workers. Taiwan, despite its high accident rates, has the second lowest death rate. Singapore and South Korea follow closely, though the 10-year average in South Korea is almost double that of japan. In line with the substantial reduction in its accident rate, Hong Kong's death rate has also dropped over the period. The UK has an unbeatable low rate compared with Asia, and has registered a small improvement possibly due to the difficulty in improving further in a mature industry. In terms of the semi-averages, most of the Asian countries or regions have recorded an improvement. Hong Kong has reduced the rate by half while japan has just maintained a steady level. However, there still exists room for improvement when the UK is considered as a benchmark. In terms of the 10-year average, the Asians' rates are between two to eight times that of the UK figure.

3.3

Categorization of occurrence of deaths in construction The ranking of the categories of occurrence of fatal cases in construction in the six countries or regions is shown in Table 27. Table 27 Ranking of construction accident deaths. Ranking

Japan

S. Korea

Singapore

Taiwan

Hong Kong

UK

(2006)

(2003)

(2006)

(1999)

(2005)

(2006/07)

1

Fall from height

Fall from height

Fall from height

Fall from height

2

Machinery

Struck by falling objects

Struck by fa llin g objects

Electrocution Striking aga inst or struck by objects

Hit by objects

3

Automob i les

Electrocution Caught in or between objects

Coll aps ing, cave-in

Trapped by co ll apsing objects

Electrocution

4

Struck by falling objects

Temporary Construction

Contact w ith electr ic ity

Trapped by co ll apsing ob jects

Step onl Struck by Strike against fa llin g object objects

Fall from height

Fall from height

Fall from height has ranked the top in all places, and this cause contributes between 40% and 50% to all accident deaths. More efforts to remind workers of potential dangers while working at a height, including the provision of appropriate safety measures and instructions, would reduce the total number of fatalities dramatically. The other potential dangers are crushing by moving objects or materials, such as struck by falling objects, moving objects and collapsing materials. These causes are associated with the characteristics of activities carried out on construction sites and should require innovative

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

29 - - - - -

approaches to reduce their hazards. Electrocution is also another typical hazard arising from most construction activities. The following are accident examples commonly reported in Hong Kong (Poon 1997-2004): (a)

Fall from height

• •

•

(b)

Demolition/ Removing w ork

•

• • (c)

Two workers fell to their death inside a lift shaft of an office building under construction. The workers were installing a platform inside the lift for the construction of the wall. Two workers were engaged in erecting a working platform formed by bamboo scaffolding on the external wall of a building. The bamboo scaffolding was supported by steel brackets bolted to the external wall. The workers fell to the podium as a result of the insecure fixing of the bolts supporting the platform. A worker fell from the unfenced working platform at the top of a 4-m high tower scaffold during the installation of the overhead air-conditioning duct. It was noted that no safety belt was provided to the worker. A worker was dismantling and removing the steel struts at the basement of a building under construction. He was injured by a falling steel member after disconnecting the members. He had removed similar fixings twenty times before but failed this time. A worker was hit by a false ceiling which collapsed during the dismantling of a door and door frame. A workman was hit by the collapsing wall of a water tank at the roof top of a building during demolition of the tank and the roofing material.

Struck by falling / moving obj ects

• • •

A man was struck by a falling bamboo pole when waiting at a bus stop. Across the road there was a housing development site , and bamboo scaffolds remained there for final finishing work. A worker was crushed to death by the collapse of a power-operated folding working platform during the adjustment of the machine to the tilting position. A worker was hit by the descending hoist inside the hoist-way when fixing a water tap.

(d) Collapse

•

A concretor fell to his death when the supporting falsework collapsed during concreting. Several bracing members of the falsework scaffolding were found missing.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

(e)

Electrocution

•

•

4

An electric arc welder was found lying unconsciously on the wet ground between two steel I-beams. Prior to the accident, he and his co-worker were engaged in welding the metal girders. The welding work had been interrupted by rain. He was killed when he resumed the welding operation after the rain had stopped. A concretor was electrocuted by lightning while manoeuvring a skip of concrete suspended from a tower crane at the top floor of a building during construction. Before and at the material time of the incident, a thunder storm warning had been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory.

Conclusion This chapter has reviewed the construction accident statistics of five Asian countries or regions: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Reference has also been made to the data available in the UK. In Asia, Japan is the best performing country in construction safety, with lower accident rates than the UK. Hong Kong has made impressive progress during the last 10 years, yet there is still room for further improvement when compared with Japan. A number of safety measures have been implemented in Hong Kong since the 1980s and there is a positive link between their implementation and the drop in accident and fatality rates. However, the effectiveness of the safety measures requires confirmation. On the death rate issue, the UK data are much lower than all the Asian figures which have shown a fairly consistent downward trend, except South Korea which has performed poorly during the last two years in the 10-year period. Hong Kong's death rate has reduced drastically and should soon rank alongside Singapore and Taiwan. Fall from height is the main cause for construction deaths , accounting for 40% to 50% of all fatal cases. The other causes are due to crushing by moving objects or unstable materials , and electrocution. These are typical side products of construction activities and require innovative approaches to reduce, if not totally eliminate, their occurrence.

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT STATISTICS

31

Acknowledgements A number of individuals have helped in one way or the other in providing the construction accident statistics and relevant information. The contents of this chapter are based on the information presented at the annual event, "Conference of Safety and Health Organization in the AsiaPacific Region Construction Industry", organized by • • • • •

Japan Construction Occupational Safety &: Health Association 0COSHA) in Tokyo in 1999; Safety Specialist Group of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers in Hong Kong in 2000; The Professional Committee of Construction Safety of the China Association of Construction Industry in Beijing in 2003; Korea Occupational Safety and Health Association, in Seoul, South Korea, in 2005; National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor Malaysia, in 2006.

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the delegates participating in the above conferences for their contribution of data to this chapter.

References Cheung, M.K.C. (2005) Speech at the Annual Safety Conference at the Hong Kong Construction Association, Hong Kong. Construction Industry Safety and Health Report (1999 and 2000) Taiwan. Health and Safety Executive (2008). Health and safety statistics 2006/07, UK. (www.hse.org.uk) Ho , S. K. (1999) Report on the Employer Responsibility and Supervision System, Singapore. Industrial Safety and Health Association of Taiwan (2007) Statistics of occupational injuries. (www.isha.org.tw) Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (1999) Guidelines on Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems for the Construction Industry. Japan Construction Occupational Safety and Health Association (2007) Statistics of occupational accidents in the construction industy (www.kensaibou.or.jp). Jung, S.H. (2005) Construction safety management system in Korea, in Proceedings of the 4th Asia-Pacific Region Construction Safety and Health Annual Conference , June, South Korea, pp. 143-153.

32

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Kao , c.F. (2000) Research of safety of the construction industry in Taiwan, in Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry , December, Hong Kong. Kim, j.G. (2003) Trends of occupational accidents and harm or danger prevention plan in the construction industry, in Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Region 3rd Annual Conference of Construction Safety and Health Organization, Beijing, China, pp. 1-12. Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (2006) Statistics on industrial accidents and occupational diseases (www.kosha.or.kr). Lau , C.K (2006) "REDIHKCA Safety Partnering Programme" at the HKCA Safety Conference 2006 - The Dragon Dance - Are We Playing Together? Lee, KB. (2000) Application and expected effort of safety and health management program in Korea , in Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the AsiaPacific Region Construction Industry, December, Hong Kong. Lee, KB. (2000) Safety management in Asia's construction industry, in Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry, December, Hong Kong. Lee, M.H . (2005) Prevention measures against frequent accidents in construction, in Proceedings of the 4th Asia-Pacific Region Construction Safety and Health Annual Conference, June, South Korea , pp. 175-205. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (2006) Proceedings of the 5th Conference of Asia-Pacific Organizations for Construction Safety and Health , Malaysia, May. Occupational Safety and Health Branch (2007 and 2008) Occupational safety and health statistics 2006 and 2007, Labour Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Occupational Safety and Health Division (2006) Annual Report Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg). Poon, S.W (1997-2004) Expert Reports on Investigation of Construction Accidents. Report on the Employer Responsibilities and Supervision Systems and Their Relationship with Safety and Health Status 1999 and 2000, Korea. Singapore Standard CP79:1999, Code of Practice for Safety Management System for Construction Work Sites. Wong, K.W., Poon, S. W. and Rowlinson, S.M. (1999) Construction safety and health related legislation in Hong Kong, in Proceedings of the 1999 Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry , May, Japan, 11 pp. Yu , c.c. (2000) The general situation and counter measures for construction accidents in Taiwan area, in Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry , December, Hong Kong. Yu , c.c. (2005) Construction safety management system in Taiwan, in Proceedings of the 4th Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry, South Korea, pp. 75-93.

On many construction sites in Hong Kong, contractors have not implemented their safety programmes adequately. This is also a worldwide phenomenon. There are problems and difficulties in connection with the implementation. This chapter examines these problems and difficulties and reports on three studies, carried out in Hong Kong (Ahmed, Tang and Poon, 1999) , Mainland China (Zeng, Tam and Deng, 2004) and the UK (Sawacha, Naoum and Fong, 1999). In each of these three cases , problems and difficulties encountered in implementing safety programmes are first identified; then some possible solutions are suggested to help improve the safety performance of contractors working on construction sites.

1

Safety management situation in Hong Kong

1.1

Introduction Hong Kong is a place with world famous infrastructures and construction projects. However, it is notorious for its construction safety records - over 300 accidents per 1,000 workers per year in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Such a poor accident rate is certainly unacceptable. Past studies have focused on safety education or training and the perception of construction

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

professionals on site safety (Kwok et aI., 1996). The work has revealed that construction professionals in Hong Kong do not pay sufficient attention to safety education/training. Another study (Wong et aI., 1996) has also shown that safety education and training is a very important factor in improving the safety records of the Hong Kong construction industry; different categories of personnel such as project managers, site engineers, safety managers/officers, and design engineers must work together closely to ensure effective implementation of construction safety. This is in agreement with the conclusion obtained in an investigation by Hinze and Wiegand (1992) that design firms should address construction workers' safety in their design, and that co-operation between safety officers (site staff) and designers (office staff) is essential in construction safety. Some other studies have focused on the safety management system and safety investment. A research study (Lai et aI., 1996) has suggested that safety management should be proactive rather than reactive; management should assess the adequacy of its safety management effort through safety audits before works commence in order to predict its safety performance (see Chapter 5). As to safety investment, a study (Tang et aI., 1997) has revealed that the minimum safety investment in a building project in Hong Kong is 0.8% of the contract sum (see Chapter 8). In the study which is to be discussed in the next sub-section, we will see the results of a macro investigation, presenting the reasons for poor site safety in Hong Kong and the possible solutions to improve the situation. Table 1 Serious construction accidents in construction industry from 1990-2007.

No. of construction accidents No. of fatalities

1990 1991

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

25,138 23,115

18,815

16,573

16,422

48

80

51

58

54

15,268 16,469 18,559 19,588

63

51

41

56

*Employment

71,113

63,450 62,232

56,226 59,710 65,611

74,907 81,629 79,007

No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

353.5

364.3

302.3

294.8

275.0

232.7

219.9

227.4

247.9

No. of fatalities per 1,000 workers

0.816

0.851

0.771

1.423

0.854

0.960

0.681

0.502

0.709

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

35

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 No. of construction accidents No. of fatalities *Employment

14,078 11 ,925

47 70,941

29

9,206

6,239

4,3 67

3, 83 3

3,548

3,400

3, 042

28

24

25

17

25

16

19

79,599 80,302 73, 223 64, 112 63,520 59,266 52,865 50,200+

198.4 No. of accidents per 1,000 workers

149.8

114.6

85.2

68.1

60.3

59.9

64 .3

60.6

0.66 3 No. of fatalities per 1,000 workers

0 .3 64

0. 349

0 .3 28

0 .3 90

0.268

0.422

0 .3 03

0 .3 78+

Source: Occuptional Safety and Health Statistics 2006 and 2007. Occuptional Safety and Health Branch, Labour Department (www.labour.gov.hk)

*

The employment size only covers manual workers on construction sites estimates

Table 1 presents the accident statistics of the Hong Kong construction industry for the period 1990-2007. It is evident from the statistics that the number of construction accidents has significantly declined over the past decade or so. The intense efforts made by the Hong Kong government and the stakeholders in the construction industry in improving the situation appear to have yielded results.

1.2

Description of an investigation carried out in Hong Kong A research study conducted by Ahmed, Tang and Po on (1999) aimed to find out the problems and difficulties which had caused inefficiency in the implementation of construction safety programmes and to recommend some possible solutions for improving the unsatisfactory situation. Twenty-eight building and civil engineering contractors in Hong Kong participated in a survey in which the contractors' opinion on implementing site safety programmes was solicited. The survey was carried out by asking each contractor to complete a structured questionnaire and afterwards by interviewing its safety manager if necessary (not all contractors were interviewed). Of the 28 contractors surveyed, most of them were of the size of 200 to 999 workers. Recommendations were then made based on the results of the analysis of the data obtained. In the analysis, firstly, the problems and difficulties encountered in implementing site safety schemes were identified. These factors were arranged in an order of decreasing importance as follows :

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

(a) Tight schedule of projects. (b) Inefficient communication due to the multi-level subcontracting system. (c) Limited budget on safety investment. (d) Inability of safety officers to enforce safety regulations. (e) Inexperienced and/or unskilled workers. CO Insufficient penalty for not implementing safety regulations. (g) Transient nature of construction workers. (h) Use of alcohol by workers. (i) Long hours of work for construction workers. Secondly, opinion on possible methods for improvement was obtained from the contractors , which were also prioritized in an order of decreasing importance as follows: (a) Compulsory requirement (much stricter enforcement) for contractors to promote safety. (b) Increased penalty to contractors who do not strictly enforce safety regula tions. (c) Bonus given by promoters (clients) to contractors who have made efforts to comply with the safety regulations for a considerable period of time. (d) Legal restriction on the number of levels of subcontracting. (e) Legal restriction on the number of hours of work for construction workers. Besides the above questionnaire results , interviews were carried out to solicit contractors' views. During interviews with contractors , some other possible solutions were suggested (not prioritized): (a) Safety should be a billed item in a contract for ensuring safety investment. (b) Regular audits are needed to review contractors' safety management systems. (c) Site management should prosecute individuals who break safety regula tions. (d) The promoter (client) or the supervising engineer of a project should have the authority to stop work when working conditions become unsafe (such as bad weather). (e) More skilled and experienced workers who know the importance of site safety are needed. Hence , training on the part of workers is essential. CO Safety culture should be instilled in workers so that they take up the responsibility of protecting themselves.

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

1.3

37 - - - - -

Discussion on findings In this work, the main problems/difficulties that adversely affect the implementation of construction site safety in Hong Kong have been studied. The most serious problems are the tight construction schedule and the inefficient communication due to the multi-level subcontracting system, followed by limited budget on safety investment and inability of safety officers to enforce safety regulations. To reduce the effects caused by the problems, it is recommended that the minimum contract periods for different categories of construction works should be studied so as to avoid site accidents caused by tight schedules. For better communication, different channels should be set up and maintained, for instance , compulsory periodic meetings should be held and attended by the main contractor and subcontractors. Also , the percentage of subcontract work should be limited to a certain figure in a contract, and it would be interesting to find out this figure as a topic for further investigation. As to the limited budget, it is recommended that a system should be set up to control the money spent on safety so as to avoid contractors reducing their budget on safety investment. In connection, the Hong Kong government has introduced the scheme named "Pay For Safety Scheme (PFSS)" (Works Branch, 1996). On inability of safety officers, stricter requirement of their academic qualifications and experience should be enforced. For example, all safety officers should be university degree holders (or equivalent qualifications) with suitable experience. Their status and authority on site should be correspondingly upgraded. Some possible solutions have also been studied. The most effective solutions are mandatory safety promotion on the part of contractors, increased penalty on those who do not strictly enforce safety regulations, and bonus reward to those who make efforts to implement the regulations. It is recommended that contractors should organize more safety promotion activities so as to instil a safety culture among workers. The government may establish some guidelines for contractors to organize such activities. As to increased penalty and bonus reward, the authors believe that they are effective and feasible. However, before their implementation, further studies are required to determine how and how much the bonus is to be given and how much the penalty is to be increased so that optimum strategies can be established.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

2

Safety management situation in Mainland China

2.1

Introduction The construction safety record of Mainland China is poor in terms of international standards. In 1999, 923 site accidents of Grade IV and above (Table 2) were recorded in countryside construction, in which 1,097 construction workers lost their lives (China Statistical Yearbook of Construction 2001). Table 2 Classification of construction accidents in Mainland China. Accident Grade

Demarcation

Over 30 fatalities or over 3 million RMB Yuan in direct economic losses II

10 - 29 fatalities or over 1 - 3 million RMB Yuan in direct economic losses

III

3 - 9 fatalities or over 20 severe injuries or over 0.3 - 1 million RMB Yuan in direct economic losses

IV

2 fatalities or over 3 - 19 severe injuries or over 0.1 - 0.3 million RMB Yuan in direct economic losses

Source: Lei and Qian, 1999

The Ministry of Construction is vested with the responsibility of overseeing the construction industry. It takes the leading role in implementing new strategies and policies , and hires about 50 safety auditors conducting nationwide safety inspection. Since 1989, China has been adopting the "Construction Supervision Scheme" that defines the roles of many parties pertaining to construction safety. Nevertheless , safety performance on construction sites is still disappointingly poor and occupational accidents have not been effectively prevented.

2.2

Description of an investigation carried out in Mainland China This section presents the results of a questionnaire survey and interviews on safety management in the Chinese construction industry, the objectives of the investigation being:

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

• • • •

39 - - - - -

examining the status of safety management in the industry exploring the risk prone activities on construction sites identifying factors affecting construction site safety proposing suggestions for improving safety performance

Two hundred questionnaires were sent to construction firms listed in the directory of quality system certified enterprises; 60 responses (a response rate of 30%) were received. Additionally, interviews were carried out with government officials of construction departments and in charge of matters pertaining to construction site safety (Zeng et aI., 2004).

2.3

Results of the survey

2.3.1

Safety manual and procedures

The purpose of a safety manual is to communicate a firm's safety policy, safety management system including procedures, instructions and requirements, and responsibilities of various personnel. Asked whether the respondents had safety manuals: • • • 2.3.2

62% claimed that they did not have documented safety manuals. All the respondents, however, had documented procedures for safety management on site, which formed a part of ISO 9000 system. 92%, nevertheless , claimed that not every worker knew these procedures.

Provision of "personal protective equipment" (PPE)

The most common PPE provided to workers were (percentages indicating the number of respondent organizations claiming to provide them): • • • 2.3.3

Hardhats Eye goggles Gloves

100% 100% 100%

• • •

Safety Shoes Ear Plugs Face Shields

35% 15% 12%

Safety meetings and training

Regular safety meetings are necessary to communicate safety information to all project participants. • • •

36% claimed that they had regular safety meetings. The rest indicated that safety issues were presented and discussed at other meetings. 87%, nevertheless, reported that top management seldom attended the safety meetings.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

On providing safety training for front-line workers: • • •

24% claimed to have provided systematic training. 65% claimed to have offered occasional training. The rest, 11%, claimed that they had rarely provided any training.

Regular training, however, is essential considering the high turnover and the transient nature of the construction labour force. 2.3.4

Impact of site accidents

Respondents' opinions on the kinds of significant impact of site accidents were: • • • • 2.3.5

Impairing the reputation of the firm (68%) Interrupting the construction schedule (15%) Increasing the cost (12%) Imposing psychological burden on the workers (5%)

Site risks

Significant site risks considered by the respondents were: •

• • • • 2.3.6

92% considered falling from height as the biggest risk. According to national statistics , this type of accident reached around 50% of total accidents, 524 workers (48%) lost their lives in 1999 due to falling from height. Being hit by falling objects (85%) Collapse of earth and stone work (72%) Use of heavy machines (60%) Electrocution (55%)

Root causes affecting safety performance

The top 10 causes (in descending order, calculated by average weights given by the respondents) of poor site safety performance ranked by construction contractors were: 1.

2.

Poor safety awareness of a firm's top management (this is similar to item 3 , the business leaders have other objectives of higher priority) Lack of training (construction workers get very little training and most of them, coming as unskilled and barely literate labour from poor provinces, find it difficult to obtain proper training)

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

41

3.

Poor safety awareness of project managers (this is similar to item 1, project managers have other objectives of higher priority) 4. Reluctance to input resources to implement safety measures (excessive competition for contracts in the industry, delay in payments by clients are some major reasons contributing to this) 5. Reckless operation (this aspect is especially linked to demolition work) 6. Lack of certified skilled labour (this is similar to item 2, the lack of skilled personnel for jobs like crane operation, erecting scaffolding, etc., causing accidents) 7. Poor equipment (one of the weakest links in the Chinese construction industry is the supply of equipment, and financial burden due to , for example, excessive competition for contracts in the industry, delay in payments by clients causing this situation) 8. Lack of first aid measures (could result due to items 1,3 and 10) 9. Lack of rigorous enforcement of safety regulations (more effort from the governmental regulating bodies is needed) 10. Lack of organizational commitment (this could result from items 1 and 3) 2.3.7

Need for government support

The respondents expected government support to improve safety performance: • • • • •

A government policy of providing more financial aid to improve safety (62%) Stricter legal enforcement (45%) Better organization of work related safety improvement (34%) Implementation of a more effective inspection regime (31%) Establishment of a better information system (30%)

3

Safety management situation in the UK

3.1

Introduction Based on statistics in 1990, the fatality rate due to accidents in the construction industry in the UK is much higher than that of other manufacturing industries. The risk of death is five times higher in the construction industry than that in other industries, and the risk of major injuries is two and a half times higher (Davis and Tomasin, 1990). It is even worse that not only

- - - - - 42

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

construction workers suffer, but also the public. On average one death and 1,200 major injuries of the public due to construction related accidents are recorded each month in the UK (Sawacha et aI. , 1999). Economic issues can also be devastating. For every injury, money has to be spent on medication, legal process and compensation to the victim by construction companies or insurance companies. Also , the time spent in the aftermath of accidents represents economic losses. Based on these facts, safety at construction sites is an issue that cannot be ignored. However, the causes of construction site accidents are so complex that it is not easy to prevent them. Accidents may occur due to the lack of knowledge and training of workers, lack of supervision, error of judgement, carelessness, etc. Nevertheless, according to a report (Coleman, 1991) nearly 90% of all construction accidents leading to death can be prevented.

3.2

Description of an investigation carried out in the UK A research was conducted by Sawacha, Naoum and Fong (1999) to study the variables affecting safety performance. Questionnaires were sent to the personnel, mostly site managers, of contractors. The questionnaires were then passed on to their operatives. Each questionnaire consisted of 34 questions, which were finalized after extensive interviews with contractors. They were related to 7 research variables, namely, (1) historical, (2) economic, (3) psychological, (4) technical, (5) procedural, (6) organizational and (7) environmental variables. The relationship between these 7 variables (or factors) and safety performance, obtained from the questionnaire and based on accident data, was found. Firstly, for attitudinal questions , such as "whether safety training has an influence on safety performance" , responses were measured on a 5-point scale , namely, strongly agree , agree, neutral, disagree , and strongly disagree. Secondly, the responses for safety performance questions were based on the level of accident(s) that each respondent had in the past. For example, operatives who had no injuries in the past were given a score of 3, which represented the best safety performance, those who had minor injuries were given a 2, and those who had major injuries were given a 1. Major injuries were defined as injuries including all fractures, amputations, loss of eye sight and any injuries which necessitated hospitalization for no less than 24 hours. The response rate of this questionnaire study was 60% (200 sent and 120 returned). The data collected were analyzed using the statistical computing

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

43

package SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). Two statistical techniques were used, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient for linearity, and Factor Analysis for non-linear groupings. The Pearson's Correlation Coefficient measured the strength of relationship between each of the 7 research variables (or factors) and safety performance, e.g. , in the Historical Factor (see below) , whether operatives under the age of 28 had a higher accident rate and whether operatives over the age of 28 were involved in less accidents. That is to say, whether age and safety performance go together or there is no connection between the two. Since there existed complex inter-relationships between the research variables , the Factor Analysis technique would be used to reduce the large amount of data to a small group of factors that has the most influence on safety performance.

3.3

Discussion on findings

3.3.1

Historical Factor

The significant components of the Historical Factor are: (a) Operatives' age (b) Operatives' job experience The research has shown that there is a strong relationship between the age and experience of operatives and their level of safety performance. Operatives with age from 16 to 20 are more subjected to accidents. The rate of accidents would decline after the age of 28 until the mid-40s. This phenomenon has been explained by Cherns (1968) that when a worker gets older, he becomes more skilful in his trade and more experienced after considerable training. Also , it is more likely that he will be aware of safety performance at work and, therefore , is less likely to suffer from accidents. 3.3.2

Economic Factor

The significant components of the Economic Factor are: (a) Hazard money (Le. , extra money paid to workers performing hazardous work) (b) Productivity bonus (c) Safety bonus The data has shown that tasks where hazard money is paid are subject to higher risk of accidents. In other words , hazard payment would reduce operatives' awareness of safety performance and go against safety promotion in the construction industry.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The data has also shown that safety performance is related to productivity bonus payment. Bonus can encourage operatives to work faster. However, bonus payment may tempt them to risk using unsafe methods in order to achieve higher productivity. Operatives may be indirectly rewarded by using unsafe methods, and bonus has been taken as an incentive for them to use unsafe methods. Eventually it has become a norm in the construction industry that operatives are taking risks more and more often. In a similar finding (Leather, 1983) , nearly 70% of foremen , and nearly 45% of housing managers in the public sector group did consider bonus target to be a major cause of risk-taking and corner-cutting by direct labour operatives. In order to solve this problem, it has been suggested that safety bonus should be paid instead as it combines productivity and safety performance as a goal for reward. Also , management should not put too much pressure on workmen in order to increase productivity as it will increase injuries as well (Hinze and Parker, 1978). 3.3.3

Psychological Factor

The significant components of the Psychological Factor are: (a) (b) (c) (d)

Care for personal safety Impact of the Health and Safety Act Ongoing safety training on site Supervisors' safety behaviour

The research has also shown that there is a strong relationship between care for personal safety and safety performance. That means the operatives who care about their personal safety usually have better safety performance. Also, their knowledge of the Health and Safety Act relates strongly to their safety performance. Top management's attitude towards safety is also a significant factor. Previous research in other industries (Davies and Stachi, 1964) has shown that "frequent daily contact between workers and supervisors on safety and other job matters is most important to accident control efforts". Another research study (Andriesson, 1978) has concluded that "workers will work more safely with a supervisor who is seen as someone who respects their workers and their contribution, and who is stimulated by a distinct company policy on safety. Because they see that their supervisor regards safety equally important as production, they can also expect operatives to react positively, when they work safely" .

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

3.3.4

45

Technical Factor

The significant components of the Technical Factor are: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Asbestos awareness Use of ladders Scaffolding fixing and inspection Steel erection Plant driving skills

The analysis has shown that safety performance is strongly related to the exposure to asbestos. In the study, although 98% of operatives recognized asbestos as a source of health hazards, only 55% felt confident that they would exercise caution of its exposure on site. Ladders and scaffolding were also found to be a major source of accidents. 84% of operatives considered that good technical skills , training and experience were important in providing certification to those who handled ladders and scaffolding as well as steel erection. It was also found that 92% of operatives had been asked to operate machinery without adequate training, which was found to be another major source of injuries. It is obvious that certification is necessary for workers who operate plant and equipment or drive a dumper or other mobile vehicles on site. 3.3.5

Procedural Factor

The significant components of the Procedural Factor are: (a) Training on use of safety clothing (b) Training on use of safety equipment (c) Issue of safety booklets The training of operatives on how to use safety kits, protective clothing and equipment is a crucial factor in safety performance. It has been found that safety awareness has far more to do with personal attitudes than anything else (Pirani and Reynolds , 1976) , and that through the use of poster campaign or fear technique, workers' reluctance to wear safety clothing may be overcome. Moreover, punishment through sanction imposed on the offender for not wearing safety clothing may be a solution. In the study, the operatives suggested that such a sanction should be written into the Contracts of Employment. This study has also shown that management does not give enough attention to the training of operatives on how and where to use protective safety

- - - - - 46

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

equipment and clothing. The management seldom issues safety booklets to the operatives, but rather, the latter are left to use their own direction most of the time. 3.3.6

Organizational Factor

The significant components of the Organizational Factor are: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Worker-management relationship Control on subcontractors' safety behaviour Site safety representative Management-worker co-operation on safety Safety committee policy CD Talk by management on safety (g) Safety poster display The research has shown that the relationship between the management's participation and safety performance is very important. The variables which require management involvement such as safety policy, relationship with workers, safety representative, talk on safety, etc., are all found to be related to safety performance. In agreement with Andriessan's study (1978) on "Safety Behaviour and Safety Motivation" and Peterson's work (1971) on "Techniques of Safety Management", it has been found that management's support, involvement and commitment have important effects on safety performance. Coleman (1991) has offered the following guidance in this area: (a) The responsibilities for health and safety on each project should be clearly defined and reflected in contractual arrangements. (b) The management of health and safety should be an integral part of the management of the work, and whoever is responsible for coordinating the activities of others on site should ensure that health and safety are effectively managed. (c) Hazards should be anticipated; suitable plant and equipment should be identified and someone should be responsible for their provision and maintenance. Statements of appropriate working methods are invaluable, providing proactive commitment and understanding. (d) The design team should identify major factors which could affect health and safety and inform prospective contractors of these. (e) Prospective contractors should not be selected or placed on tender lists unless they can show competence in the management of health and safety.

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY PROGRAMMES AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

47 - - - - -

CD Common, priceable items which are necessary for health and safety

should be considered for inclusion in the contract documents. (g) The organization of site safety should be planned in detail, rules established and performance monitored routinely by special safety audits where appropriate. 3.3.7

Environmental Factor

The significant components of the Environmental Factor are: (a) Tidy site (b) Planned and organized site (layout) The data has shown that sites which are tidy and well planned have better safety performance. This is in agreement with Hill and Trist's work (1953) that the better the quality of the relationship between employees and of their place of work, the fewer accidents would happen. Managers should make sure that a safe working environment begins at design stage, and that the working conditions should not be jeopardized by poor site coordination (Shimmin et aI. , 1980). The level of accidents depends on two factors: the actual risks and hazards of the job, and propensities of individuals to take these risks. Managers should train the operatives to bear this in mind so they can avoid taking risks.

3.4

Factor Analysis By using the Factor Analysis technique, clusters of the components of the 7 factors as described above, which are believed to be highly related to safety performance , have been identified. The 11 most important components are established. Factorability has then been performed on SPSS using KasierMeyer-aIkin's measure of sampling adequacy. The 11 components can be ranked in the order of decreasing importance as follows: (a) Talk by management on safety: Regular talks with operatives initiated by site managers and supervisors can help improve safety performance. (b) Issue of safety booklets: Providing safety booklets or manuals to operatives on joining the company is important. (c) Training on use of safety equipment: The provision and training on the correct use of safety equipment and clothing are very important. Managers have to make sure that operatives use them. (d) Tidy site: The tidiness and cleanliness of sites are important for safety. (e) Training on use of safety clothing: Operatives should be trained to wear protective clothing on sites. Offenders should be punished.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

CD Site safety representative: A well-trained representative on site can (g) (h) (i)

(j)

(k)

4

spot faults and insist on corrective action, and is very important for safety. Plant operation skills: A clear policy of using only trained plant operators on site may help improve safety. Also, operatives without suitable training should have the right to refuse instructions to perform specific tasks. Planned and organized site (layout): Sites which are well planned perform better in terms of safety. Safety committee policy: Companies with effective safety committees are more likely to take steps to improve safety performance. Scaffolding fixing and inspection: A single contractor should be responsible for scaffolding on a multi-contract site. Also, regular inspection and spot checks are imperative for good safety performance. Trained scaffolding erectors are necessary for good safety. Ongoing safety training on site: Good training of operatives and site supervisors is relevant to good safety awareness and can lead to improved safety on site.

Summarizing remarks It may be interesting for readers to observe the differences in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the UK in their implementation of safety programmes. There are, however, many similarities in the three cases in terms of the problems and difficulties encountered and the recommendations offered. It would be worthwhile to draw a comparison of the three cases, and the authors' intention is to leave that as an exercise for the readers.

References Ahmed, S.M., Tang, S.L. and Poon, T.K. (1999) Problems of implementing safety programmes on construction sites and some possible solutions (Hong Kong experience), in Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of CIB Working Commission W99 on Implementation of Safety and Health on Construction Sites, Hawaii, USA, March, pp. 525- 529. Andriessan, j. (1978) Safe behavior and safe motivation. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 1, pp. 363- 376. Chems, A.B. (1968) Accidents at work, cited in Welford A.T. et al. (eds.) Society: Psyohological Problems and Methods of Study. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, London.

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49

China Statistical Yearbook of Construction (2001), China Statistical Press, Beijing. Coleman, V (1991) Guideline for Management of Major Construction Projects - Section 8 Health and Safety. X. HMSO Report, ISBN 011 701219. Davis, R. and Stachi, R. (1964) Safety Organization and Activities of Award-Winning Companies in the Coal-Mining Industry. US Department ofInternal Information Circular 8224, Washington DC, US Department of Interior, USA. Davis, V and Tomasin, K (1990) Construction Site Safety. Thomas Telford London, Internal publication. Hinze,]. and Parker, H. (1978) Safety: Productivity and job pressures. Journal of Construction Division, ASCE, Vol. 104, No.2, pp. 241-249. Hill, j. and Trist, E. (1953) Consideration of industrial accidents as a means of withdrawal from the work situation. 6:357-380. Hinze,]. and Wiegand, F. (1992) Role of designers in construction workers safety. ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 118, No.4, pp. 677-684. Kwok, WK, Tang, S.L. and Poon, S.W. (1996) Perception of construction professionals on construction safety and imminent need in health and safety training in Hong Kong in Proceedings of the CITA International Conference on Construction Training, Hong Kong, December, pp. 248-256. Lai, KC., Tang, S.L. and Poon, S.W (1996) Management effort and safety performance of construction projects. Asia Engineer, journal of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, january, pp. 26-28. Leather, P. (1983) Self and the organization in the perception of safety and danger in the construction industry; in Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Aston Health and Safety Society, Birmingham, UK Lei, Y.]., and Qian, K R., (1999) Manual of Supervision on Construction. China Architecture and Building Press, Beijing. Occuptional Safety and Health Branch (2007 and 2008) Occuptional Safety and Health Sta tistics 2006 and 2007, Labour Department, The Goverment of the Hong Kong SAR. Peterson, D. (1971) Techniques of Safety Management. McGraw-Hill, New York. Pirani, M. and Reynolds,]. (1976) Gearing up for safety. Personnel Management , Vol. 8, No. 12, pp.25-29. Sawacha, E. , Naoum, S. and Fong, D. (1999) Factors affecting safety performance on construction sites. InternationalJournal of Project Management , Vol. 17, No.5, pp. 309-315. Shimmin, S., Corbett,]. and McHugh D. (1980) Human Behavior: Some Aspects of Risk-taking in the Construction Industry. Institute of Civil Engineering, London, pp. 13-22. Tang, S.L. , Lee, H.K and Wong, K (1997) Safety cost optimization of building projects in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 15, No.2 , pp. 177-186.

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Wong, K.W. , Tang, S.L. and Lip, S. (1996) Safety education for construction students - Hong Kong experience, in CIB Beijing International Conference on Modernization and Education , Beijing, October. Works Branch (1996) Technical Circular no. 4/96: Pay for safety scheme (PFSS). Government Secretariat, Hong Kong, March. Zeng, S.X. , Tam, CM. and Deng, Z.M. (2004) Construction site safety in China, in Construction Safety Management Systems, edited by Rowlinson, S. Spon Press, pp. 55-72.

1

Introduction The safety records of construction in Hong Kong are considered unsatisfactory The accident rate in the Hong Kong construction industry during 1990-94, probably the worst period, was consistently in the range of 300 per 1,000 labourers each year. This means that 3 out of 10 labourers working on construction sites would come across an accident each year, which render them unable to work for at least three days. Until recent years the rate has gone down to 60 per 1,000. While the construction industry employs not more than 10% of total workers in Hong Kong, the rates of accident occurrence and fatal cases, however, are several times the corresponding rates of all industries. The high accident rates in the construction industry are not acceptable both from the humanitarian and financial points of view, and are not compatible with our economic success. Faced with the unacceptable safety records , the construction industry has been gradually developing some forms of safety management systems to handle safety. Furthermore , the Hong Kong government has introduced the proactive self-regulatory approach in place of the enforcement approach. It is now mandatory for construction companies to set up their own safety management systems.

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According to Eves (1993), implementation of safety management is believed to be able to improve safety performance. Safety management is an organizational arrangement within a company, which facilitates the proprietor to identify hazards at work and target resources and efforts to eliminate such hazards. Tang et al. (1997) have conducted a study on achieving a balance between accident costs and safety costs and have come up with the optimum safety investment for a construction project. Also, they have concluded that "the total cost of accidents on a construction site greatly depends on its safety performance". Details of the study can be found in Chapter 8. A survey conducted by Wong and Poon (1998), which aimed to assess the effectiveness of safety management in bringing about the benefits expected by construction companies and to identify difficulties in implementation, has found that self-regulation by construction companies in carrying out safety management systems is a good attempt to improve safety records of the Hong Kong construction industry. However, some difficulties in implementation may render it ineffective in bringing about the potential benefits. If construction firms are willing to invest more money and effort to implement complete safety management, their safety performance will be improved. The government's effort in providing a better environment for implementation and developers' support are essential for the success and the effectiveness of safety management in Hong Kong. Also, small construction companies should learn from the successful experience of large firms and improve their safety management systems accordingly. Details about the implementation of safety management will be illustrated in the following sections.

2

Implementing safety management systems in the Hong Kong construction industry

2.1

Code of Practice on Safety Management In 1995 , the government conducted a comprehensive review of industrial safety with a view to mapping out Hong Kong's long-term safety strategies. The review concluded that for Hong Kong to achieve high standards of safety and health at work, enterprises must embrace self-regulation and safety management in their operations. The review recommended that the government should provide a framework within which self-regulation was to be achieved through a corporate system of safety management.

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53

Further to the review, the government has introduced a safety management system consisting of 14 elements, and has promoted the system through launching pilot schemes, publishing an Occupational Safety Charter, organizing seminars and promotional visits, and issuing a Guide to Safety Management. The safety management system is enshrined in the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation (Safety Management Regulation) which was passed on 24 November 1999. Under the Safety Management Regulation, proprietors or contractors of industrial undertakings are required to develop, implement and maintain a safety management system which contains a number of key process elements. They are also required to have the system regularly audited or reviewed. The Commissioner for Labour has then issued the Code of Practice on Safety Management, which aims to provide practical guidance for proprietors and contractors of industrial undertakings to comply with the legal requirements.

2.2

Responsibilities of proprietors and contractors A proprietor or contractor is required by the Safety Management Regulation to develop, implement and maintain a safety management system which contains the elements applicable to the industrial undertaking. Details can be found in the Code of Practice on Safety Management issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Branch of the Labour Department. It should be noted that in a large project, the approach adopted in the Safety Management Regulation is capable of creating different layers of safety management to be implemented. For example, a construction firm which operates construction sites at different locations is required to develop, implement and maintain a safety management system both at the enterprise level and at the workplace level within its industrial undertaking and construction sites. Subcontractors are also required to set up their own safety management systems if they belong to one of the groups of proprietors or contractors.

2.3

Management model to develop, implement and maintain a safety management system The various aspects of management functions in developing, implementing, and maintaining a safety management system can be graphically summarized in the following management model:

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Measuring

------1~~

Information link

- - - -••~ Control Source: Code of Practice on Safety Management, Occupational Safety and Health Branch, Labour Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR, 2002

2.3.1

"Planning" is the process of determining in advance what should be accomplished. The planning stage answers the questions "Where are we nowT and "Where do we want to beT In this stage , it is important for a proprietor or contractor to conduct initial status analysis, periodic status analysis and risk assessment in the development of the safety management system.

2.3.2

"Developing" is the process of determining how the objectives should be realized. The developing stage needs to answer "How do we get there?" In this stage, the proprietor or contractor of an industrial undertaking is reqUired to define, document and endorse a policy, and to prepare an effective safety plan which sets out the policy in specific terms. The safety plan should be established by the industrial undertaking's senior management, with the advice and assistance of safety and health

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

55

personnel. All levels of management, supervisors and employees should contribute to the development of the plan and know the role they play in its implementation. 2.3.3

"Organizing" is the process of prescribing formal relations between people and resources in the organization so as to accomplish objectives.

2.3.4

"Implementing" is the process of carrying out or putting into practice the plan to achieve the desired objectives, with appropriate and adequate control to ensure proper performance in accordance with the plan.

2.3.5

"Measuring" is the process of checking performance against agreed standards to reveal when and where improvement is needed, and is a means of monitoring the extent to which policies and objectives are being met.

The measuring stage provides a "feedback loop" for the stages of development and implementation of a safety management system. It helps the industrial undertaking to reinforce and maintain its ability to reduce risks to the fullest extent and to ensure the continued efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the safety management system. 2.3.6

"Auditing/reviewing" is carried out to assess performance in addition to routine monitoring of occupational safety and health performance.

Auditing/reviewing constitutes the "feedback loop" to the planning stage, which enables the industrial undertaking to reinforce , maintain and develop its ability to reduce risks to the fullest extent and to ensure the continued efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the safety management system. In addition, there should be information flowing between the development, implementation and maintenance stages and the auditing/reviewing stage so as to ensure the correct operation of the safety management system.

3

Application of the management model to individual elements of a safety management system The management model should be adopted not only in the development, implementation and maintenance of a safety management system, but also in the development, implementation and maintenance of each and every element of the 14 components in the safety management system. The proprietor or contractor should apply the model to all elements of the safety management

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system applicable to his industrial undertaking, so as to exercise effective management of occupational safety and health in the organization.

4

Application of the management model to safety audits or safety reviews The management model should also be used as a framework for assessing the overall performance of a safety management system by way of conducting safety audits or safety reviews. Safety audit constitutes the "feedback loop" which enables the industrial undertaking to reinforce, maintain and develop its ability to reduce risks to the fullest extent and to ensure the continued effectiveness of the safety management system. Safety audit refers to an arrangement for: • •

collecting, assessing and verifying information on the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of a safety management system, and considering improvements to the system.

Under the Safety Management Regulation, the main duties of the proprietor or contractor of an industrial undertaking in relation to safety audits include the following: • • •

Appointment of a registered safety auditor to conduct safety audits. Provision of facilities , etc. for the purpose of safety audits. Action to be taken on safety audit reports submitted by a safety auditor.

Similar to safety audit, safety review also constitutes the "feedback loop" which enables the industrial undertaking to reinforce , maintain and develop its ability to reduce risks and to ensure the continued effectiveness of the safety management system. Safety review refers to an arrangement for: • •

reviewing the effectiveness of a safety management system, and considering improvements to the effectiveness of the system.

Under the Safety Management Regulation, the main duties of the proprietor or contractor of an industrial undertaking in relation to safety reviews include the following: •

Appointment of a registered safety review officer to conduct safety reviews.

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• •

57 - - - - -

Provision of facilities, etc. for the purpose of safety reviews. Action to be taken on safety review reports submitted by a safety review officer.

Safety audits or safety reviews should assess whether or not the processes in the management model have been effectively followed by the proprietor or contractor in developing, implementing and maintaining the safety management system, including each of the 14 elements. Besides , safety audits or safety reviews should assess whether or not the safety management system, including each of the 14 elements, has been developed, implemented and maintained in accordance with the standards set out in the Code of Practice.

5

The 14 elements of a safety management system specified in the Safety Management Regulation The 14 elements of a safety management system specified in the Safety Management Regulation are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

7.

S.

A safety policy which states the commitment of the proprietor or contractor to safety and health at work. A structure to ensure implementation of the commitment to safety and health at work. Training to equip personnel with knowledge to work safely and without risk to health. In-house safety rules to provide instruction for achieving safety management objectives. A programme of inspection to identify hazardous conditions and for the rectification of any such conditions at regular intervals or as appropriate. A programme to identify hazardous exposure or the risk of such exposure to the workers and to provide suitable personal protective equipment as a last resort where engineering control methods are not feasible. Investigation of accidents or incidents to find out the cause of any accident or incident and to develop prompt arrangements to prevent recurrence. Emergency preparedness to develop, communicate and execute plans prescribing the effective management of emergency situations.

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9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

6

Evaluation, selection and control of subcontractors to ensure that subcontractors are fully aware of their safety obligations and are in fact meeting them. Safety committees to provide a forum for all those involved to discuss issues and pass on information. Evaluation of job related hazards or potential hazards and development of safety procedures. Promotion, development and maintenance of safety and health awareness in a workplace. A programme for accident control and elimination of hazards before exposing workers to any adverse work environment. A programme to protect workers from occupational health hazards.

The survey A survey was conducted in 1998, which aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of safety management in bringing about the benefits expected by construction companies and to find out the difficulties in its implementation (Wong and Poon, 1999).

6.1

Survey introduction A questionnaire was designed to survey the information and views of contractors. A total of 130 questionnaires were sent by mail and facsimile, of which 38 replies were valid for discussion. These contracting companies were chosen randomly from the "List of Contractors Permitted to Tender for Lands Works Groups of Departments' Building, Civil Engineering and Waterworks Contracts" in the Hong Kong Builder Directory. The sample included both local companies and foreign companies from]apan, England, the United States, etc.

6.2

Results of the survey

6.2.1

Motivation for implementing safety management

The table below indicates that the most important motive in establishing a safety management system is improvement in the safety performance of the company.

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

59 - - - - -

Table 1 Importance index of each motive for setting up a safety management system.

Motive

6.2.2

Importance Index

To improve the company's safety performance

81.1

To improve the company's image and reputation in the market

79.5

To satisfy the legislation

60.5

To gain confidence in new and existing clients

50.0

To achieve the PASS and bid for Hong Kong Housing Authority's projects

28.9

The difficulties in implementing safety management

The difficulties are presented in terms of importance as recommended by the respondents. 1) Difficulty in controlling multi-layer subcontractors: Most of the work are done by the subcontractors and only a few are carried out by the main contractors. Subcontractors sometimes further sublet the work to other companies without informing the main contractors. Owing to the subcontractors' high mobility, it is very difficult to check whether they comply with the in-house safety rules and regulations. 2) Inadequate safety awareness of the workers: Many Chinese workers do not adopt safety measures because of the inconvenience which may cause them. Also , they think that adopting safety measures symbolizes the characteristics of unskilled workers. 3) Tight project schedule: The contractors usually take risk as they think that the chance of serious accidents will not be high. They have the belief that the damage cost in the case of late completion is far more than the loss in the event of accidents, assuming no serious accidents may occur. 4) Insufficient safety training provided: Safety training provided by the government, in terms of quality and quantity, is not enough although there have been improvements in recent years. 5) Competitive bidding: The competitive bidding system forces contractors to price their bids as low as possible so as to win the contract. This leads to the contractors to cut costs in all areas. To them, safety is considered to be of the least concern.

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6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

7

Developers' unwillingness to pay for safety aspects: Many developers are reluctant to spend time and money on safety management and consequently put this load wholly on the contractors. Because of the limited resources provided, safety management is usually ignored. Limited resources to support the system: The majority of the contracting companies in Hong Kong are not large in scale, and this explains why they cannot afford to spend much on safety management systems. Poor enforcement of legislation: The legislation does not bring much deterrent effect. It is not strictly enforced as can be seen from the low frequency of inspection by the Factory Inspectorate. Prosecutions are in monetary terms and the fines are very small when compared with the contract sum. Safety policy not communicated down to lower level: Owing to the many layers of subcontracting in the same project and a long chain of documents down to lower level subcontractors, there are discrepancies between documents, resulting in the policies ineffectively communicated. Poor investigation of accidents: Information obtained from poor accident investigation is neither specific nor detailed. The actual causes of the accidents can seldom be found out from this information.

Conclusion Self-regulation by construction companies in carrying out the safety management system is a proactive and positive attempt to improve safety records of the Hong Kong construction industry. The government's effort in providing a better environment for its implementation and developers' support are essential for the successful implementation of safety management in Hong Kong. However, some difficulties in its implementation may render it ineffective in bringing about the potential benefits. The problems can be overcome by changing the culture of the companies including their staff, in addition to investing sufficient money and effort to implement safety management.

References Eves, D.CT. (1993) Successful health and safety management, The role of audits, Green Cross , jul, pp. 8-10. Lam, S.W. (1998) Safety Supervision in the Construction Industry at the Foreman Level in Hong Kong. MPhil Thesis, The University of Hong Kong.

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Levitt, R. E., Parker, H.W. and Samelson, N.M. (1985) Improving Construction Safety Performance: The User's Role, Department of Civil Engineering, Stanford University. Lingard, H. (1995) Safety in Hong Kong's Construction Industry: Changing Worker Behavior. PhD Thesis, The University of Hong Kong. Occupational Safety and Health Branch (2002) Code of Practice on Safety Management, Labour Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR . Rowlinson, S.M. (2003) Hong Kong Construction: Safety Management and the Law. Sweet & Maxwell Asia, Hong Kong, 409 pp. Tang, S.L., Lee, H.K and Wong, K (1997) Safety cost optimization of building proj ects in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 15, No.2, pp. 177-186. Wong, H.Y. and Poon, S.W (1999) Implementing safety management system in the Hong Kong construction industry; in Proceedings of the Contruction Challenges into the Next Century, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, December, Hong Kong, pp. 71-75. Wong, KW, Poon, S.W. and Rowlinson, S.M. (1999) Construction safety and h ealth legislation in Hong Kong, in 1999 Conference of Safety and Health Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region Construction Industry , Tokyo, pp. 1-11.

co

1

TV G

Introduction The construction industry in Hong Kong used to have a very bad reputation in terms of construction safety, particularly during the 1980s and early 1990s. One of the important measures to monitor safety performance on construction sites is through the use of legislation so that proprietors and parties concerned who have not discharged their safety responsibilities diligently and effectively may run the risk of being prosecuted. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the background and the recent development of construction safety-related legislation in Hong Kong.

2

Background InJuly 1995, the former Education and Manpower Branch of the government issued a paper entitled "Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong" for public consultation. This is an important milestone in terms of the development of safety legislation in Hong Kong. The government has put clear emphasis on the improvement of safety and health of workers in industrial undertakings, and particularly in the construction industry (Wong, 1995b). The new strategy has stressed the importance of safety management, and there is a clear

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shift of emphasis in drafting safety legislation from a prescriptive approach to a self-regulating approach.

3

Legislation There are two main aspects of legislation for construction safety. One is for prosecution, in order to deter breach of safety legislation. The other is for employee compensation as a remedial measure (see Appendix 1 on the key safety-related legislation administered by the Labour Department).

3.1

Prosecution The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (1980) (FIUO) and its 27 subsidiary regulations form the principal legislation governing safety and health at work in Hong Kong. The FIUO lays down the duties for both employers and employees of all factories and industrial undertakings, including construction sites, to prevent accidents at work. It also imposes criminal liability on contractors and construction workers, who may be prosecuted by the Labour Department. If convicted, the offenders will be penalized by fine and/or imprisonment. There are two groups of most often used summonses. The first group is for offences under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Guarding and Operation of Machinery) Regulations for "failure to effectively guard the dangerous parts of machinery". The second group is for offences under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Fire Precautions in Notifiable Workplaces) Regulations for "failure to maintain exit doorways free of obstructions". Another group of powerful legislation for use by the Labour Department, particularly for the construction industry, is the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (CSSR). The CSSR is one of the 27 subsidiary regulations under the FIUO , and most of the prosecutions against contractors in the construction industry are made under the CSSR. The summonses made by the CSSR are mainly related to two types of offences. One is for "failure to fence floor edges and other dangerous places with guard rails to prevent the fall of persons". The other is for "failure to provide workmen with safety helmets and to ensure wearing of such helmets". However, one major problem encountered by the Labour Department is the shortage of manpower, particularly frontline safety officers responsible for inspection of construction sites (Tam, 1994). Unless more safety officers are

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY LEGISLATION IN HONG KONG

65

employed to carry out site inspection more regularly, inspection by safety officers will not be an effective controlling measure against unsafe practice on sites. One has to rely on contractors' own safety initiatives , as well as self-regulation (Wong, 2000).

3.2

Employee compensation There have been numerous amendments to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO) since the enactment of the then Workmen's Compensation Ordinance in 1953 , the framework for the employee compensation system in Hong Kong, however, has remained the same. The employee compensation system is a non-fault, non-contributory system funded through the payment of insurance premiums by employers to private insurance companies. Employers are required by the ECO on a compulsory basis to insure against any compensation and common law claims for damages , which they may be liable because of work injury to their employees. Since 1 January 1994, the maximum amounts of compensation payable to injuries and deaths arising out of and in the course of work are $1,440,000 and $1,260,000 respectively. For the calculation of compensation payment purpose, a maximum income of $15 ,000 is applied (Wong, 1995a). In addition to receiving compensation as stipulated in the ECO , injured employees in Hong Kong are eligible to claim damages through common law in tort. Usually the damages obtainable from legal proceedings are higher than the amount of compensation receivable out of the same injury. However, it may take many years before the completion of the formal legal process and for the award of damages. Even if compensation has been received through ECO or damages claimed through common law, financial remedies will never be able to compensate the pain and sorrow suffered by the injured persons and their families. Therefore, efforts in safety promotion and accident prevention are always more meaningful than efforts in employee compensation.

4

Governing bodies

4.1

labour Department The Labour Department is the main government department responsible for the safety, health and welfare of employees in Hong Kong. Its scope of

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work includes legislation, enforcement, training, labour relations, safety and health at work, employment services, and employee rights and benefits. Since 1998 it has been re-organized based on the consultation paper on review of industrial safety in Hong Kong issued in summer 1995 by the former Education and Manpower Branch. The drafting of safety legislation and the approach adopted by the Labour Department have undergone a philosophical change, from a prescriptive approach to a self-regulating approach. Instead of providing rigid and prescriptive safety regulations in the past for employers to follow, employers are now encouraged to establish their safety management systems which are tailor-made for application to suit the use of their own organisations. Employers are therefore required to self-regulate the safety performance of employees working directly, or for subcontractors. There are two main Branches within the Labour Department. They are the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Branch, and the Labour Administration (LA) Branch. Within the 13 divisions of the OSH Branch, three are specifically related to construction safety and health. They are the Information and Training Division (lTD), the Operations Division (OD), and the Legal Services Division (LSD). The lTD mainly deals with safety training and safety promotion. The OD is responsible for monitoring and inspection. The LSD is responsible for enforcement and prosecution. The Employees' Compensation Division (ECD) is one of the 16 divisions within the LA Branch, and is responsible for the administration of the ECO. Under the ECO, compensation is payable to injured employees or dependents of deceased employees, when injuries or deaths are resulted from accidents arising out of and in the course of employment. The Labour Department is also responsible for drafting most of the safety legislation governing construction safety and health for workers in Hong Kong, as well as acting as the enforcing body The most relevant and influential pieces of legislation are the FIUO, Chapter 59, and the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (OSHO), Chapter 59. In 2006, there were 1,067 summonses convicted for building and engineering construction cases under the FIOU and subsidiary regulations, to a total sum of $9,201,100 and an average fine of $8,623 per conviction. Also, in the same year, there were 252 summonses convicted under the OSHO and subsidiary regulations, to the amount of $1,594,500 and an average fine of $6,327 per conviction (Labour Department, 2006).

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY LEGISLATION IN HONG KONG

4.1.1

67 - - - - -

Occupational Safety and Health Branch

There are 13 divisions within the OSH Branch. Three of them are specifically related to construction safety and health: Information and Training Division (lTD) - Responsible for safety training and safety promotion. Operations Division (OD) - Responsible for monitoring and inspection. Legal Services Division (LSD) prosecution. 4.1.2

Responsible for enforcement and

Labour Administration (LA) Branch

The Employees' Compensation Division (ECD) is one of the 16 Divisions within the LA Branch. The ECD is responsible for the administration of the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO). Under the ECO, compensation is payable to injured employees, or dependents of deceased employees when injuries or deaths are resulted from accidents arising out of and in the course of employment.

4.2

Buildings Department The Buildings Department has the main responsibility to plan and to regulate all private sector building developments in Hong Kong. The Buildings Department has implemented the Site Supervision Plan System (SSPS) since December 1997. The SSPS is a safety monitoring and control system which aims to improve the safety of building works, to ensure compliance with the Buildings Ordinance, and to minimize safety hazards on building sites. Similar to the Construction Design and Management Regulations implemented in the UK, the SSPS has imposed more safety responsibilities on clients, designers, and consultants of building developments. In essence , the SPSS is a system to facilitate the forward planning of those safety considerations for construction operations, before construction works are being taken place on building sites. Safety plan and procedures will be produced for workers and supervisors to follow.

4.2.1

Site Supervision Plan System (SSPS)

The objectives of SSPS are (a) to improve safety of building works , (b) to ensure compliance with the Buildings Ordinance , and (c) to minimize safety hazards on sites.

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As defined in the Buildings Ordinance, a supervision plan sets out the plan of safety management of building works or street works. The system focuses on the clarification of the safety roles and duties of the Authorised Person (i.e. the architect or the building surveyor), the Registered Structural Engineer and the Contractor, who work together in a typical building construction project. The three parties are required to prepare a site supervision plan before commencement of the works. This safety management approach comprises the traditional quality supervision and the new safety supervision. The former requires the practitioners to ensure the building works are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Buildings Ordinance and Regulations. The latter requires the three professionals to pay necessary supervision on the building works so as to minimise hazards and risks to workers on site (Poon and Wong, 2000). Site safety supervision plan can be further classified into two types of supervision, the engineering safety supervision and routine safety supervision. Technically Competent Persons (TCP) are deployed to carry out safety supervision. There are five grades of TCPs for each functional stream and their responsibilities are defined in the documents. 4.2.2

Problems associated with the implementation of SSPS

However, the implementation of SSPS is not without problems. According to a study (Wong and Ding, 1999), the identified problems are as follows: Lack of well-trained TCPs

There are five categories of TCPs from T1 to T5, and there are insufficient T1 TCPs in the market. Lack of safety training

There are still a number of employees from both contractors and consultants without formal safety training. Management difficulties due to multi-layers of subcontracting

Due to the common practice of multi-layers of subcontracting in the construction industry, it is often difficult to communicate and coordinate with the subcontractors and their workers to control their safety performance. Lack of basic understanding of the SSPS by contractors and consultants

Employees of contractors and consultants may not be fully aware of the actual contents of the SSPS, including the number of phases, the number of parts , the parties responsible for preparing the SSPS , and the classes of supervision.

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Inadequate safety information and documentation system

Companies which do not have ISO 9000 certification may have difficulties in handling safety information systematically. Insufficient staff of the Site Monitoring Section

There were 1,500 building sites in 2000 and the Site Monitoring Section may not have sufficient staff to handle all the supervision works.

5

Recent development of safety legislation

5.1

Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation Subsequent to the implementation of the General Duties Provision in the FIUO in 1994 and the consultation on review of industrial safety in Hong Kong in 1995, there is a clear indication of a shift of emphasis in the drafting of safety legislation from a prescriptive/enforcement to a self-regulation/safety management approach. The new approach is mainly performance based. Employers are encouraged to take ownership of occupational safety, and to be more proactive in the implementation of accident prevention measures. The enforcement approach has focussed on the hardware and the safety management approach now focuses on the software. This is in line with the recommendations made in the Roben's Report produced in 1972, i.e., to move away from the detailed prescriptive regulations to a broader obligation of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act (1974) , and application of the concept of self-regulation in the UK. As a result of the new approach, some sections of the new legislation entitled the "Factories and industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation" (Safety Management Regulation) have come into operation since 19 June 2000. These sections are mainly concerned with the registration of safety auditors and scheme operators. A scheme operator means a training organization, such as the Construction Industry Training Authority, which has been approved by the Commissioner for Labour as an authorized agent to provide training schemes for safety auditors. Full implementation of the Safety Management Regulation has taken place since 2001. Under the regulation, proprietors and contractors have the duties to develop , implement and maintain a safety management system, to prepare a written safety policy, and to establish a safety committee in their industrial

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undertakings. Furthermore, depending on their sizes, they are required to appoint either registered safety auditors to conduct safety audits or safety review officers to conduct safety review once every six months. The regulation is also applicable to ship manufacturing, power and gas companies , etc. A Draft Code of Practice on Safety Management was issued by the Labour Department in April 2000 for public consultation. The Draft Code of Practice has adopted a management approach including planning, developing, organizing, implementing, measuring, and auditing/reviewing, in the implementation and maintenance of a safety management system. With the new approach in legislation and the Safety Management Regulation, contractors are obliged to establish and implement safety systems in their organizations and workplaces.

5.2

Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Confined Spaces) Regulation The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Confined Spaces) Regulation (Confined Spaces Regulation) came into operation on 19 June 2000. Confined spaces include tunnel, drainage, caisson and shaft construction. Under the Confined Spaces Regulation, all workers who work in confined spaces are required to have suitable training to become certified workers before they are allowed to enter the confined working area. Also , a TCP is required to prepare a risk assessment report, and to make recommendations before allowing workers to work in confined spaces. Contractors should provide safety training and safety instructions to their workers, and are required to set up procedures for emergency evacuation. Contractors should also ensure the use of personal protective equipment by workers, including the use of breathing apparatus, safety harness and with a lifeline connected to the exit of confined spaces. On 23 June 2000, the Labour Department approved a Code of Practice entitled "Safety and Health at Work in Confined Spaces" to provide practical guidance to contractors , in order to satisfy the provisions of this Regulation.

5.3

Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (FIUO) A new section 6B(A) for "mandatory safety training of workers" has been incorporated in the FIUO as an amendment. The new section stipulates that all construction workers who newly arrive on site must have a "Green Card"

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to certify that they have undergone an approved safety induction training course (e.g., CITA Green Card Training Course). The contents of the CITA Training Course (7 hours) include: • • •

Employee attitude on safety and health at work Basic concept of construction safety Accident prevention and safety measures at work

The amendment to the FIUO was passed by the Legislative Council and enacted on 23 July 1999, with a 14-month grace period for adoption by the local construction industry. The new legal requirement has been enforced since May 2001. Full Members of professional institutions, such as MHKIE, are exempted from this legal requirement. A statement to this effect is printed on the HKIE membership card stating that "This Member of HKIE has satisfied the Commissioner for Labour in respect of Section 6BA( 4), Cap 59".

6

Summary The Labour Department and the Buildings Department are the two main government departments in charge of construction safety in Hong Kong. The former places emphasis on the safety of workers and the latter on building safety. New safety legislation has been enacted in recent years in order to provide a more comprehensive legal framework for the prevention of accidents on building and construction sites. The number of construction related accidents in Hong Kong has been reduced in the last few years , from 248 per 1,000 construction workers in 1998 to 61 per 1,000 workers in 2007. However, we should not be complacent with the improvement. Construction accidents in Hong Kong, particularly those concerning serious and fatal accidents, still compare badly with other local industries and with construction industries of other countries. More concerted efforts have to be made to improve the safety performance of the Hong Kong construction industry.

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References Labour Department (2006) Annual Report, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Occupational Safety and Health Branch (2008) Occupational Safety and Health Statistics 2007. Labour Department, The Goverment of the Hong Kong SAR. Poon, S.W. and Wong, K.W. (2000) Obstacles in implementing safety management on Hong Kong building sites. ANZOHSE 2000 Conference, Hong Kong, 6 pp. Tam, A. (1994) Death traps at construction sites. Asia Engineer, Journal of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, October, pp. 9-12. Wong, KW (1995a) Prosecution and employees' compensation for construction accidents in Hong Kong, in Proceedings for the ARC OM Eleventh Annual Conference, University of York, September, Vol. 2, pp. 696-704. Wong, KW. (1995b) Commentary on the consultation paper on the review of industry safety in Hong Kong, Safety Bulletin, Hong Kong Occupational Safety and Health Association, September and October, Vol. 12, No.5, pp. 12-15. Wong, KW (2000) Construction Safety in Hong Kong - The Development of Models for the Safety Performance Assessment of Major Contractors. Unpublished PhD Thesis, South Bank University, UK, 230 pp. Wong, KW and Ding, D. (1999) Effective implementation of the Site Supervision Plan System (SSPS) for the building industry in Hong Kong, in Proceedings of the Construction Challenges into the Next Century, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, December, Hong Kong, pp.65-70. Wong, KW and So, L. (2004) Restriction of the multi-layers subcontracting practice in Hong Kong - Is it an effective tool to improve safety performance of the construction industry? in Safety Management Issues, Construction Safety Management Systems, Spon Press, April, 10 pp.

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Appendix 1 Key Safety-related Labour Legislation Administered by the Labour Department Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance, Chapter 56 Boilers and Pressure Vessels Regulations Boilers and Pressure Vessels (Exempti o n) (Conso lidatio n) Order Boilers and Pressure Vessels (Fo rms ) Order

Employees' Compensation Ordinance, Chapter 282 Employees' Compensation Regulations Employees' Compensation (Rules of Court) Rules

Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, Chapter 59 Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Ab ras ive Wheels) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Asbestos) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (B lasting by Abrasives) Special Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Ca rcinogeni c Substances) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Ca rgo and Container H andling) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Cartridge-Operated Fixing Too ls) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Co nfined Spaces) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Da ngerous Substances) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (D ry Batteries) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (E lectri c ity) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (E lectro lytic Chromium Process) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Fire Precautions in Notifiable Workplaces) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (First Aid in Notifiable Workplaces) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Gas Welding and Flame Cutting) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Goods Lifts) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (G uarding and Operation of Machinery) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Lifting Appliances and Lifting Gear) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Loads hifting Machinery) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Woodwo rking Machinery) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (No ise at Work) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Notif icatio n of Occupational Diseases) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Protectio n of Eyes) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Spraying of Flammable Liquids) Regul atio ns Factories and Industri al Undertakings (S uspended Working Platforms) Regulation Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Woodwo rking Machinery) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Wo rk in Compressed Air) Regulations Quarries (Safety) Regulations Factories and Industri al Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation

Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, Chapter 509 Occupational Safety and Hea lth Regulation Occupational Safety and Hea lth (D ispl ay Screen Equipment) Regulation

Source: Labour Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR (www.labour. gov.hk).

D E

1

Introduction to safety auditing Safety auditing is not in itself an element of safety management, but is a tool to measure the performance or the effectiveness of safety management. Safety audits are similar to audits conducted under quality protocols such as ISO 9000 , and comprise interviews , inspection on physical conditions, tours and document review (Dennis , 1997). Safety audits can be categorized as First, Second and Third Party Audits (Legg et aI. , 1998). First Party Audits should be conducted by persons who are competent and as independent as possible, but may be drawn from within the organization, e.g. , internal personnel located at the site being audited, or by organizational personnel external to the site. Audits may also be carried out by representatives from the client, which are called Second Party Audits. Consultants , government enforcement organizations or certification bodies may also carry out external audits, and these are called Third Party Audits. The three types of safety audits are further explained below. First Party Audits are usually internal audits. An independent approach can be possible within an organization by asking individuals or a team auditing the management activities of their colleagues in separate sections, divisions or sites. Self-auditing by frontline management may be used as a means to stimulate the development of management competence in health and safety.

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If the auditing is done by a team, the company may ask the managers to work with safety representatives, employees and other specialists to undertake a safety audit of their colleagues. The advantage of this team approach is to encourage participation and commitment to the health and safety improvement process.

Second Party Audits are usually external audits undertaken by the client and are primarily intended as an enforcement process. These may be as a result of breakdown in the occupational health and safety management system such as an accident or dangerous occurrence. Second Party Audits serve as a professional examination of the occupational health and safety management system, but often initiate a siege mentality in the upper management of the organiza tion. Third Party Audits are usually external audits undertaken by private consultants , certification organizations or other advisory bodies. These are usually funded by the client. Third Party Audits focus on the entire occupational health and safety management system and measure the organization's compliance with the system. These are carried out by professional, objective assessors. In some cases, Third Party Audits may emphasize more on the policies and procedures and less on the operational documentation.

2

Safety auditing systems Safety auditing systems are available world wide. Some are developed for the exclusive use of a company, some are for multi-national corporations and others are for sales (Wong, 1998). These systems can therefore be categorized into three types: (1) Tailor-made auditing systems (2) Tailor-made auditing systems for multi-national corporations (3) General safety auditing packages Some of the auditing packages can look quite daunting to those unfamiliar with the subject, while others are simple and easy to use.

2.1

Safety auditing systems in Hong Kong The following are some of the safety auditing systems commonly known to Hong Kong and are available on the market.

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2.1.1

77 - - - -

Complete Health and Safety Evaluation for the Construction Industry (CHASE) of HASTAM/BAS

The CHASE has been developed in the UK by the Health and Safety Technology and Management Ltd (HASTAM) and the Building Advisory Service (BAS). The objective of this auditing system is to provide managers in the construction industry with straightforward answers to key questions. It is intended for self-auditing. The manual enables senior managers of construction companies to evaluate whether or not the company is doing enough work on safety and is applying health and safety procedures effectively and efficiently This is an auditing system that aims at the wider construction industry and thus non-specific questions are asked. Some people who wish to use the audit as guidance for implementing safety management systems may find that the auditing system focuses on end results and not the ways to achieve them. The audit questions require simple "Yes" and "No" answers. The audit consists of two parts. Part A is related to Health and Safety Planning while Part B is related to Health and Safety on Site. Part A - Health and Safety Planning

Al A2 A3 A4 -

Management of health and safety policy and arrangements Management of projects: planning the work Management of projects: selection, liaison and supervision Management of projects: monitoring and feedback

Part B - Health and Safety on Site

Bl B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 2.1.2

Management Management Management Management Management Management

of place of work I of place of work II of tasks and operation I of tasks and operation II of equipment, plant, materials and services of health

International Safety Rating System (ISRS) of Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

Frank Bird Junior of the International Loss Control Institute OLC!) has developed the ISRS which has been subsequently acquired by DNV The ISRS contains 20 elements and is divided into 10 levels. Only a part of the audit questions will be applicable to an organization reaching a certain level. Two types of scoring systems are used, the Level Attainment Scoring and the Progressive Scoring. In the Level Attainment system, achievement to certain criteria will be recognised as having achieved a level and the next audit will aim towards the next level.

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Levell is achieved by attempting 5 out of the 20 elements, requiring 25% minimum average score and 10% on any element. LevelS requires 10 elements to be attempted with 75% minimum average score and 50% on any element. Level 10 is achieved by attempting all the 20 elements with 90% minimum average score and 75% on any element. The Progressive Scoring system works on a similar concept, but on the total scores achieved. For example, Levell needs 1,236 points while LevelS needs 10,436 points. Level 10 requires the total of 12,000 points. The system has a very stringent patent control and organizations must join the scheme before they can use the system for auditing purpose. 2.1.3

Independent Safety Audit System (ISAS) of aSHe

In the ISAS developed by the Hong Kong Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC), "safety audit" refers to the audit carried out by the "safety auditor", who is the accredited auditor appointed in accordance with the contract (Works Branch, 1996b). The safety auditor may be corporate staff or third-party consultants (Dennis , 1997). The OSHC has used CHASE as a basis in developing the ISAS. Basically, the OSHC has reshuffled the items in CHASE to be in line with the 14 safety management elements of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (F&:IU) (Safety Management) Regulation (Safety Management Regulation). The Development Bureau requires accredited safety auditors to carry out safety audits in government construction projects. However, in the territory of Hong Kong, there is a sharp shortage of competent auditors compared to the demand. This phenomenon has adverse effects on the implementation of the Safety Management Regulation. Independence is a key issue in the implementation of ISAS. All safety auditors shall be free from bias, conflicts of interest and influences , which could otherwise affect their objective view in reporting and in making recommendations and decisions. The ISAS being implemented in Hong Kong is a typical Third Party Audit. As mentioned, the ISAS contains 14 safety management elements which are outlined as follows: Part A - Safety Management System

Al - Safety policy A2 - Safety organization

SAFETY AUDITING AND ITS USE IN PROACTIVE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS

79 - - - -

A3 - Safety training A4 - In-house safety rules and regulations A5 - Safety committee A6 - Programme for inspection of hazardous conditions A7 - Job hazardous analysis AS - Personal protection programme A9 - Accident/incident investigation Ala - Emergency preparedness All - Safety promotion Al2 - Health assurance programme Al3 - Evaluation, selection and control of sub-contractors Part B - Safety Audit Checklist

B1 - Process control programme Part B in the ISAS is very similar to Part B of CHASE, incorporating B1 to B5 of the latter (see section 2.1.1). 2.1.4

Safety Management Audit for Construction (SMACON) of SASA

The Society of Accredited Safety Auditors (SASA) has devised the SMA CON exclusively for the Hong Kong construction industry. It has 2 main objectives: to enable checking of corner stones of contractors with good safety management systems; and to guide the smaller contractors to implement a safety management system by following the questions in the audit. This system is also based on the 14 safety management elements in the Safety Management Regulation. The scoring system is very similar to ISAS but the calculation of points is simpler. 2.1.5

NSCA 5-star Health and Safety Management System

The National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) has developed this Health and Safety Management System. The system consists of 60 key elements, which are grouped into five categories. A "One Star Grading" means that the organizational health and safety system is better than approximately 50% of other organizations. A "Five Star Grading" means that the organization is at the top 2% to 5% of safety performance from other organisations (NSCA, 1995).

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2.1.6

SafetyMAP of VWCA

SafetyMAP has been developed by the Victorian Work Cover Authority (YWCA) in Australia, the design of which is based on the Quality Management Standard AUS/NZS ISO 9001:1994. The system provides audit criteria to measure the effectiveness of the health and safety system for organizations of different scales. Three levels of Achievement Certification for achieving excellence of managing Health and Safety are used, namely, initial, transition and advanced levels. The initial level is suitable for self-assessment of an organisation's health and safety performance. The auditors can be either internal or external.

2.2

Development of safety auditing in Hong Kong Over the past three decades, the Hong Kong government has adopted a prescriptive approach to enforce industrial safety regulations in Hong Kong, which has been considered to be reactive and non-incentive. In this approach, contractors compare their individual site accident rates with the preset safety targets. Action is taken only after the occurrence of accidents. In response to the very bad situation in workplace safety, particularly in the construction industry, the government has issued the document entitled "Consultation Paper on the Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong" (Education and Manpower Branch, 1995) , proposing new strategies in industrial safety to transform from an enforcement approach to a safety management approach. The document aims to increase employers' awareness of safety issues and to take a self-regulatory and managerial approach to handle safety. This is done through education, training, promotion of safety awareness and a better understanding of the costs of accidents. In 1997, the government enacted the Occupational Safety &: Health Ordinance, and in 1998, the self-regulatory Safety Management Regulation incorporating the safety auditing system became legislated. There are two main motives in implementing occupational health and safety audit in an organization. Firstly, the audit helps to establish whether the current arrangements are actually capable of achieving the desired result of safety performance for the organization. Secondly, it determines whether or not the operation of the occupational health and safety management system and its associated outcomes comply with the established legislative or inhouse standards. The Development Bureau is the government department responsible for the construction of public civil engineering works in Hong Kong. Before the

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81

implementation of the safety auditing system required by law, the former Environment, Transport and Works Bureau has initiated the Pay For Safety Scheme (PFSS) (Works Branch, 1996a) to promote safety among contractors in Hong Kong. About 2% of the contract sum of a contract is allowed in the bill of quantities for the provision of "site safety organization, safety inspection, safety training and safety auditing". The audit system adopted in the PFSS is designated as the ISAS (Works Branch, 1996b) developed by OSHC (see section 2.1.3) through modifying the UK proprietary safety auditing system CHASE (see Section 2.1.1). At the time , the Housing Authority of the government has very much supported the move and also imposed the ISAS in housing contracts. The audit system delineated 14 key process elements (see Section 2.1.3) for monitoring the safety performance of the contractors' management (Hong Kong Occupational Safety &: Health Council, 1996).

3

Proactive approach in monitoring safety by the use of safety auditing It has been proposed by Lai, Tang and Poon (1996) that safety management should be proactive. Before accidents occur, the management of a contractor should assess the adequacy of his safety management effort through safety audits and then predict the safety performance based on the audit results. By comparing the predicted safety performance (e.g., accident rates) with the safety target, the management can conclude whether the existing safety management efforts are sufficient or not.

3.1

Measuring safety management effort In an investigation study carried out in 1996 by Lai, Tang and Poon, a questionnaire for measuring safety management efforts (i.e., a set of questions for safety auditing) was designed to fulfil the following objectives: (a) Measure the effectiveness of safety management (b) Develop proactive measures to tackle safety problems (c) Pinpoint areas in safety management that need improvement, modification and reinforcement (d) Be flexible and to allow for individual managerial styles and strategies (e) Address critical and current problems with safety in the local environment

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In order to correlate the relationship between safety efforts and safety performance, the questionnaire was designed to record the auditing results of contractors' safety management efforts and the corresponding accident rates. The auditors were required to assign marks of 1 to 4 (1 is unsatisfactory, 2 is acceptable, 3 is satisfactory, 4 is excellent) to the questions attached to each of the following aspects: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

CD

(g) (h) (i)

safety and health policy accountability organization planning control accident analysis communication and promotion training motivation

Each of the above aspects had three to five questions. Individual aspects have their own significance and effectiveness in the upholding of safety. Therefore, weighting factors were applied to individual safety measures (the aspects) during the evaluation of contractors' safety management efforts to reflect the differences in importance. Planning, training and accountability were treated to be most important in upholding safety and a weighting factor of 2 was assigned to them. A weighting factor of 1.5 was assigned to safety &: health policy and communication &: promotion. All the other aspects had a factor of 1.

3.2

The survey The survey used 8 contracts as a sample. All of them were big infrastructure projects where the contract sum ranged from $670m to $3,500m. All the contractors had implemented different safety management systems. The results of the survey are shown in Table 1. The survey data were plotted on a graph as shown in Figure 1 which illustrates that the higher the marks for safety management efforts, the lower the accident rate (or better safety performance). A linear regression analysis using the least square method was then used to establish a relationship between safety management efforts and accident rates. In measuring the correlation of safety efforts and safety performance, the authors can assess the adequacy of safety management. For example, if a

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83

contractor has a safety target of less than two accidents per 100,000 manhours, then he has to gain at least 140 marks in the auditing exercise to be his management effort (see Figure 1). If the mark (safety performance) obtained in an audit is worse than that target, management should take immediate action to improve safety at work. Table 1 Results of surveying eight construction contracts.

Contract

* Mark for Safety Management Efforts 163 139 95 126 111 105 102 139

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Safety Performance - No. of Reportable Accidents per 100,000 man-hrs (Accident Rate) 0.3 1 .11 2.03 3.15 4.84 4.21 4.78 2.88

The maximum mark is 190

*

Correlation % Safety Management Effort and Accident Rate

...

0 0 0 0' 0

....

~

r::: ~

....-<0

Government Target

Contract 7 Contract 5

C: ~ E

·uu

Correlation obained by linear regression analysis

-

•

..c

"C

-

2

0

.-------

Contract 3

Contract 1

Z

80

100

120

140

160

180

Marks for Safety Management Effort

Figure 1 Correlation between safety management efforts and accident rates.

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4

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Conclusion The above survey has shown that a proactive approach to safety management can be promoted by correlating safety management efforts with safety performance. The survey was carried out before the ISAS has been introduced by the government. To benefit further from this correlation, a standardized safety auditing system such as the ISAS should be adopted for the whole construction industry in Hong Kong (Kwok and Tang, 1999) so that the safety management efforts of contractors can be assessed and expressed quantitatively on a uniform basis. This would enable a territory-wide assessment and comparison, and contractors can be kept informed of the adequacy of their safety management efforts so as to maintain a pre-defined safety standard. Besides safety auditing, Kwok and Tang (1999) have proposed that the safety performance of a construction project can be proactively managed by the use of quality auditing (ISO 9001 audits). The two authors believe that there should be a correlation between the score of a quality audit and accident rate. Interested readers may refer to their paper for details.

References Dennis, P (1997) Quality, Safety & En vironment - Synergy into the 21st Century. ASQC Quality Press. Education and Manpower Branch (1995) Consultation Paper on the Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong , Government Secretariat, Hong Kong,july. Hong Kong Occupational Safety and Health Council (1996) Works Branch Safety Auditing Systems (WBSAS), Version 1.0. Hong Kong. Kwok, WK. and Tang, S.L. (1999) A proactive approach to monitor construction safety using indicators of safety and quality audits, in Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of CIB Working Commission W99 on Implementation of Safety and Health on Construction Sites, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, March, pp. 837-841. Lai, K.c., Tang, S.L. and Poon, S.W (1996) Management effort and safety performance of construction projects. Asia Engineer, journal of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, january, pp. 26- 28. Legg, P, O'neill, M. and Salton, A. (1998) Auditing the Management of aSH - Study Book. University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury. National Safety Council of Australia (1995) NSCA 5-Star Health & Safety Management System Manual.

SAFETY AUDITING AND ITS USE IN PROACTIVE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS

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Victorian WorkCover Authority (1997) SafetyMap: Auditing Health and Safety Management, 3rd Edition. Wong, y.y. (1998) Introduction to Safety Audit Systems. Course notes for the Safety Auditor Training Scheme jointly organized by the Society of Accredited Safety Auditors and the Industrial Centre of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Works Branch (1996a) Technical Circular No. 4/96: Pay For Safety Scheme (PFSS). Government Secretariat, Hong Kong, March. Works Branch (1996b) Technical Circular No. 5/96: The Independent Safety Auditing Scheme. Government Secretariat, Hong Kong, March.

CON

-TR(]~

ENT

5

1

Introduction Accident investigation is one of the 14 elements of safety management. Investigation is important as it not only reveals the real causes of an accident in determining the responsibility and liability, but also leads to necessary adjustment and improvement to prevent further accidents. This chapter presents some methods used in investigating accidents and the types of reports prepared by different relevant parties.

2

Accident and failure investigation The following sections present various methods of accident investigation suggested by various researchers. These methods can be considered for investigating general site accidents, plant failures , structural collapses, system failures and large scale accidents.

2.1

Hadipriono et al. During the 1980s , Hadipriono and his researchers did a lot of work on studying construction failures. Hadipriono and Wang analysed 126 falsework failures in concrete structures , which had happened during the

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previous 23 years. 42% of these falsework failures were related to bridge construction. Falsework collapses during the construction stage were summarized, and about half of the 85 cases found had collapses during concrete pouring. According to Hadipriono , three types of causes , i.e. , the enabling, triggering and procedural causes , were classified. The enabling causes were events that contributed to the deficiencies in the design and construction of falsework. The triggering causes were usually external events that could initiate a falsework collapse. Procedural causes were hidden events that led to the enabling and, quite often, the triggering events as well. It was also revealed that most of the enabling and triggering causes stemmed from inadequate procedural methods. Evaluation of these factors was generally only available in the more detailed investigation reports. The most noticeable cause was lack of review of falsework design or construction, and a significant number of monitoring problems were found in connection with concreting procedures. It was also found that unqualified persons were commonly employed to monitor the erection procedures. A lack of supervision in monitoring changes during construction was also identified as a significant factor for most collapses. Hadipriono concluded that the most often repeated enabling and triggering causes were generated from inadequacies in the procedures. In his paper "Analysis of events in recent structural failures" , Hadipriono (1985) further identified that external events and deficiencies in both the design and construction were the principal sources of 150 major structural failures. From the events surveyed, he revealed that the enabling events, in particular, were caused by inadequacy in the institutional and procedural methods in the project phases. The inadequacies were reflected in the interrelationships among the parties involved in the operations, such as confusion occurring at interfaces among contractors , subcontractors, construction managers, design engineers, architects and the client's representatives. Consequently, the enabling events resulted in inadequate design review and improper construction monitoring. Many failures were found to have stemmed from inadequate design review procedures. In some instances , design calculations subcontracted to a profeSSional were not thoroughly checked. Others , such as detailing of important components , or the design of a complex falsework, were performed without being fully verified (Bragg, 1975).

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Another finding from the study of failures was the lack of monitoring during construction phases, which seemed to be more significant in developing countries. Frequently, inspection was performed in superficial ways and proper erection procedures were not adhered to. Also , lack of expertise and facilities in performing unconventional construction processes was very common. In summary, Hadipriono made the following recommendations. •

•

•

2.2

There is a need to analyse potential problems from past data. When a potential problem for a typical structure is suspected, performance data of similar structures can be retrieved for study. Thus, preventive measures and effective quality control processes can be implemented. Besides, appropriate safety measures would be undertaken. In order to avoid confusion among the parties involved, improvement in procedural considerations during design and construction processes, such as proper delineation of each party's responsibility, should be exercised throughout the construction stage. The structural design and details should be reviewed by an independent party to reduce the possibility of a structural failure and to show evidence that the design is in compliance with the criteria. There is also a need for adequate risk analysis for structures in service and during construction. Risk analysis of potential problems during construction can be employed so as to select methods and procedures that have lower probabilities of failure , to institute control in preventing initiation of failure, and to monitor the critical aspects during construction.

Holloway Holloway (1990) has recognized the potentially serious effects of rule violations on plant safety, a methodology has therefore been developed for the qualitative investigation of such violations. The method covers identification of violations and their effects on safety, and qualitative assessment of the incentives and disincentives for such violations, including the recording of violations associated with particular disincentives. The method is intended to provide an approximate ranking of the importance of violations , but does not offer a numerical quantification of probabilities. Its use is limited to qualitative investigations intended to identify violations worthy of further analysis or in anticipation of preventive measures. Violation of rules has been an important contributor to major accidents. Had the

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rules not been violated, most if not all of the accidents would have been prevented. Holloway's "SURVIVE" methodology involves a survey of rules which constrain the human elements in plant safety, and an assessment of violations of those rules that could seriously degrade safety. The following are the stages in the overall process: (1) Identify those rules which, if violated, will allow a fairly immediate and significant degradation of safety to arise. The possible violations are given against each identified rule. (2) For each violation, the magnitude of the effect on safety is assessed. The effect may be assessed in terms of increased probabilities of accidents, and consequences of accidents or the combination. Effect

=

Probabilities x Consequence

(3) For each violation, the incentives and disincentives for the violation are

assessed. (4) The particular disincentives associated with recording of violations are assessed. (5) The overall ratings of the Effect, Incentives and Disincentives are combined in a final assessment.

2.3

lucas Lucas (1990) has suggested one outcome of investigating the failures, which is that we must learn from experience to prevent future crises from occurring. The fundamental concept is to find out the cause , to derive effective remedies and to prevent future accidents. Lucas has described a stage model of accident investigation, in which any casual analysis is used merely to apportion blame, and the learning process from the accident analysis is non-existent. An alternative process model of accident investigation places an emphasis on monitoring of remedial action and hence on learning from the unfortunate experience of the incident. The conclusion is that it is better to be process- rather than stage-oriented.

2.4

Pidgeon et al. Pidgeon et al. (1990) has described the work in developing an intelligent knowledge based system for safety management in the construction industry. Case history material of past incidents is acquired by a process of knowledge

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91

elicitation, and the information derived is represented in a knowledge base using Event Sequence Diagrams (ESDs). In the knowledge representation, the case histories can be conceived of as stories which need to be converted into a structured representation. The form chosen is the ESD which is similar to the event tree technique. The ESD provides a powerful means of representing and assessing information about the sequences of events preceding a failure or near-miss incident. The ESD shows the temporal order and relationship of events leading to a particular outcome.

2.5

Whittingham Whittingham (1990) has described a method of retrospective analysis of safety significant events to identify the root causes. An accident may in retrospect be considered as a sequence of interconnected events. It usually comprises equipment and human failures linked together by cause and effect relationships. Accident causes are classified as: (1) direct (immediate) causes; and (2) root (underlying) causes. Direct causes are usually trigger events or latent failures. Trigger events are occurrences which set off the accident sequence, e.g., concreting in falsework failures. Latent failures are unrevealed failures of components of a system, which remain undetected and uncorrected until a demand occurs on the failed component, e.g., lower strength, or inadequate design. The root cause of an accident can be defined as the most basic reason for the accident which, if corrected, will prevent a future recurrence of the accident. The three methods of retrospective analysis are: (1) Hypothesis approach A number of alternative hypotheses are advanced to explain how the accident may have been caused. The objective is to ensure that the widest possible range of solutions to the problem are explored. (2) "What if" approach The probable cause of the accident is known with some certainty, and the investigation will generate slightly divergent scenarios from the one originally

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selected and test the effect of fairly subtle changes in the circumstances of the accident. The objective of this approach is to allow an assessment to be made of the influence of the various components on the course of the accident. It can qUickly determine whether the component concerned is a possible cause or not. (3) Change analysis approach

The principle of this approach is that a decline in a formerly acceptable standard of performance suggests that something has changed. The method sets out an effective means of sorting through numerous and diverse changes which might have occurred, some of which may have given rise to the problem which is required to be solved. This approach provides a systematic basis for identifying and analysing the causes. Using the change analysis approach, areas where changes are to be identified are: • • •

Design/intent - The mode of operation of the system as designed or intended. Normal practice - The normal operation mode of the system. Actual practice - The mode of operation of the system just prior to the accident.

The propositions in investigating the effects of change are: • •

2.6

Design/intent versus normal practice = root causes Normal practice versus actual practice = direct causes

Turner Based on an initial study of disasters in Britain over an ll-year period, Turner (1992) has identified a pattern which suggests that large scale accidents are caused by many sources rather than a single source, and that their preconditions build up over a period of time, rather than spring into existence instantaneously. The model points to the way crises and disasters have developed is in a covert and unnoticed fashion during an incubation period. From an initial situation when the circumstances of the project in question are notionally normal, the incubation period starts to develop at the point at which circumstances start to deviate , covertly, from that which is believed to be the case. This state of affairs continues to develop until it is terminated by a trigger event which combines the predisposing factors

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93

into a single occurrence. Usually an unanticipated discharge of energy of some kind provokes the onset of a system failure. Events within the incubation can be reconstructed in retrospect as ESDs, a treelike structure of contributory incidents with the trigger event and the onset of the failure at its focus. ESDs can be used to summarize the events associated with a failure and to relate enquiry findings and lessons learned. The sequence of systems failure is: • • • • • •

Situation notionally normal Incubation period Trigger event Onset Rescue and salvage Full cultural readjustment

Blockley (1992) has commented on Turner's model and pointed out that most system failures are not caused by a single factor and that conditions for failure do not develop instantaneously. Multiple casual factors accumulate, unnoticed or not fully understood over a considerable period of time, and constitute the incubation period. An analogy is made to the Balloon Model. The start of the process is the establishment of the first precondition for the accident. The pressure of air inside the balloon is similar to the proneness to failure of the project. Events accumulate to increase the predisposition to failure. The size of the balloon can be reduced by lowering the pressure and letting the air out, and this parallels the effects of management decisions that remove some predisposing events and thus reduce the proneness to failure. If the pressure of such events builds up until the balloon is very stretched, then only a small trigger event is needed to release the energy put up in the system. The trigger may not be the most important factor. The over stretched balloon represents an accident is about to occur. When it comes to accident prevention, it is important to recognize the preconditions, i.e., the development of the pressure in the balloon. The symptoms that characterize the incubation of an accident need to be identified and checked.

2.7

Stewart and Fortune Stewart and Fortune (1995) have suggested that all project lifecycles consist of a sequence of stages and activities , and there is always a degree of risk associated with each stage.

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Brearley (1991) has also commented that project managers should be sensitive to potential sources of risk. They should be able to anticipate their occurrence and their potential impact on the project objectives and to reduce their future impact through appropriate risk management strategies. Therefore, risk identification and development of risk management strategies must be carried out throughout the life of a project. Systems methods and techniques (such as the use of rich pictures, systems maps, influence diagrams, and systems models in building up holistic pictures that emphasize interconnectedness) enable problem themes to be identified and two further areas are to be investigated. • •

Interactions in particular those within the project team and between the team and its clients. Human aspects such as conflicts of objectives, motivation problems and poor communication which may hinder the success of the project.

The holistic techniques include the following: (1) Soft systems analysis is an approach which does not only deal with hard tangible information but also with soft complexity that arises because people are involved. It takes account of the feelings, attitudes, perceptions as well as potential conflicts between people. (2) Systems map is a diagram showing a snapshot of the structure of the area under consideration being conceptualized as a system. The structure is particularly emphasized. (3) Influence diagrams explore the important relationships among components within a system and between the system and its environment. They are concerned with relationships. (4) Formal System Model (FSM) is a model of a robust system that is capable of purposeful activity without failure, and coordinates a number of key systems concepts within an organized framework. The formal system itself comprises decision making subsystems and elements which carry out the tasks of the system and thus effect its transformation by converting inputs into outputs. (5) History files are a rich source of information about which strategies are effective, what problems have occurred and whether contingency plans are successful. (6) The systems failures method is a systemic method for the analysis of failures, which can be used to look back at events, activities and situations with a view to identifying any significant failures that have occurred and achieving an understanding of those failures. It has two key features:

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• •

95

Conceptualization and modeling of the situation as a system. Comparison of that system, first with FSM, and subsequently with other models based on typical failures.

Information about failures in past projects can be used to identify potential risk areas for future projects. Stewart and Fortune have further argued that by using systems approaches, it is possible to identify potential risks which would not otherwise be predicted. In addition, application of systems thinking at the end of a project can enable lessons from outcomes to be used to improve performance on future projects.

3

Reporting of construction accidents Most of the construction accidents are of minor scale and do not raise public concern. However, large scale accidents such as those involving collapse of temporary works and structural failures are spectacular and do attract public attention. The consequences always lead to not just a delay in completion of the works, but also injuries and fatalities. In the case of a major accident, the media will report to the public on what has happened. In Hong Kong, intensive investigation is required, in particular when there is a casualty, by the Labour Department. The government departments , if they are acting as clients of the project, would also require an investigation and reports produced by both the consultant and the contractor, in order to explore the possible reasons and clarify the contractual and legal responsibilities. Expert reports are needed in case a court thinks it necessary in disputes for compensation or enforcement of the legislation. For severe accidents, the government may set up a formal enquiry to investigate as well as to recommend remedial or preventive measures. The different types of reports on accidents are: • • • • • • •

newspaper/television reports engineering journals professional reports accident reports court hearings formal commission enquiry institution's study reports

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3.1

Press/television reports Reports by the media have the fastest and most widespread impact in news announcement. Newspapers provide a description which is enhanced by photographs of an accident; whereas television reports are verbal descriptions often incorporating a closer look to reveal more details. Though supported with pictures or views, these reports are only short and brief descriptions. They are mainly plain descriptions by reporters who may not have the technical or professional knowledge to justify their lack-of-depth findings. Some report data may be gathered through interviews with relevant personnel on site. The views presented, however, may be unconfirmed and may lead to unfounded speculation. Some reporters even tend to draw premature conclusions based on brief interviews on site. Most of these conclusions are unfounded as interviewees cannot judge the causes of the collapse prior to an investigation. Thus, these reports are of very low reliability. On citing reports prepared by professionals , however, the content will be reliable provided all the information quoted is complete, undistorted and without unfounded comments added. In the case of the collapse of the footbridge during construction at Tseung Kwan 0 , Hong Kong in 1996, the following observations were reported by the media. • •

Academics suggested the rusted tabular scaffolds and the permanent support failure were causes in connection with the collapse of the beams , when interviewed by the press. One high rank government official even mixed up the actual construction method.

The above ideas and comments were later found hearings and the expert's investigation.

3.2

to

be contrary to the court

Engineeringjournals From time to time, professional journals include reports on accidents and structural collapses from places all over the world. Except having incorporated the full reports these are not lengthy descriptions, although diagrams and photographs are sometimes included. The characteristics of these reports on accidents are similar to that of newspapers or television reports which are often brief, biased and incomplete. They are mainly piecemeal descriptions on the accident scene with some unconfirmed hearsay by reporters who in many cases have not acquired the

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expertise in the field. Details on calculations or analysis are not included in these reports. Descriptions are mainly based on observation and spokesmen's statements. Comments given by some professionals are derived solely from observation, and can be very subjective and unfounded. Sometimes, because of the editorial board's close contact with professional associations, professional report findings are available. The journals publish the available reports at different stages such as occurrence of the accident, the course of preparation of reports, preliminary findings and even court settlements if available.

3.3

Professional reports These are prepared by professionals generally involved in the project where an accident has occurred. The professionals include the Engineer together with the Resident Engineer, the contractor with the subcontractor, the Independent Checking Engineer if appointed, the Site Safety Officer and the Labour Department if there is a serious injury or dangerous occurrence. The Engineer, appointed by the client to supervise the construction work, would be required to compile an accident report based on the reports by the Resident Engineer and the contractor. The Engineer has to report in particular the responsibilities and the activities leading to the accident. Naturally, this report presents information for judgement on contractual liability. Often the contractor is criticized for presenting an incomplete report with key information missing such as calculations, connection details, working drawings of temporary works or details of the process in question. Both the Resident Engineer and the contractor may be required to produce their reports and are subject to questioning in court for fatal cases. The Resident Engineer's report is to include all necessary documents such as meeting minutes, contractors' submission of design calculations, drawings etc., comments or approval by the Resident Engineer, tests, and inspection results, so as to give a complete picture of all relevant activities pertaining to the accident in an attempt to determine the fault and the responsibility. As the Resident Engineer and the contractor have the perception that their reports may be used for judgement on their responsibilities under the contract, some information which may be detrimental to their reputation may not be included deliberately in their reports; this is so called "experts making false statements". The incompleteness of the reports is often complained by the client or government department.

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However, these reports, to a certain extent, serve as a reliable account of instances about the accident, although they are not available to the public partly because of the nature of the content and partly because of the unresolved legal responsibility. Under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Regulations , the Site Safety Officer or Supervisor is also required to investigate the accident, report to the proprietor any accident, dangerous occurrences , injury sufferings or fatal accidents, and make recommendations to prevent similar happenings.

3.4

Accident reports The Labour Department inspectorate prepares the report of industrial accidents. Generally such report consists of the following. • • • • • • • •

Information source - people or companies providing the information in compiling the report. Background information - the parties, the project and the work to be undertaken. Construction of the element in concern. Events before the accident. The accident. Observation and comments. Possible causes of the accident. Recommendations.

These inspectors , though trained and experienced in carrying out investigation of accidents , are not professionally qualified to judge and make recommendations on engineering failures. Furthermore, they lack objective analysis and tests to back up their argument. Their reports may be presented to the court, and a charge may be imposed on the party concerned should a breach of regulatory requirement be found.

3.5

Court hearings Court hearings are necessary whenever a fatality has been reported or settlement for dispute over liabilities and compensation is required. Although information unfavourable to certain parties may not be disclosed or admitted in the court, the reliability of information presented is very high. Sometimes independent expert reports for both the plaintiff and defendant are needed despite the general accident report has been prepared by the Labour

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Department. In his report, the expert presents the result of his professional investigation of the accident, and his view on the accident together with the failure causes identified and supported by objective assessment, e.g., computer simulation, laboratory test, etc. Disputes are needed to be settled in court for the following reasons: • • •

Coroner's court for investigation of death of a victim in an accident as a legislation requirement. Charges raised by the Labour Department in view of the breach of the regulation by the contractor. Civil cases - when the injured worker or relative of the victim seeks for compensation because of the injury or casualty. Legal aid is available to those who are eligible under the regulations.

The court will determine responsibilities and fines or punishment if appropriate, except in the coroner's court where the judge has no authority to punish in law any person who has negligence in any operation, but to establish the reason of death. In all these cases, the professional or personnel involved will be summoned by the court and questions will be raised by the counsels. Reports prepared by professionals or experts would be read in court. Information presented during court hearings is reliable, in particular the opinions expressed by professionals. The expert's reports can be presented by both sides in dispute and complete objectivity is practically difficult to achieve. It is impossible to eliminate totally the bias of the expert towards the side asking for the report. The process of an accident or a failure may be simulated by retrospective analysis or use of computer software. A typical expert report contains the following information: • • • • • • • • •

Introduction including the information source. Background information extracted from documents. General and specific site conditions. Sequence of events leading to the accident. Other relevant information related to the accident. The accident. Probable cause of the accident. Safety procedures that should have been adopted. Safety regulations applicable and breaches of the regulation.

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Court hearings are reliable in particular with regard to the opinions expressed by the professionals, though sometimes information may be incomplete and hidden if no question has been raised.

3.6

Formal enquiry A formal enquiry is necessary after a major accident such as the collapse of Hotel New World in Singapore, or as an intensive study of falsework in the UK, at the time when frequent collapses had been found. A commission of enquiry or a committee will be set up and may consist of a judge, academics, professionals and government representatives. They will be given a set of terms of reference in carrying out the investigation. In the captioned Singapore's case, the terms of reference for the Commission of Inquiry were: • •

to determine the cause of the collapse of the premises at 305 Serangoon Road on 13 March 1986; and to make recommendations for appropriate measures that can be taken to prevent a similar occurrence.

The report of the Commission of Inquiry was published in 1987, and some of the recommendations were as follows: • • • • • •

All structural plans and calculations of a building should be independently checked. The system of voluntary registration of contractors should be expanded to cover projects in the private sector. Proper supervision of construction work by qualified persons should be enforced. Various tests relating to structural work should be carried out under the supervision of a professional engineer. Spot checks on the construction particularly at the critical stage of constructing the major structural elements should be carried out. Professional engineer's certificate on the structural plan is required for amended plans submitted by architects.

Chaired by S.L. Bragg, the Advisory Committee on Falsework in the UK was set up on 13 March 1973 with the following terms of reference: To consider and advise on the technical, safety and other aspects of the design, manufacture, erection and maintenance of temporary load bearing

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

1 01 - - - - -

falsework used to support formwork or permanent structures , particularly bridges, during construction, and in particular, to: • • • •

identify any inadequacies in present knowledge, standards and practices, recommend such steps as may be needed, and indicate an order of priority; draw up interim technical criteria, for use in advance of the publication of a British Standard Code of Practice, together with such procedural guidance as the Committee may consider appropriate ; recommend specific research and development to be carried out in the short and long term; and advise as to the training, organizational and manpower implications for the Committee's recommendations.

Further to the interim report published in April 1974, the final report was submitted by the Advisory Committee in June 1975. The final report stated that the Advisory Committee had based their discussions on practice rather than on hypothesis and had tried to provide solutions that are realistic rather than utopian. The final report covered the following: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 -

Details of some of the collapses studied by the Committee Commonest technical faults Common inadequacy in procedure Technical recommendation Recommended procedures Training and manpower Implementation of recommendations

Among the principal recommendations , the following should be noted in particular: • •

All falsework must be designed, even if on a small job the design is only a simple sketch. The contractor must appoint a properly qualified Temporary Works Coordinator (TWC) whose duties are to ensure that all procedures have been followed, that all checks and inspections have been carried out and that any modifications or changes have been properly authorized. Falsework may not be loaded or struck without the written permission of the TWC.

The findings of a formal investigation are very reliable with few bias and relatively little missing information. Firstly, the background leading to

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a failure is reviewed and all witnesses are summoned on the history of the project and contract conditions including well-defined duties and responsibilities. There is usually a theory for the failure and the report contains the failure re-construction including all enabling events, procedural errors and triggering events. The mode of failure can also be confirmed by computer simulation. Detailed analysis of loads, stresses , and structural analysis would be undertaken to check against the actual factor of safety. The enquiry panel would exercise judgement based on views and information collected, and make recommendations which would often lead to adjustment in the existing procedures and eventual improvement in site safety.

4

Summary This chapter has reviewed some methods of accident investigation, based on previous research. The researchers have pointed to the need for a system to anticipate potential risks and to come up with effective strategies to manage the risks, with an aim to preventing accidents as far as possible. The reports which are pertinent to investigation of construction accidents and failures have also been reviewed. It is generally accepted that findings gathered from a formal enquiry are complete and authoritative. The court hearings and professional reports including accident reports by the Labour Department are deemed to be reliable. Descriptions in engineering journals and reports produced by the media, due to a lack of professional investigation, are of low reliability. Different degrees of reliability are attached to these reports and should be interpreted in analyzing the failures from the reports. The overall degree of reliability of different reports of failures is summarized in the following table. Table 1 Reliability of different accident reports.

Type of report

Overall degree of reliability

Media

Very low -low

Engi neeri ng report

Medium

Professional report

High

Accident report

Medium - high

Court hearings

High

Formal enquiry

Very high

CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

1 03 - - - - -

References Blockley, D.l. (1992) Concluding reflections, in Engineering Safety, edited by D.l. Blockley. McGraw-Hill. Bragg, S.L. (1974) Interim Report of the Advisory Committee on Falsework. HMSO. 14 pp. Bragg, S.L. (1975) Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Falsework. HMSO. 151 pp. Brearley, S.A. (1991) High level management and disaster, in Emergency Planning in the 1990s, edited by A.Z. Keller and HC Wilson, British Library / Technical Communications, Letchworth. Hadipriono, Ee. (1985) Analysis of events in recent structural failures. Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 111, No. 7,jul. , pp. 1468-1481. Hadipriono, Ee. and Wang, H.K. (1986) Analysis of causes of falsework failures in concrete structures. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management , Vol. 112, No.1, Mar., pp. 112-121. Hadipriono, Ee. and Wang, H.K. (1987) Causes of falsework collapse during construction. Structural Safety, 4, pp. 179-195. Holloway, N J. (1990) Survive - A safe analysis method for a survey of rule violation incentives and effects, in Safety and Reliability in the 90s - Will Past Experience or Prediction Meet Our Needs, edited by M.H. Waiter and R.E Cox. Elsevier Applied Science, pp. 37-49. Lucas, D.A . (1990) Wise men learnt by others' harms, fools by their own: Organizational barriers to learning the lessons from major accidents, in Safety and Reliability in the 90s - Will Past Experience or Prediction Meet Our Needs, edited by M.N. Waiter and R.E Cox, Elsevier Applied Science, pp. 50-69. Pidgeon, N.E; Stone, JR.; Blockley, D.l. and Turner, B.A. (1990) Management of safety through lessons from case histories, in Safety and Reliability in the 90s - Will Past Experience or Prediction Meet Our Needs, edited by M.H. Waiter and R.E Cox. Elsevier Applied Science, pp.201-216. Poon, S.W (1997) Collapse of a footbridge during construction, in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Structural Failure, Durability and Retrofitting , Singapore, pp. 3-8. Poon, S.W (1998) Falsework failure - Analysis and prediction, in Proceedings of Symposium on Bamboo and Metal Scaffolding, Hong Kong, October, pp. 83-93. Poon, S.W. (2001) Review of falsework failure reports. Proceedings of the 8th East AsiaPacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, Singapore, December, Paper No. 1584,8 pp. Poon, S.W and Price, A.D.E (1994) Falsework and bridge failures. Journal of Asia Pacific Building and Construction Management,july, pp. 20-24. Stewart, R.W. and Fortune, J (1995) Application of systems thinking to the identification, avoidance and prevention of risk. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 13, No.5, pp. 279-286.

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Thean, L.P., Vijiaratnam, A., Lee, S.L. and Broms B.B. (1991) Report ofInquiry. Commission of Inquiry into the Collapse of Hotel New World in Singapore 1987. 115 pp. Turner, B.A. (1992) The sociology of safety, in Engineering Safety, edited by D.l. Blockley. McGraw-Hill. Whittingham, R.B. (1990) The application of root cause analysis to incident investigation to reduce the frequency of major accidents, in Safety and Reliability in the 90s - Will Past Experience or Prediction Meet Our Needs, edited by M.H. Waiter and R.F. Cox. Elsevier Applied Science, pp. 186-200.

1

Introduction As a construction site is maintained and managed by the main contractor, the site supervisor plays a key role in the daily management of the construction site. As representative of the main contractor, he has to ensure that the construction works are completed in accordance with the drawings and within the time and budget schedules, and that the quality is up to the requirement of the contract. Also , he has to ensure that the works are constructed safely with all safety precautions and procedures adopted on site, and that all regulations including the Buildings Ordinance are complied with. This chapter is to investigate the major role of the site supervisor in safety management of a construction site.

2

Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (FIUO) Before the discussion of the role of the site supervisor in safety management, it is important to know the requirements of site safety under the current regulations.

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Under the current FIUO, it is the duty of every proprietor (i.e., employer) of an industrial undertaking to ensure the health and safety at work of all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking. Under the legislation of Hong Kong Cap 59, FIUO, Section 6A, the proprietor is also responsible for the following: (a) the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health; (b) arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances; (c) the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking; (d) so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any part of the industrial undertaking under the proprietor's control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks; and (e) the provision and maintenance of a working environment for all persons employed by him at the industrial undertaking that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, and without risks to health. As an employee, the worker should also work safely in his working environment. Section 6B of FIUO requires the worker: (a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work; and (b) as regards any duty or requirement imposed on a proprietor of the industrial undertaking or on any other person by this Ordinance for securing the health and safety of persons employed at the industrial undertaking, to co-operate with him so far as is necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed or complied with. The legislation has increased the safety awareness of both employers and workers. In order to maintain workplace safety and educate workers about safety at work, an employer is required to employ a Safety Officer and/or a Safety Supervisor in accordance with the rules laid down in Chapter 59Z of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulation for a construction site employing more than 100/20 employees in total respectively.

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

107 - - - - -

The duties of a Safety Officer are as follows : (a) advising the proprietor as to measures to be taken in the interest of the safety and health of persons employed in the industrial undertaking and, with the approval of the proprietor, implementing such measures ; (b) inspecting the industrial undertaking, or directing any person employed as a safety supervisor therein to inspect the industrial undertaking for the purpose of determining whether or not there is any machinery, plant, equipment, appliance or process or any description of work carried on in the industrial undertaking which is of such a nature as to be liable to cause risk of bodily injury to any person employed in an industrial undertaking; (c) reporting the findings of any inspection carried out under sub-paragraph (b) to the proprietor and recommending what measures, if any, ought to be taken as a result of that inspection; (d) assisting in the supervision of any person employed as a safety supervisor in the industrial undertaking; (e) advising the proprietor in the interest of the safety and health of persons employed in the industrial undertaking of any repairs or maintenance that ought to be carried out in respect of(i) any premises comprising the industrial undertaking; (ii) any appliance, equipment, machinery or plant in use in the industrial undertaking; CO investigating and reporting to the proprietor, or causing to be investigated and reported to the proprietor, the circumstances of any accident , or dangerous occurrence in the industrial undertaking and making recommendations to the proprietor to prevent similar accidents or dangerous occurrences; (g) investigating and reporting to the proprietor, or causing to be investigated and reported to the proprietor, the circumstances of the suffering of any bodily injury by any person employed in the industrial undertaking and making recommendations to the proprietor to prevent similar suffering of any bodily injury; (h) investigating and reporting to the proprietor every fatal accident in the industrial undertaking and making recommendations to the proprietor to prevent similar fatal accidents ; (i) receiving, discussing and countersigning every report submitted to him under regulation l7(1)(b)(iv) by a person employed as a safety supervisor; (L.N. 100 of 2002) (j) on or before the last day in every month preparing and submitting to the proprietor a report; (L.N. 100 of 2002) and

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

(k) advising the proprietor on the implementation of a safety management system in the industrial undertaking, including the duties listed below(i) to assist in establishing, revising and reviewing a safety and health policy of the industrial undertaking; (ii) to assist in organizing a safety and health training programme; (iii) to assist in devising in-house safety rules and regulations; (iv) to assist in implementing safety and health plans, programmes, arrangements and measures; (v) to assist in establishing a safety committee and implementing its recommendations; (vi) to assist in job hazard analysis, evaluation of potential hazards and the identification of hazardous conditions and hazardous exposure; and (vii) to assist in conducting safety promotion, health assurance and personal protection programmes. The duties of a Safety Supervisor are as follows: (a) assisting any person employed as a safety officer in the industrial undertaking in carrying out the duties of a safety officer under these regula tions; (b) assisting the proprietor responsible for the industrial undertaking in promoting the safety and health of persons employed therein including for that purpose(i) to advise the proprietor or any person employed as a safety officer in the industrial undertaking, as to the observance by any person of the standards for the safety or protection of persons employed in the industrial undertaking; (ii) to supervise the observance by any person of the standards for the safety or protection of persons employed in the industrial undertaking; (iii) to promote the safe carrying on of work in the industrial undertaking; and (iv) on or before the last day in every week, to prepare for submission, in the case where no person is employed as a safety officer in the industrial undertaking, to the proprietor, or in the case where a person is employed as a safety officer in the industrial undertaking, to the safety officer, a report.

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

1 09 - - - - -

By the virtue of these regulations, an employer has the obligation to • • • •

develop a safe working condition on site implement safety rules and regulations on site educate site workers to be aware of safety rules and regulations by providing training programmes maintain a safe environment on site by carrying out constant inspection and improvement on any hazardous condition found

Also, a safety officer/safety supervisor needs to investigate the cause of any accident occurred and to report to the employer/proprietor the investigation results together with recommendations on preventive measures.

3

Site Supervision Plan System (SSPS) The above regulations focus on the proprietors (employers) to provide a safe working environment and on increasing the awareness of both employers and workers on the safety issue. All parties of a building project are concerned with site safety, and the contractor, in particular, is responsible for the design, establishment, implementation, supervision and maintenance of the safety system on site. The Buildings Department has in the end of 1997 introduced the SSPS which requires the Authorized Person (AP) , the Registered Structural Engineer (RSE) and the Registered General Building Contractor (RGBC) to participate in the safety issue. The aim of the SSPS is to clarify the safety roles and duties of the AP, RSE and the contractor, who work together in a typical construction project. The three parties are required to prepare a site supervision plan together before the commencement of the works. The lodging of the plan by the AP has become one of the pre-requisites for issuing the consent for works commencement by the Building Authority.

3.1

Site supervision plan A site supervision plan is defined under Section 2(1) of the Buildings Ordinance, inter alia, as one which sets out the plan of safety management of building works or street works. The part of a site supervision plan dealing with site safety supervision is to set out a management structure of site safety supervision which provides for:

- - - - - 11 0

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

(a) adequate safety measures to be implemented to ensure a safe physical working environment on site; (b) adequate measures to be taken to check proper structural support for plant and machinery being operated on site; and (c) adequate control to be exercised on the sequence of construction works and temporary works to check that all intermediate stages of building works or street works are safe. When submitting an application for commencement of building works, the AP should also send in a site supervision plan which consists of an outline safety supervision plan and a detailed safety supervision plan. An outline safety supervision plan sets out the management and communication structure for ensuring the coordination of detailed safety supervision plans for the whole of the works through the planned stages of construction. The detailed safety supervision plan sets out specific safety, describing each part of the works concerned, analyzing its complexity, its relationship to other works , and setting down method statements together with precautionary and protective measures to be taken. The outline safety supervision plan is to be prepared by the AP and the detailed safety supervision plan consists of three parts, each party, namely AP, RSE and RGBC , is required to complete his own safety management plan. These three functional streams have different management roles to play in safety management.

3.2

Site safety management The site safety management functions of the contractor and his stream are to carry out site safety measures and action during the course of the works, in accordance with the site supervision plan prepared by the contractor. The site safety management functions of the RSE are to ensure that the safety management system is complied with by the contractor; and to verify that the design of permanent works and the design of method statements and temporary works are consistent with site conditions. The site safety management functions of the AP and his stream are to check whether the contractor has complied with the site safety management plan and to report to the Building Authority any non-conformity of the contractor, when the non-conformity would pose an imminent danger or the nonconformity would cause a material concern for safety and the contractor has failed to comply with the rectification instruction.

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

3.3

111 - - - - -

Technical Competent Persons (TCPs) The AP, RSE and RGBC are the heads of the site safety management structure and they each appoint a representative to assist in carrying out their respective site safety management functions. They also have to deploy TCPs who will carry out their duties as per checklists devised by their own heads of streams. The checklists and inspection records will be kept on site for inspection of the Building Authority. The checklists devised by the head of each stream should make reference to the essential items as listed in the Code of Practice for Site Safety Supervision Tables 5.1-5.3 , and he can also include any particular items considered appropriate and necessary for his projects and surrounding conditions. In addition, TCP in each stream also keeps records and reports on his own work, and cooperates and communicates with TCPs in the other streams. There are five grades ofTCPs, ranging from Tl to T5 , and each grade carries out different supervision functions. There are two types of supervision functions , namely engineering safety supervision and routine safety supervision. The engineering safety supervision carried out by T4 and T5 requires judgment and includes but is not confined to: (a) consideration of the principles of working methods being used on site and their suitability for the conditions encountered; (b) checking that specified aspects of work comply with design requirements where these are related to site safety; (c) checking that site works comply with the supervision plan including method statements and precautionary and protective measures ; (d) verifying that the provisions of method statements and precautionary and protective methods are valid for the conditions as encountered on site; (e) notifying the designer of method statements and precautionary and protective measures of variations in site conditions which are inconsistent with assumptions made in the designer's design; and CO ensuring that systems are in place and followed to record that safety supervision has been properly executed. The routine safety supervision carried out by Tl to T3 includes but is not limited to: (a) monitoring that the site operations and working methods meet safety standards set out in the Buildings Ordinance and codes of practice and that unsafe practices are not being followed; (b) checking that general and minor safety aspects of the building works or street works are properly carried out; and

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(c) checking that work carried out on site complies with the approved, accepted or submitted method statements and precautionary and protective measures. When submitting the detailed safety supervision plan, an assessment of the complexity of the works as well as method statements and precautionary and protective measures are also included. The AP should seek advice from the RSE or any other person to assess the degree of complexity. There are five degrees of complexity ranging from 1 to 5 with 1 being the straightforward and 5 being extremely complex. The degree of complexity governs the class of site safety supervision to be used. There are six classes of supervision - Class A to Class F Class A is for the lowest level of site safety supervision while class F requires the highest level of site safety supervision. The different classes of supervision require different frequency levels of inspection and different numbers ofTCPs to be deployed for the various types of building works or street works.

3.4

Site supervisors role As representative of the main contractor on site , the site supervisor will carry out all instructions from the main contractor. He will comply with and will also cause all employees , subcontractors as well as specialist contractors on site to comply with the building regulations including the safety regulations. The policy statement for safety as requested under the Ordinance Chapter 59AF Section 9 signifies the commitment of the top level regarding the safety issue. The site supervisor can help draft the statement regarding the allocation of responsibilities for carrying out the policy and the arrangements as to how the responsibilities are to be executed on site. As is required under Section 8 of Chapter 59AF on development of the safety management system, the site supervisor can help develop the system on site. He can identify any risks involved in the construction process, assess and manage the risks. In identifying, assessing and managing the risks, precautionary measures can be set up to prevent accidents from occurring. Method statements for high risk activities should be submitted for approval before works proceed. This analysis should be done when preparing the safety system, and should also be done during the process of the construction activities as new risks may occur which are not envisaged when planning the programme. Through liaison with the Safety Officer, in-house safety rules should be drawn up and all subcontractors on site are informed of the rules. All rules are required to be strictly complied with.

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

3.4.1

11 3 - - - - -

Hazard analysis

One of the principal duties of the site supervisor is to carry out hazard analysis of all operations undertaken on site. According to The Institution of Chemical Engineers , hazard analysis is the identification of undesired events that lead to the materialization of a hazard, the analysis of the mechanisms by which these undesired events could occur, and usually the estimation of the extent, magnitude and likelihood of any harmful effects. Hazard is a chemical or physical condition that has the potential for causing damages to people, property or the environment (Pybus, 1996). Risk is the combination of the estimated likelihood and the consequences of a specified hazardous event. A risk includes: • •

the chance or probability of danger, loss or injury; and a measure of economic loss or human injury in terms of both the accident likelihood and magnitude of loss or injury.

The purpose of hazard analysis is to provide a means whereby potential hazards are identified with the risk being eliminated as far as possible or reduced to an acceptable level. In other words, hazard analysis is to determine whether the existing controls are adequate or not. The following are processes of hazard analysis: • • • • •

Examine work activities ; Identify hazards ; Determine risk; Decide if risk is acceptable; and Prepare and review risk control action plan.

To determine the risk from the potential hazard, the severity of harm and the likelihood that harm will occur are estimated. The following shows a severity rating system and a likelihood rating system. Table 1 Severity rating system. Description

Rating

Category

5

Very high

Causing multiple deaths or immense destruction

4

high

Causing death or serious injury.

3

Moderate

Causing injury which could keep an individual off work for more than 3 days

2

Slight

Causing minor injury to a worker with an absence of less than 3 days

Nil

No risk of injury

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 2 Likelihood rating system.

Rating

Description

Category

5

Very likely Frequent -likely to occur frequently

4

Likely

Probable an item

3

Quite possible

Occasional - likely to occur some time in the I ife of an item

2

Possible

Remote -

Not likely

Improbable - so unlikely that occurrence may not be experienced.

will occur several times in the life of

unlikely but possible to occur in life

After estimating the risk, the site supervisor has to decide whether the risk is tolerable or not. One simple way to estimate risk levels and to decide whether risks are tolerable is shown in the table below. The scores based on the product of the ratings are used to describe the degree of risks. Table 3 Degree of risks in terms of scores.

Likelihood/ severity

5

4

3

2

1

5

25

20

15

10

5

4

20

16

12

8

4

3

15

12

9

6

3

2

10

8

6

4

2

5

4

3

2

The calculated risks are classified as Top , Medium or Low priority. • • •

Top priority - degree of risks within the range 15 - 25. Take action immediately and to be supervised by competent person. Medium priority - degree of risks between 6 - 14. Take action immediately. Low priority - Degree of risks within the range 1 - 5. Action taken by regular arrangement.

Hazard analysis is an important, useful and proactive management tool to identify, evaluate and resolve the potential hazards. It is one of the

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

11 5 - - - - -

indispensable management tools used by the site supervisor in combating construction accidents. Besides hazard analysis , the site supervisor should also assume the role as member of the safety committee (ref. Chapter 59AF Section 10). By holding regular meetings in this committee, he can supervise the functions of the committee, give advice on safety matters and improve safety on site. Routine safety inspection should be carried out. A checklist of items , such as plant and machinery, safety barriers, etc., is to be drawn up and daily inspection can be done by a safety officer or safety supervisor. Any abnormal conditions are to be reported and rectified immediately. The site supervisor can carry out weekly inspection together with the safety officer and subcontractors, to ensure that all safety rules and regulations are complied with and all irregularities are conveyed to subcontractors and rectified. Besides safety inspection, safety audit should also be carried out periodically. The audit is to monitor the effectiveness of the safety system and the performance of individuals when carrying out the tasks under the system (Rowlinson, 1997). The audit can be performed by an independent party. The report of the audit can indicate the level of conformance and the areas for improvements , recommendations and suggestions (Rowlinson, 1997). The site supervisor, after receiving the report, should consult the safety officer about the findings , work out a solution to tackle the deficiency of the system and carry out the rectification action immediately. To increase the awareness and knowledge of safety on site of workers, safety training should also be provided to all workers on site. The training includes induction courses, refresher courses and on-going courses (Rowlinson, 1997). The aims of these courses range from providing workers with the basic knowledge of safety, reminding them of new technologies of construction, to providing them with safety training of specific trades and knowledge of safety management. The site supervisor can liaise with the safety officer to design and conduct these courses. He should remind all subcontractors during the tender stage of the importance of the courses , and of the induction course as a pre-requisite for workers working on site. Safety promotion can be used to enhance safety on site. This includes displaying statistics of accident rates on site , pinning posters regarding safety at prominent work locations, granting rewards to companies and workers with good safety performance and penalty to any company breaking the safety regulations. Regular tool box talks should also be conducted

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

(Rowlinson, 1997). Besides regular site meetings, safety meetings should also be conducted. The site supervisor should work closely with the safety officer to ensure that the promotion programmes are successfully conducted. A more important role played by the site supervisor is in preparing the site supervision plan. As he is the representative of the Authorized Signatory (AS) of the RGBC , he is accountable to the AS for the implementation of the supervision plan, and acts as the formal point of contact in communication with other functional streams. He must ensure that the site safety measures and actions of the supervision plan are strictly followed on site. He must also ensure that the line management, including subcontractors, is conversant with the supervision plan, and that good coordination and communication exist between his TCPs. Overall he should direct staff and subcontractors on safety related matters. When non-conformities are found, he should act upon the problems and make good any irregularity. Investigation of the causes of non-conformities should be carried out, and measures should be taken to prevent future occurrence. In some cases , he should also assist the AS in carrying out duties such as the following: • • • • •

4

compiling the contractor's part of the supervision plan; devising checklists of specific tasks for contractor's TCPs; supervising the contractor's TCPs; preparing plans , method statements and/or precautionary measures for temporary works categorized as Case 2 and/or Case 3 under paragraph 4.5 of the Code of Practice; and notifying the AP of any non-conformities which pose an imminent danger, or cause a material concern for safety; and carrying site inspection as necessary.

Conclusion There are different requirements specified by different regulations to ensure site safety. The industry undertaker/proprietor has the obligation to provide a safe working environment and employees are obliged to work safely. The employment of Safety Officers/Safety Supervisors and TCPs are means to ensure that activities are performed safely on site. They are part of the safety management system which aims to monitor the site activities so that any irregularities can be foreseen and rectified to prevent accidents as far as possible. The site supervisor, as representative of the main contractor on

ROLES OF THE SITE SUPERVISOR

11 7 - - - - -

site, has an important role to play and ensures that site activities are carried out efficiently and safely as required under the law.

Acknowledgement The assistance of Mr. Tom Lam in preparing this chapter is gratefully acknowledged.

References Building (Administration) Regulations, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Buildings Department (1998) Technical Memorandum for Supervision Plans, Section 39A of the Buildings Ordinance, Cap. 123. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Buildings Department (2000) Code of Practice for Site Safety Supervision. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Buildings Ordinance, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Pybus, R. (1996) Safety Management: Strategy and Practice. Butterworth - Heinemann, Oxford. Rowlinson, S.M. (1997) Hong Kong Construction - Site Safety Management. Sweet & Maxwell Asia, Hong Kong.

1

Introduction The previous chapters have indicated a general consensus for construction contractors to improve their safety records and to increase their safety investment in construction projects. The higher the safety investment is , the better the safety performance will be. However, the extent of the investment is always a major concern. Recent research has revealed that in Hong Kong, most contractors set aside an amount of less than 0.5%, and some even less than 0.25% , of the contract sum for investing in safety in their contracts (Lai, 1995). It is , however, subject to debate as to whether such amounts are enough. Safety investment cannot be without limits. A methodology has been developed in a research study (Tang, Lee and Wong, 1997) to quantify the minimum amount of safety investment for a building project. In the research, only financial costs of construction accidents have been considered. Social costs have not been included. This chapter will discuss the financial costs and the results from the research. The social costs of construction accidents will be discussed in the next chapter.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

2.

Financial costs of construction accidents

2.1

What are financial costs? Financial costs of construction accidents represent the losses incurred by private investors, such as contractors, due to the occurrence of the accidents. In financial analysis , market prices are always used to represent benefits and costs (Tang, 2003). There are a number of studies concerning accident costs (e.g., Heinrich et aI., 1980; Lee, 1991; Levitt and Samelson, 1993). The following financial losses are used in the research carried out by Tang, Lee and Wong (1997): (a) Loss due to the injured person The compensation paid to the injured worker by the contractor is 4/5 of the wages of the injured person for each day of absence from work Disability compensation, which depends on the percentage of disability (determined by a registered doctor) that the injured worker suffers (b) Loss due to the inefficiency of the worker who has just recovered from injury and resumed work When the injured worker returns to work, he cannot initially work with 100% efficiency A formula to calculate the loss is as follows, which is based on the assumption that 1% disability is equivalent to the severity of 20 days of absence from work. This will be further explained in Section 3 of this chapter. Loss = Wages of injured worker x (Day loss x 1120 + % of disability) (c) Loss due to medical expenses Medical expenses of the injured worker, including the cost of transport to and from hospital (d) Loss due to fines and legal expenses If the contractor faces prosecution, he may have to pay the solicitor's fees and fines imposed by the court (e) Loss of productivity of other employees The safety officer, site agent, site engineer and the foreman may be involved in assisting the injured and carrying out work relating to the accident such as accident investigation and accident report writing

FINANCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND OPTIMUM SAFETY INVESTMENT

121 - - - - -

Other workers may have to stop work immediately after the occurrence of the accident Loss assumptions (based on the experience of site safety staff interviewed) : (1) Site agent: 0.05 day (2) Site engineer: 0.05 day (3) Foreman: 0.25 day (4) Other workers: 0.25 day for each worker and on average 4 other workers are involved in each accident

CD Loss due to damaged equipment or plant (g) Loss due to damaged material or finished work (h) Loss due to idle machinery or equipment After the accident has occurred, the workers may stop work temporarily and hence there will be idle machinery or equipment Loss formula is based on the assumption that 20% of the contract sum is attributable to plant and equipment and that 2% of the plant and equipment will be idle on the day of accident: Contract sum x 20% x 2% Loss=---------------------------------Number of working days of the contract Figure 1 is the questionnaire used in the research to acquire data on the financial costs of accidents. Readers should note that insurance premium, particularly the additional premium paid to an insurance company by a contractor when his safety record is poor, represents financial cost. This is, however, extremely difficult to quantify and therefore is not considered in the research, which is inevitably a drawback. Figure 1 Financial losses of each site accident. Cost items arising from each accident 1. Injured person Uo b nature: ______________________ - D ay loss - Amo unt of co mpensati o n - % of disability - Disability co mpensation 2. Loss from injured person (after resuming w o rk) - D ay loss x 1/20 + % of disability - Equivalent loss

_ _ _ _ days HK$ _ _ __

_________ 0/0 HK$ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ days HK$

- - - - - 122

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

3 . Medical services and expenses - Hosp itali zatio n 1 med ica l expenses - Others

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

4. Fines and lega l expenses - Fine by co urt and solicitor fees - Others (e.g. transportation costs, etc.)

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

5. Lost time of other employees (time taken by other employees in assisting the injured person) Post Daily wages Tim e in curred - Site Agent H K$ days - Site Engineer H K$ days - Site Foreman HK$ days * Other Labo urers HK$ _ _ _ __

Amount HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

6. Equipment or pl ant loss - Damaged 1 rep lacement cost - Repa iring cost - Others

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

7. Damaged materi al or finished work - Cost of dam aged materi al - Cost of damaged finished work - Others

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

8. Idl e machinery 1 Equipment ** Idl e machinery 1 equipment

HK$ _ _ __

9. Other costs Items HK$ _ _ __ Tota l =

HK$ _ _ __

* (4 workers) x (1/4 day) x (Daily wage of injured person) ** [(Co ntract sum x 20%) 1 (No . of working days)] x 2%

The insurance payment, together with fines imposed by the court, however, are financial costs and not social costs. Social costs will be discussed in the next chapter.

2.2

Accident costs and safety performance The total costs of accidents on a construction site depend greatly on project safety performance. If the safety performance is good, the accident costs will be low, and vice versa. In order to compare site accident costs of projects carried out with different contract sums and at different times (so that no inflation adjustment is necessary) , the Accident Loss Ratio (ALR), a dimensionless quantity, is defined as follows:

FINANCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND OPTIMUM SAFETY INVESTMENT

ALR =

TC

------

Contract Sum

123 - - - - -

x 100%

where TC is the total costs of site accidents in a project. The assumed general shape of an ALR versus safety performance curve is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 Accident Loss Ratio (ALR) versus safety performance.

I

I

Accident loss ratio (AlR)

I

•

I I

I

I I I

"

I

Good -+-- Safety Performance ----+- Poor

2.3 Safety investment Safety investment is aimed at protecting the health and physical integrity of workers and the material assets of a contractor. Safety investment consists of the following three components: (a) Safety administration personnel Site staff and head office staff: according to Hong Kong law, a contractor has to employ safety officers and safety supervisors on site to monitor safety-related matters Some large contractors also employ safety managers/senior safety officers to direct and coordinate site safety staff

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The salaries of these personnel and their supporting staff (e.g. , clerks, typists) are part of the safety investment (b) Safety equipment Purchasing of safety boots, goggles , helmets , safety fences , first-aid facilities , etc., which are related to the provision of safety on site (c) Safety training and promotion Safety training courses are organized by contractors for their employees Safety promotion includes printing of pamphlets and posters , production of safety advertising banners and boards, organization of safety campaigns, and offering of monetary rewards to individual workers who achieve good safety standards of work, etc. Figure 3 is the questionnaire used in the research to acquire information on safety investment. Figure 3 Safety investment on each site/ project. Safety investment on each project 1. Investment on safety administration personnel 1.1 On-site modu Ie Post - Safety supervisor - Safety offi cer - Secretary/typist/c lerk - Others

Number ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Monthly w ages HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

1.2 Hea d offi ce module

(pl ease fill in monthly wages on pro rata according to no. of proj ects supervised in the same period) Post Number Monthly wages HK$ _ _ __ - Safety manager () HK$ _ _ __ ( ) - Chief safety offi cer HK$ _ _ __ - Senior safety officer ( ) HK$ _ _ __ - Secretary/typist/c lerk ( ) HK$ _ _ __ () - Others

2. Safety equipment investment on th e project

2.1 Safety equipment investment

HK$ _ _ __

3 . Safety training cost 3 .1 Safety training cost

HK$ _ _ __

4. Safety promotion cost

4.1 Safety promotion cost 5. Other costs

HK$ _ _ __

i. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ii. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ iii. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

Total =

HK$ _ _ __

FINANCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND OPTIMUM SAFETY INVESTMENT

2.4

125 - - - - -

Safety investment and safety performance The safety performance of a construction site varies with the amount of safety investment in a project. The higher the safety investment is , the better the safety performance will be, and vice versa. As for ALR, safety investment on projects of different sizes and of different times can be compared if a dimensionless quantity, the Safety Investment Ratio (SIR) is used. SIR is defined as follows: SIR =

TSI

------

Contract Sum

x 100%

where TSI is the total safety investment in a project. Figure 4 shows the assumed shape of an SIR versus safety performance curve. Figure 4 Safety Investment Ratio (SIR) versus safety performance.

E

::::I Vl

~

C o

". Safety Investment Ratio (SIR)

". ....I ( f - - - - - - - - -

U

".

Good ~Safety Performance----.. Poor

2.5

AlR and SIR curves combined If the two curves in Figures 2 and 4 are combined, a third curve of the Total Costs Ratio (i.e. , ALR + SIR) versus safety performance can be obtained. This

- - - - - 126

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

curve will have a minimum point, as shown in Figure 5, which corresponds to the optimum safety investment on a construction project. Figure 5 Total Costs Ratio (ALR

+ SIR) versus safety performance.

Total Cost Ratio

=SI R + AlR

E ::J

Vl

ti ~

1: o u Min. C{js.~ SiR· ···. -----'.~

I I

... .

I

-Good ""-Safety Performance ~ Poor

3

Accident Occurrence Index (AOI) The previous section has shown how the ALR and SIR are plotted against safety performance. In this section, readers will see how safety performance is measured mathematically by the AOI which is defined as follows: Total equivalent day loss AOI=---------------------------Total man-days required of the project where Total equivalent day loss =f Equivalent day loss of an accident, 1=) where n is the total number of accidents in a project, and Equivalent day loss of an accident = Day loss + (20 x % disability)

FINANCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND OPTIMUM SAFETY INVESTMENT

127 - - - - -

For example, if a worker is injured in an accident, has been absent for 30 days, and is certified by a doctor to be of 2% permanent disability as a result of the accident, then the equivalent day loss will be 70 days (30 + 20 x 2). Since the maximum percentage of disability is 100, the equivalent day loss for a case of 100% disability will be 2,000 days (20 x 100). A worker in Hong Kong earns an average of HK$600 a day, the compensation for a fatal accident is therefore HK$1,200,000. This is consistent with the current compensation practice if a factor 20 is assumed. The factor 20 will be changed for calculating the equivalent day loss if the compensation policy is changed or if the average daily wage of labourers in Hong Kong is changed. It should be noted that the equivalent day loss of a very serious injury may be higher than that of a fatal accident. To calculate the AOI, the total equivalent day loss should be divided by the total man-days required of the project. For example, a contractor has recorded 12 accidents in a building project, incurring a total of 100 days loss and 10% disability on the part of the injured workers. On the other hand, the project has recorded a total of 10,000 man-days of labor force on its completion. Then the AOI would be (100 + 20 x 10) / 10,000 = 0.03. Figure 6 shows the questionnaire used to acquire information about the AOI. Figure 6 Data for calculating the Accident Occurrence Index (AOI) of each site/project. Contractor name Contract title Contract sum

:HK$ ___________________________

Contract period

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Number of working days

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ days

Total man-days employed (include subcontractors) Number of accidents Result of injury Result of death

-----128 4

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Results of research and optimum safety investment In the research, a total of 576 accidents from 18 building projects have been investigated (Tang, Lee and Wong, 1997). 576 forms recording data on financial losses of accidents (see Figure 1) have been completed and returned, together with 18 forms providing data on safety investment on sites/projects (see Figure 3) and 18 forms on calculating the AOI (see Figure 6). The data have been used to plot a curve as shown in Figure 5. A minimum point indicating the optimum safety investment on a project can be obtained from the curve. It has been found that in Hong Kong, the optimum safety investment on a building project is about 0.8% of the contract sum. The total cost to a contractor (accident loss + safety investment) has been found to be 1.2% of the contract sum. In fact, the 0.8% should be regarded as a minimum amount of safety investment. An investment greater than 0.8% will result in intangible benefits, such as greater peace of mind of workers, better reputation of the company, greater job satisfaction and so on, which, although not considered in this mathematical model, will definitely be valuable assets to the contractor. In this chapter, only financial costs to contractors are considered. Financial costs are different from social costs. For example, a contractor is obligated to pay for the injured worker HK$68 a day for hospitalization, which is heavily subsidized by the Hong Kong government. The actual cost is over HK$3,000 per day (according to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority). The former (HK$68) is the financial cost while the latter (over HK$3,000) is the social cost. In this chapter, only HK$68 but not HK$3,000+ is considered in the optimization model described. In the next chapter (Chapter 9), social costs will be looked into.

References Heinrich, H.W, Peterson, D. and Ross, N. (1980) Industrial Accident Prevention: A Safety Management Approach, 5th edition. McGraw-Hill, New York. Lai, K.c. (1995) Safety Management for Construction. M.5c. Dissertation, Civil and Structural Engineering Department, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Lee, H.K. (1991) Safety Management: Hong Kong Experience. Lorrainelo Concept Design, Hong Kong. Levitt, R.E. and Samelson, N.M. (1993) Construction Safety Management, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

FINANCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND OPTIMUM SAFETY INVESTMENT

129 - - - - -

Tang, S.L. (2003) Economic Feasibility of Projects: Managerial and Engineering Practice, 3rd edition. Chinese University Press, Hong Kong. Tang, S.L., Lee, H.K. and Wong, K. (1997) Safety cost optimization of building projects in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 15, No.2, pp. 177-186.

A

SA 1

Financial costs versus social costs To summarize the discussions in Chapter 8 , the financial costs of a construction accident include (Tang et aI. , 1997): (1) loss due to the injured person's absence from work (2) loss due to the injured person's inefficiency after resuming work (3) medical expenses (4) fines and legal expenses (5) loss of time of other employees (6) equipment or plant loss (7) loss due to damaged material or finished work (8) loss due to idle machinery or equipment (9) other losses Ngai and Tang (1999) have attempted to compare the differences between financial costs and social costs , and to discover what the social costs of construction accidents are. Social costs are reckoned as the costs incurred by the society because additional resources are required to be utilized when construction accidents occur. If there were no accidents, the utilization of these society's resources could have been saved. This is the basic definition of social costs. Details will be given as readers go through this entire chapter.

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The objectives of this chapter are to report on a study carried out in 2002 to 2004 (Tang et al. , 2004), and include the following: (1) identify from a list of contractors' financial losses , based on the previous work of Tang et al. (1997) , what financial losses are also social costs and what are not (2) identify other social costs borne by the society that are not contractors' losses (3) identify social safety investment in the construction industry (4) gather cost data on those identified in objectives 1,2 and 3 in Hong Kong for 1999, 2000 and 2001 (data from 2002 to 2005 are also provided at the end of this chapter as additional information) (5) analyze the data gathered and establish a relationship between the social safety investment and the social costs of accidents for the construction industry in Hong Kong.

2

Social costs of construction accidents There are basic financial cost items that a contractor will incur when a construction accident occurs. These items are detailed in Figure 1 of Chapter 8. Table 1 below is a reproduction of these items. The figures/numbers and the formulae given in the table have been explained in the previous chapter and will not be repeated here. "Day loss" in item 1 of Table 1 is important in calculating social costs. The social cost due to "day loss" of the victim is calculated by: daily wage of the victim x day loss (i.e., days absent from work). If the accident involves permanent disability of the victim, then the social cost due to the permanent disability will be calculated by: daily wage x 365 x (retire age 65 - injury age) x % disability / 100. The daily wage is calculated by dividing the monthly salary by 30 (because, in this equation it is multiplied by 365 days/year) , as workers are usually paid on a monthly basis in Hong Kong. As an example, if a worker who earns HK$600 a day (HK$7.8 = US$l) has been absent from work for 7 calendar days , and is certified by a doctor to be of 2% permanent disability as a result of the accident which occurs when the victim is of age 34, then the social cost will be: (HK$600 x 7) + [HK$600 x 365 x (65 - 34) x 2/100] HK$4,200 + HK$135,780 = HK$139 ,980

=

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

133 - - - - -

If an accident is a fatal case, then the social cost will be calculated by: daily wage x 365 x (retire age 65 - death age). The compensation sums paid by the employer (contractor) to the injured worker (employee) for both day loss and disability, as shown in item 1 of Table 1, are not counted as social costs because they are "transfers" (Tang, 2003) and therefore only financial but not social. Otherwise, they will be double counted with "day loss" (item 1) described above. Table 1 Contractor's losses due to occurrence of a construction accident. Cost Items Arising From Each Construction Accident Project No. : _ _ __

Accident Date: _ _ __

1. Injured Person Uob Nature: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _---J - Day Loss - Amount of Compensation - % of Disability - Disability Compensation

Age __ yrs. Gender _ _ _ _ Days HK$ _ _ __

--,---_% HK$ _ _ __

2. Loss From Injured Person (After Resuming Work) - Equivalent loss = (Day Loss x 1/ 20) + % of Disability - Loss = Equivalent Loss x (W age HK$ /day)

_ _ _ Days HK$ _ _ __

3. Medical Services and Expenses - Hospitalization/Medical Expenses - Others (e.g. Transportation Costs, etc.)

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

4. Fines -

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

and Legal Expenses Fi nes by Court Solicitor fees Others

5. Lost Time of Other Employees (Time taken by other employees in asisting the injured person immedi ately after accident) Post Daily Wages Time Incurred - Site Agent HK$ 0.05 Day HK$ _ _ __ 0.05 Day HK$ _ _ __ - Site Engineer HK$ - Site Foreman HK$ 0.25 Day HK$ _ _ __ - ' Other Labourers HK$ 1 Day HK$ _ _ __ 6. Equipment or Plant Loss - Damaged/ Repl acement Cost - Repairing Cost - Others

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

7. Damaged Material or Finished Work - Cost of Damaged Material - Cost of Damaged Finished Work - Others

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

8. Idle Machinery/ Equipment •• Idle M achinery/ Equipment

HK$ _ _ __

9. Other Costs Items

HK$ _ _ __ TOTAL

* **

HK$ _ _ __

(4 workers) x (1/4 days) x (Daily wage of injured person) (Contract sum x 20%) x 2% / (No. of working days of the contract)

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Item 2 in Table 1 is a financial loss of the contractor, which is also a social cost. This item is concerned with the loss due to the injured worker when he returns to work. For a duration of time immediately after resuming work, the worker cannot work with 100% efficiency. The formula for calculating such loss is: daily wage x (day loss x 1/20 + % disability). The formula is based on the assumption that the severity of 1% disability is equivalent to that of an injury resulting in a loss of 20 working days (see Chapter 8). As an example, if a worker who earns HK$600 a day has been absent from work for 7 days, and is certified to be of 2% permanent disability, then the loss will be: HK$600 x ( 7 x 1/ 20 + 2)

=

HK$I,410

Item 3 is concerned with medical expenses. As explained in Tang et al. (1997) and in Chapter 8, a contractor is obligated to pay for the injured worker HK$68 a day for hospitalization, which is heavily subsidized by the Hong Kong government. The actual cost is HK$3 ,062 per day (information provided by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority). The former (HK$68) is a financial cost while the latter (HK$3 ,062) is a social cost. In this chapter, the purpose is to find social costs and, therefore, HK$3 ,062 per day is used for calculating the social cost of hospitalization. Some injured workers may not require hospitalization, and their medical expenses (other than hospitalization) are still social costs , and are separately considered in the data gathering exercise. In item 4, fines are not social costs because they are "transfers" rather than real costs. "Transfers" do not involve the utilization of the society's resources but real costs do (Tang, 2003), although fines involve financial losses of contractors. Fines therefore do not count for calculating social costs , although they may have distributional effects in society but this is not the primary concern of the current study. Solicitor fees, however, are both financial and social costs and must be taken into account in evaluating social costs. Items 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Table 1 are both financial and social costs. They contribute to the calculation of the social costs of construction accidents. Besides the above-mentioned items, other costs borne by the society must be considered. Five government departments in Hong Kong incur expenses due to the occurrence of construction accidents. They are the Fire Services Department, Hong Kong Police Force, Social Welfare Department, Legal Aids Department, and Court. The portions of the expenditures of these five departments related to construction accidents have to be found and included in the social cost calculation. There is a sixth one, the Hong Kong Hospital

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

135 - - - - -

Authority, which incurs expenses when construction accidents occur. The Hospital Authority spends a large sum of money on the hospitalized injured workers , as it spends HK$3 ,062 per day to hospitalize a person, as mentioned earlier in this chapter. Since the total hospitalization expenditure is a substantial sum of money, as compared to that spent by the other five government departments, it is therefore singled out and presented separately in the evaluation of social costs. Moreover, the time lost by the victim's relatives (and friends) should be considered too. Their time spent in connection with the accident is a social cost, because they may have lost time from their livelihood and yielded decreased production/contribution to the society. It is not an easy task to estimate this social cost. Two formulae have been assumed after consultation with experienced social workers. The first formula is for nonfatal accidents and the losses to relatives are calculated by: daily wage x (day loss + % disability x 20). The factor 20 in this formula is consistent with the assumption previously mentioned. As an example, if a worker who earns HK$600 a day has been absent from work for 7 calendar days , and is certified to be of 2% permanent disability, then the social cost due to losses to relatives will be: HK$600 x (7 + 2 x 20)

=

HK$28,200

The second formula is for fatal accidents and the losses to relatives are calculated by: daily wage x age factor x 7 days + HK$20,000. The last term HK$20 ,000 is the average funeral related costs. The age factor (as suggested by the social workers consulted) is given by: Age 16 to 26 26 to 35 36 to 45 46 to 55 56 to 65

Age Factor 1.2 1.8 2.1 2.3 2.5

The older the age , the higher the age factor is. This is because the number of relatives (and friends) increases when one's age increases , and hence the losses to relatives increase.

-----136

3

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Social safety investment in construction Safety investment made by society in the construction industry is defined as the sum of two components. The first component is the resources on safety invested by contractors in construction projects, and the second component is the resources invested by government departments (Ngai and Tang, 1999). Safety investment made by contractors includes investments in safety administration personnel on construction sites and at headoffices, safety equipment, and safety training and promotion (see Table 2). Safety investment made by the government includes investments in safety administration personnel employed in relevant government departments, and safety training and promotion provided by these departments. In the past ten years, the Hong Kong government has launched major initiatives for improving construction safety, such as the Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS) (Works Branch, 1996a) implemented since 1996, the Independent Safety Audit Scheme (ISAS) (Works Branch, 1996b) implemented since 1997, and the Safety Supervision Plan Scheme (Buildings Department, 1998) implemented since 1998. The social safety investment made by the Hong Kong society has increased considerably in recent years. Table 2 Information on each construction project and its safety investment. Project Safety Investment Information

Project No.: _ _ _ __ 1.

Contractor: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

2.

Contract Title: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

3.

Contract Sum (Including V.O.): _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

5.

Contract Period: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

6.

Number of Working Days: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

7.

Total Man-days Employed (Including Subcontractors) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

8.

Number of Accidents: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

9.

Number Injured: _ _ _ _ __

Number Dead: _ _ _ _ __

10. Investment on Safety Administration Personnel 10.1

10.2

On-site Module Post Safety Officer Safety Supervisor Secretary/Typ istiClerk Others: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Number ( ( ( (

Monthly Wage HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

Head-office Module Post Safety Manager Chief Safety Officer Senior Safety Officer SecretarylTyp istiC lerk Others: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Number ( ( ( ( (

Monthly Wage HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

11. Investment on Safety Equipment for the Project

HK$ _ _ __

12. Safety Training Cost

HK$ _ _ __

13. Safety Promotion Cost

HK$ _ _ __

1 37 - - - - -

14. Other Costs

HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __ HK$ _ _ __

i. ii. iii. TOTAL

HK$

Thirteen government and sub-government departments in Hong Kong contribute parts of their expenses to social safety investment in construction. They are Occupational Safety and Health Council, Construction Industry Training Authority, Vocational Training Council, Industrial Centre of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Labour Department, Housing Authority, Water Supplies Department, Buildings Department, Territory Development Department, Drainage Services Department, Civil Engineering Department, Architectural Services Department, and Highways Department. All these departments commit resources, whether large or small, to the prevention of construction accidents. They have been approached in this study for acquiring the social safety investment data.

4

Data gathering exercise In this study, data on 119 construction projects in Hong Kong were acquired. They included both building and civil engineering projects, and were selected from a number of reputable contractors in Hong Kong. The data collected from these contractors were believed to be reliable. It may be argued that "reputable" contractors may have a better safety record than the other contractors in Hong Kong, thus distorting the results. Nevertheless, more safety conscious contractors tend to maintain better records, thus capturing more costs than what the other contractors may do. Therefore, there is a compensating effect. It is the safety conscious companies that often favorably consider requests for surveys such as this study. Of the 119 projects studied, there were a total of 1,414 accidents; 6 of which were fatal and 426 of which involved permanent disability. Table 2 is the questionnaire (see above) which contractors were asked to fill in the itemized safety investments on the project, the contract period, the contract sum, etc. As there are 119 projects involved in this study, 119 summary sheets have been completed by the contractors' project managers for these projects.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Similarly, 1,414 sheets of the form (see Table 1) recording losses to contractors have also been completed for each of the 1,414 accidents involved in these 119 projects. Data from these forms have provided sufficient information in calculating the social costs incurred and the social safety investments made by the contractors. In this study, the social cost and safety investment data obtained from these 119 construction projects are separated into three time periods: 1999,2000 and 2001. The method of separating the contract sums, the safety investments and the accident costs into the three time periods can be illustrated by an example. The example is taken from one of the 119 construction projects studied. This project had a contract sum of HK$2,300 million and lasted for 24 months, of which 4 months fell in 1999, 12 months in 2000 and 8 months in 2001. Then, HK$383.33 million (i.e., HK$2,300 million x 4/24) is put in the 1999 contract sum category. Using the similar proportioning method, HK$1,150 million and HK$766.67 million are put in the 2000 and 2001 contract sum categories respectively. The contract sums of the other 118 projects have also been treated in the same way. The same method has been used in separating the contractors' safety investments in these 119 projects. It may be argued that it is better to use the actual cost S-curves of the projects. However, it has not been possible to obtain the S-curves of all the 119 projects. Another important reason for not using S-curves is that the sample size of 119 projects is quite large. The distributional effects of S-curves should disappear when the sample size is ~ 30, as with the concept of central limit theorem in statistics (Berenson and Levine, 1989). For accident costs, the method of separation is different and yet simple. In the construction project under consideration, 49 accidents have occurred during the 24 months contract period, with 12 in 1999,21 in 2000 and 16 in 2001. The social costs of the accidents have therefore been separated according to the actual dates of accident occurrence, and not by proportioning as for contract sums and safety investments. The total contract sums of the 119 projects, split into three years, are shown in Table 3. They represent 10.03673%, 10.42127% and 10.87303% of the total construction outputs*in Hong Kong in 1999, 2000 and 2001 respectively. The annual total construction outputs can be found from the "Works Digest", a publication of Hong Kong Government (Works Branch, 2001). The total safety investments of the 119 projects made by the contractors for these three years are shown in Table 4. These figures have been derived from items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the 119 forms returned from contractors (see Table 2). The social * Construction output is the total value of all construction works carried out during that fiscal year. The figures are published by the Census and Statistics Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR.

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

139 - - - - -

costs due to contractors' losses , medical expenses (non-hospitalization cases), hospitalization expenses, losses of victims, and losses to relatives for these 119 projects are shown in Table 5 for the respective years. These social costs have been derived from the 1,414 forms recording contractors' losses (see Table 1): social costs due to contractors' losses derived from items 2, 4, 5, 6, 7,8 and 9; medical expenses and hospitalization costs derived from item 3; and losses of victims and losses to relatives derived from item 1 of the forms. Table 3 Yearly total co ntract sum of the 119 projects against yea rl y total construction output in Hong Kon g.

1999

2000

2001

Tota I contract sum of the 119 projects

HK$10,019,674,392

HK$9,654,273,557

HK$9,502,380,185

Tota l construction output in Hong Kong

HK$99,830,000,000

H K$92,640,000,000

H K$87,394,000,000

% representing tota l constru ction output

10.03673%

10.42127%

10.87303%

Table 4 Total safety investments made by the contractors of the 119 projects.

Total safety

1999

2000

2001

HK$81 ,157,384

HK$84,411 ,270

HK$88,923,939

investments made in the

119 projects Table 5 Total social costs of the 119 projects.

Total number

1999

2000

2001

540

487

387

2,023

1,998

1,737

of accidents occurred Total number of hospital ization days

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Social costs due to contractors' losses

HK$5,654,533

HK$4,274,755

HK$3,411,085

Social costs due to medical expenses (nonhospital ized)

HK$439,284

HK$425,092

HK$215,751

Social costs due to hospital expenses

HK$6,194,426

HK$6,117,876

HK$5,318,694

Social costs due to losses of victims

HK$44,523,316 HK$28,664,713

HK$18,262,171

Social costs due to losses to relatives

HK$22,198,902

HK$16,926,227 HK$14,905,617

Total social costs incurred inthel19 projects

HK$79,01O,461

HK$56,408,663

HK$42,113,318

A total of 18 questionnaires have been designed for use by the 18 government departments, 13 of which contribute investments to construction safety and 5 (excluding the Hong Kong Hospital Authority) incur expenses in construction accidents. A sample questionnaire, the one for OSHC (Occupational Safety and Health Council) is shown in Table 6 to give readers an idea of the questionnaire used. The social safety investments made by the 13 departments are shown in Table 7, and the social costs borne by the 5 departments are shown in Table 8. The safety investments made or social costs borne by individual departments will not be listed for confidentiality reason and at the request of the government departments.

141 - - - - -

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

Table 6 Sample questionnaire to governm ent departments investing in safety. 2000

1999

Questions

2001

(1) The number of persons emp loyed for im p lementin g construction safety cou rse

a) b) c) d) e)

Full Time Lecturer Part Time Lecturer Instructo r ClerkfTypist Others:

no. no. no. no. no. no. no.

no. no. no. no. no. no. no.

no. no. no. no. no. no. no.

(_ _ _% of time, if not 100%, is spent on impl ement ing construction safety course) (2) Average number of hours per person per month spent by those staff in (1) for construction safety training: a) b) c) d) e)

Full Time Lecturer Part Time Lecturer Instructor ClerkfTypist Others:

hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs.

hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs.

hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs. hrs.

(3) Average hourly salary per person: a) b) c) d) e)

Full Time Lecturer Part Time Lecturer Instructor Clerk/Typ ist Others:

(4) Total promotion costs borne by OSHC on construction safety:

HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_

HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_

HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_ HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_

HK$_ (5) Total Operating Costs of OSHC (exc lu d in g staff sa laries and promotion ): (_ _ _ % spent on construct ion safety related expenses) (6) Ot her costs related to construction safety,

HK$_

not covered above

The sample given is the questionnaire sent to the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC), Hong Kong

Table 7 Total social safety investments made by the 13 governm ent departments.

1999 Total social safety investments made by the 13 departments

2000

2001

HK$79,293,997 HK$92 ,082,2 10 HK$91 ,602,581

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 8 Total social costs incurred by the 5 government departments.

Total social costs incurred by the 5 departments

5

1999

2000

2001

HK$1,003,332

HK$908,086

HK$647,040

Impact of safety investment on social costs The values of safety investments and social costs in Tables 4 and 5 have to be proportioned to the overall yearly values using the percentages of total construction outputs given in Table 3. The calculations are shown in Tables 9 and 10, which give the overall social safety investments and the overall social costs respectively in each of the three years, incorporating the corresponding government data from Tables 7 and 8. Table 9 Calculation of overall yearly social safety investment.

Yearly social safety investments made by contractors

1999

2000

2001

81,157,3841 0.1003673

84,411,2701 0.1042127

88,923,9391 0.1087303

= HK$808,603,289 = HK$809,989,484 = HK$817,839, 177

Yearly social safety investments made by the 13 government departments

HK$79,293,997

HK$92,082,210

HK$91,602,581

Overall yearly social safety investments

HK$887,897,286

HK$902,071,694

HK$909,441,758

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

143 - - - - -

Table 10 Ca lcul atio n of overall yea rl y soc ial costs.

Yearl y social costs incurred by co ntractors

1999

2000

2001

79,010,4611

56,408,6631

42,113,3181

0. 1003673

0.1042 127

0. 1087303

= HK $787,212,651 = HK $541,283,473 = HK $387,3 18,903

Yearl y social costs incurred by the 5 government departments

HK $l,003,332

HK$908,086

HK$647,040

Overall yearl y soc ial costs

HK $788,2 15,983

HK $542, 191,559

HK $387,965,943

The overall social safety investments and the overall social costs for 1999 have to be expressed as percentages of total construction outputs in that year. The same has to be done for 2000 and 200 1. The calculations are shown in Table 11. Table 11 Overall soc ial costs and overall soc ial safety investments as

perce ntages of tota l co nstru ctio n outputs.

Tota l co nstru ctio n

1999

2000

2001

H K$99,830,OOO,OOO

H K$92,640,OOO,OOO

H K$87,394,OOO,OOO

H K$788,2 15,983

H K$542, 19 1,559

H K$387,965,943

0.7896%

0.5853%

0.4439%

H K$887,897,286

H K$902,07 1,694

H K$909,44 1,758

0.8894%

0.9737%

1.0406%

o utp ut Overall social costs Overall social costs as perce ntage of tota l co nstru ctio n o utp ut Overall safety investments Overall safety investments as perce ntage of tota l co nstru ctio n o utp ut

- - - - 144

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The three years data pertaining to Overall social costs as percentage of total construction output and Overall safety investments as percentage of total construction output have been compared and analysed, with a view to establishing a relationship between safety investment and social costs. Comparative data are drawn made between 1999 and 2000, and between 2000 and 2001, with regard to reduction in overall social costs and increase in overall safety investments in the two periods. Table 12 shows the calculations, and two values for the two periods, indicating the reduction in social costs divided by the increase in social safety investments, are derived, giving a mean value of2.27. The mean value indicates that for every extra $1 of social safety investment made from 1999 to 2001, a reduction of $2.27 in social costs of construction accidents can be achieved. Table 12 Reduction of social costs as a result of one extra HK dollar increase in social safety investment.

Year 1999 vs. Year 2000

Year 2000 vs. Year 2001

Reduction in overall social costs (% of total construction output)

0.7896 - 0.5853 = 0.2043

0.5853 - 0.4439 = 0.1414

Increase in overall social safety investments (% of total construction output)

0.9737 - 0.8894 = 0.0843

1.0406 - 0.9737 = 0.0669

Reduction in social costs divided by increase in safety investments

0.2043 /0.0843 = 2.4235

0.1414/0.0669 =2.1136

Mean value

6

(2.4235+2.1136)/2 =2.27

Discussion and conclusion In this study, relevant data on social costs and social safety investments gathered from 119 construction projects involving 1,414 accidents and from 18 government departments in Hong Kong have been analysed. The impact of social safety investment on reducing social costs has also been evaluated. The study has shown an upward trend in social safety investments and a downward trend in social costs, and for every extra $1 of social safety

SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AND THE IMPACT OF SAFETY INVESTMENT ON SOCIAL COSTS

145 - - - - -

investment made, a reduction of $2.27 of social costs on construction accidents would be achieved in Hong Kong in the three years under study. It can be seen from the results that for every extra $1 of social safety investment, the reduction in social costs is $2.4235 (1999 vs. 2000) or $2.1136 (2000 vs. 2001). The figure (2.4235 or 2.1136) can be called the social cost reduction to safety investment increment ratio, which has shown a downward trend from 1999 to 2001. The authors forecast that this trend will continue for a number of years ahead. This is a reasonable forecast because further increase in safety provisions will not reduce accident costs limitlessly, according to the "Law of Diminishing Returns" of economics theories. A time in the future may come when every extra $1 of social safety investment will result in $1 of reduction in social costs, that is, when the "social cost reduction to safety investment increment ratio" becomes 1. If this happens, the "optimum point" will have reached. Hence, further research to keep track of the development of social safety investments made and the social costs incurred in the Hong Kong construction industry in the years ahead is recommended. The data from the research may be used as a reference in policy decisions of the government to determine the adequacy of social safety investment in Hong Kong, and it is advisable for the government to maintain records of the data on a continuous basis. Apart from this, the government should explore ways to effectively spend money in construction safety. Although the results of this study are relevant to Hong Kong only, the method can also be applied in other countries/cites. The concept of the "social cost reduction to social investment increment ratio" can be used elsewhere, and the government concerned may formulate its own construction safety policies with reference to the ratio. In this chapter, only the time costs of the injured persons and their relatives have been considered. Pain and suffering costs of the persons and other costs or damages associated with human feelings have not been included. The authors believe that these costs are a significant component to social costs of construction accidents , but are not easy to relate in monetary terms. If these were also considered, the reduction in social costs could be higher than $2.27 per extra $1 of social safety investments as described earlier in this chapter. In the next chapter, pain and suffering costs of injured persons will be fully discussed.

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Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the government departments and the project managers, project engineers, safety managers, safety engineers and others who have provided them with valuable data, particularly Mr. KK Chan of Chevalier Construction Company Limited, Mr. Derek Smyth and Mr. KS. Lee of Gammon Skanska Limited, Dr. James Lau ofFong On Construction &: Engineering Company Limited, Mr. Joseph Chi of Scott Wilson Limited, and Mr. YW Mak of Hong Kong Housing Authority. Thanks are also due to the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for providing funding support for this work (Grant Nos. G-YC40 and A-PC46).

References Berenson, M.L. and Levine, D.M. (1989) Basic Business Statistics: Concept and Application, 4th edition. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Buildings Department (1998) Technical memorandum for supervision plans. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Ngai, KL. and Tang, S.L. (1999) Social costs of construction accidents in Hong Kong, in Proceedings of the Second International Conference of CIB Working Commission W99 on Implementation of Safety and Health on Construction Sites, edited by Singh, A., Hinze]. and Coble, R.J., Honolulu , March, pp. 229-233. Tang, S.L. (2003) Economic Feasibility of Projects: Managerial and Engineering Practice, 3rd edition. Chinese University Press, Hong Kong. Tang, S.L., Lee, H.K and Wong, K (1997) Safety cost optimization of building projects in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 15, No.2, pp. 177-186. Tang, S.L., Ying, KC., Chan, W.Y. and Chan, YL. (2004). Impact of social safety investments on social costs of construction accidents. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 22, No.9, pp. 937-946. Works Branch (1996a) Technical circular number 4/96: Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS). Government Secretariat, Hong Kong, March. Works Branch (1996b) Technical circular number 5/96: The Independent Safety Audit Scheme (ISAS). Government Secretariat, Hong Kong, March. Works Branch (2001) Works Digest - Issue No. 45. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR, July.

1

Introduction This chapter presents an estimate of the pain and suffering costs of the injured persons due to construction accidents in Hong Kong, based on an exhaustive study of High Court personal injury case judgements in connection with construction accidents in the years 1999 to 2003 , and then relates the findings to the social costs previously estimated (in Chapter 9). The pain and suffering costs for non-fatal accidents in Hong Kong legal terms comprise damages for "Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenities" , and "Loss of Society" (explained below) assessed by High Court judges. For fatal accident cases , pain and suffering costs comprise the statutory compensation paid for "Bereavement" . Construction accident victims and their families in Hong Kong would seek relief to their grievances by pursuing cases in the High Court. Once such a case is brought to trial, the judge would investigate and establish: • •

Whether such accident took place at that site at the given time in the manner claimed by the parties to the case. At the time of the accident, who was the employer? (An issue often resulting in disputes in multiparty temporary organizations prevalent at construction sites).

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•

Who should be responsible for the accident, the employer or the injured (employee)? Was there a breach of care for safety that should be provided by the employer? Was there any contributory negligence by the injured (employee)? If so, how should the liability be apportioned?

•

The quantum of material damages suffered by the victim, e.g., (in non-fatal accidents) loss of wages, loss of earning capacity (explained below), medical &: miscellaneous expenses, (in fatal accidents) loss of dependency, loss of accumulation of wealth, funeral expenses and so on. The quantum of non-material damages, e.g., (in non-fatal accidents) "Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenities" , and "Loss of Society" (explained below), and (in fatal accidents) "Bereavement".

•

Once a judgment is handed down, it is a public document that can be referred to and studied by members of the public for research or other purposes. The authors have studied 77 cases, being all the judgments pertaining to construction accidents handed down in the five years 1999 to 2003. A breakdown of how these cases were distributed in the respective years is presented in Table 1. There were of course many other construction accidents that occurred during the period under study, but without any resort to court judgments. Table 1 Distribution of the cases studied in the years 1999 to 2003 (exhaustive).

Year

Non-fatal Accident Cases

Fatal Accident Cases

Total Number of Cases

1999

12

5

17

2000

10

9

19

2001

4

o

4

2002

26

2003

10

o

10

Total Number of Cases

62

15

77

27

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Compensation for non-material damages (Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenities , Loss of Society and Bereavement) awarded by courts can be extracted from the above public documents and totalled. Most personal injury cases , however, are settled out of court, thus the judgments refer to a small percentage of the claims resulting from accidents. In order to be able to arrive at a monetary estimate of the total pain and suffering costs due to all construction accidents in Hong Kong, the authors have also extracted the material damages suffered by the victims (e.g. , loss of wages , loss of earning capacity, loss of dependency, loss of accumulation of wealth, and so on) , so that it is possible to calculate the average ratio of non-material damages to material damages. The authors have by other independent means assessed the total material losses to the society due to all construction accidents (De Saram and Tang, 2005). The said ratio, therefore, makes it possible to arrive at a monetary estimate of the pain and suffering costs. The following section presents a discussion on types of claims that can be made by a construction accident victim, and how the claims are evaluated.

2

Employees' compensation claims The Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO) of Hong Kong requires all employers to take insurance policies that will cover liabilities to their employees in the event of an accident arising out of and in the course of employment or an occupational disease. This is "a no fault liability" scheme where an employer is liable to pay "even if the employee might have committed acts of faults of negligence when the accident happened" (Labour Department, 2003 ; ECO, 2002). However, there are upper limits for the amount of compensation paid, e.g.: • • • •

Maximum 84 months earnings for a deceased employee under 40 years of age Maximum 96 months earnings for an employee under 40 years of age suffering permanent total incapacity Monthly earnings subject to a maximum of HK$21,OOO (US$1.00 = HK$7.8) for the purpose of calculating compensation Funeral and medical attendance expenses not exceeding HK$35,000.

It is , hence, the case that claims made under the ECO usually underestimate the actual losses. These claims cannot reflect the true picture of losses in construction accidents. It is, therefore , necessary to study the common law cases pursued in the High Court.

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Common law claims Further compensation, without being subject to the above limitations, can be claimed under the common law where an employee can prove (as observed in the court cases studied) the employer's "fault liability" for causing the accident by way of failing to: • • • • •

care for the safety of the employee by providing a safe system of work and a safe environment to work in plan the safety system taking into account the fact that the employees may become careless about the risks involved in their daily work, because dangers often get obscured by repetition train the employees to follow the safe system of work and maintain the safe environment supervise that the safe system is being adhered to and the safe environment is maintained stop the work of employees who do not adhere to the safe system of work or help maintain the safe environment, and even take penal action against them

The above is not based on specific legislation, but on an accepted tradition of "judge made law" resulting from former cases decided by courts in Hong Kong, the UK and other common law jurisdictions; " ... is a common law liability and does not depend on an Act of Parliament" (Munkman, 1985). Common law also considers that the duty of providing employee safety is personal to the employer and is non-delegable. Therefore, an employer is personally liable no matter how experienced the employees including the site management may be. There is also legislation in Hong Kong specifying the duties of employers as well as employees. The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (FIUO) (2002) states that the duties (as far as is reasonably practicable) of employers include (Section 6A) provision and maintenance of safe plant, safe systems of work, information/instruction/training and supervision; and the duties of employees include (Section 6B) taking reasonable care for the health and safety of oneself and of other persons , and co-operate with the employers' attempts to discharge towards the safety of the employees. The legislation also focuses on safety standards such as: lifting appliances should be thoroughly examined by a competent examiner every 12 months (FIUO) and hoists in use should be inspected at least once each week by a driver or an operator (Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations , 2003).

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

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Legal action for common law claims in Hong Kong is carried out in the High Court, and the burden of proving employer's negligence falls on the employee. The case would fail if it could not be proved that the employer has failed to exercise reasonable care for the safety of the employee. Liability rests upon tort (duty imposed by law) rather than the employment contract (Munkman, 1985). "Under the general law of tort, a duty of care arises when two persons are so closely and directly related that activities of one of them may involve appreciable risk of injury to the other. Such a close and direct relationship exists between employer and employee. The employer invites the employee to enter his premises, to use his machinery and to follow his method of work". However, "the employer is not under absolute duty to ensure safety, and negligence must always be proved. There is no warranty that the machinery and the plant are safe or that the system of work will be free from risk" (Munkman, 1985). As evident from the above, the liability for causing the accident may not be entirely on one party. There could be certain care and safety measures that should have been exercised by the employee. In such cases , the judge would have to assess the contributory negligence by each party and apportion the liability between the parties. Especially in construction sites where multiple tiers of subcontractors and machinery suppliers are involved, the issue of liability could be complicated. For example, in one of the non-fatal cases (Case No. 51 , see below) analysed, H section steel piles were being lifted by a crane supplied by a machinery supplier. A subcontractor's employees were working to attach lifting cable slings to the loads and guide the loads being lifted. A load being lifted struck one of the subcontractor's employees and badly fractured his leg. The victim took common law action against the main contractor, the subcontractor and the crane supplier. The High Court judge had to hear the evidence and establish that: •

• •

The main contractor's engineers had explained to the subcontractor's employees and the crane operator on how the cable slings should be attached to either end of the load by two workmen. The load should be lifted only after both workmen had moved away a safe distance and raised their hands to signal that they were keeping clear of the load. The crane operator, through negligence , had lifted the load before one of the workmen moved sufficiently away, thus injuring him. The victim, before moving to a safe distance, had not raised his hand to signal the crane operator and hence had not contributed to the accident.

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• •

The main contractor had complied with his duty of providing a safe system of work, but the machinery supplier should be held liable for the fault of his employee, the crane operator. The site operation as a whole, however, was under the supervision of the main contractor's engineers. The same dangerous situation, where the same employee could have been injured in the same way, had happened a few hours earlier though narrowly escaped. Due to lack of supervision, no action had been taken other than the two workmen giving a loud call to the crane operator to be careful. The main contractor, although complied with his duty of providing a safe system of work, should still be held liable, having failed to supervise that the safe working system has been adhered to.

Having hence established that the employer was 100% liable for the accident damages, the judge has proceeded to ascertain the quantum of damages, which turned out to be HK$848,472. On studying the cases, the authors have identified material damages and non-material damages for which compensation is awarded under common law, as shown in Table 2. A brief description of these damages is presented in the following sections, and an example using a non-fatal case is given in section 7 Accident data analysis. Table 2 Common law damages awarded by the High Court.

Non-fatal Accident Cases

Fatal Accident Cases

Material Damages

Material Damages

Loss of Earnings Loss of Earning Capacity Loss of Personal Property Medical Expenses Miscellaneous Expenses

Loss of Dependency Loss of Accumulation of Wealth Loss of Earnings of the Immediate Family Members Loss of Personal Property Funeral Expenses Loss of Services

Non-material Damages

Non-material Damages

Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenities Loss of Society

Bereavement

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

153 - - - - -

4

Non-fatal accident cases

4.1

Material damages All the following material damages are calculated by judges based on some monetary values, rates or prices. The awards are clearly meant to compensate for monetary losses or expenses incurred as a result of the accident injury.

4.1.1

Loss of earnings

Loss of earnings reflects the losses suffered by the victim because of incapacity resulting from the accident. Many such claims arise from the fact that the accident victim could only return to sedentary jobs. Courts would award damages at the pre-trial rate of earnings for: • •

the period of sick leave some reasonable period of time to solicit and find a sedentary job, provided that the victim has made reasonable effort to find work

Then for the period of partial incapacity where the victim may be carrying out sedentary employment, the court would award the difference between the pretrial rate of earnings and the income from the sedentary employment. Where documentary proof of employment and earnings are not available, judges have often worked on the basis of notional incomes according to figures published by Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong. Judges would also make allowances for inflation, gradual increases in salaries, promotions and so on. 4.1.2

Loss of earning capacity

This is an award made on the basis that, in the future , the victim may lose his job and, because of the injury, he may be at a disadvantage in the job market. To a person suffering from permanent partial incapacity, it is typical for judges to make an award equivalent to several months pay at the rate of notional monthly income. 4.1.3

Loss of personal property

The victim may lose the clothes worn at the time of the accident and other personal belongings. This is usually a very nominal sum often awarded without being contested by the defendant. 4.1.4

Medical expenses and miscellaneous expenses

These include items such as hospitalization, travelling expenses , wheel chairs, walking aids , diapers , bedpans, care giver salaries , physiotherapy

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treatment, exercising aids , tonics and nutrition products, traditional herbal medicines, and so on. Often immediate family members may have to give up their employment or take up part-time work in lieu of full-time work, so as to be able to take care of the injured person. Such losses are also paid under this heading.

4.2

Non-material damages The following non-material damages are not calculated by judges based on any monetary values, rates or prices. The awards are clearly meant to compensate for damages that cannot be easily estimated in monetary terms.

4.2.1

Pain, suffering and loss of amenities (PSLA)

An accident victim may undergo pain and suffering as a result of the injury. Loss of amenities refers to inability to engage in and enjoy family and social life due to the injury, e.g. , carrying one's children and playing with them , engaging in sports and recreational activities and so on. The authors , in the process of studying the cases , have observed some claimants supporting their claims by stating that they used to swim, play basketball and so on. There is no easy way that PSLA damages could be calculated. Nevertheless, judges have to maintain the consistency of awards made by the courts. Therefore, they refer to judgments of cases decided in the past, compare the severity of the mental and physical conditions of the victims resulting from injuries , compare the ages and family situations of the cases (e.g. , whether there are young children) , consider changes in the monetary values in the society (i.e. , inflation or deflation), and so on to deliver a value to be awarded. It is considered in Every v Miles (1964) that: [The judges] are left, therefore, with a decision as to what is the right compensation in money for the physical injuries that [the victim] sustained, and their effect upon [the victim's] life. Any such decision involves an attempt to equate the incommensurable. Such an equation is insoluble, and in the logical sense there is no answer which is right. Bu t since justice is not justice unless even-handed, so that one man gets roughly the same treatment from the courts as another in comparable circumstances , and since law requires that compensation be awarded for physical injuries , and the only kind of compensation which the courts can award is money, the courts are compelled to make a pragmatic solution.

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

155 - - - - -

It is considered that in the case of Lee and Leung (1980), by that time, it could be accepted without question that in this jurisdiction the appropriate standards are to be found in the decisions of Hong Kong, and a general pattern of awards for pain and suffering has emerged, thus, there is no need to look for precedence from cases in England or Wales or any other jurisdictions. To enable a more structured evaluation of pain and suffering costs , the judges have proposed that "disablement may be divided into four categories of ascending order according to its severity":

•

•

•

•

Serious injury is the lowest category and covers those cases where the injury leaves a disability which mars general activities and enjoyment of life, but allows reasonable mobility to the victim, for example, loss of a limb replaced by a satisfactory artificial device. Bad fractures leaving recurrent pain are also classified as serious injury. Substantial injury extends to injuries which require treatment in hospital for many months and leave the victim with a much reduced degree of mobility, for example, a leg amputated from the thigh, so that an artificial leg cannot be used satisfactorily; or multiple injuries which leave a condition requiring regular treatment for the rest of the victim's life. Gross disability comprises injuries which leave the victim with very restricted mobility or cause serious mental disability or behavioural changes. This category includes paraplegics who , particularly if young, can expect to be placed at the upper end of this category. Disaster is where the victim requires constant care and attention and is incapable of ever leading or appreciating an independent adult life. This bracket includes tetraplegics and those reduced to "living cabbages" or left with the mental age of very young children. Non-fatal cases Nos. 7 and 27 analysed in this chapter are examples of this condition.

Despite the four categories , the judges have emphasized that "There is, of course , no rigid distinction [between the categoriesl. That cannot be, for severity of injury presents a sliding scale. Furthermore in a particular case, there may be factors not in themselves disabling [e.g. , young agel, which are sufficient to take that case from one category to another." (Lee and Leung, 1980) They have further noted that, in the last two categories , additional awards could be expected to cover nursing or other attendant care. For example, the victims of the non-fatal cases Nos. 7 and 27 analyzed in this chapter have received such awards. Hence , victims of different categories of injuries receive different PSLA (pain, suffering and loss of amenities) awards from the court.

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4.2.2

Loss of society

This is an award made (under Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance (LARCO), Cap 23 , Clause 20C) to immediate family members (especially the spouse) of seriously injured persons (usually in the Disaster category given above) , who suffer loss of companionship , for example, due to brain damage sustained by the victim (LARCO, 1998). To be eligible to receive such award, the recipient should survive 30 days after the cause of the loss of society (i.e., the date of the accident). The value so awarded is subject to a maximum of HK$lS0 ,000 at present (although the maximum used to be HK$100,000 before 4 September 1998). Non-fatal accident cases Nos. 7 and 27 presented in this chapter are examples of this award made.

5

Fatal accident cases Similar to the non-fatal cases, all the following material damages are calculated by judges based on some monetary values, rates or prices. The awards are clearly meant to compensate for monetary losses or expenses incurred as a result of the death.

5.1

Material damages

5.1 .1

Loss of dependency

By this award, the dependents are remedied for the loss of financial support they would receive had the victim lived until natural death. Dependents may include spouse, unmarried children, aged parents and in some cases even siblings who need to depend on the victim. Judges would consider contributions to household expenses , likely increase in expenses as the children grow up (e.g. , need for education) , and so on. The number of years of dependency for each dependent would be adjudged based upon the age of the individual. The authors have observed that claimants , at times , would present documents to prove children's good performance at school to indicate that they are promising individuals who , had the victim lived, are likely to be supported through tertiary education. Judges would also make allowances for inflation, gradual increases in salaries and promotions the victim may receive, and so on. 5.1.2

Loss of accumulation of wealth

This award attempts to remedy losses to the deceased's estate due to the untimely death. In deciding the value of this award, judges would check

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

1 57 - - - - -

whether the deceased had a pattern of saving and investing, had responsible attitudes towards life such as taking insurance policies , being free from gambling and alcoholism, and so on. Further, judges may discount these figures by an amount say 5% to 22% (value being higher for higher estimates of wealth accumulation) on the basis that a person may spend some of the wealth accumulated to live out the retirement, and the more a person has in retirement funds, the more that person is likely to be spending during retirement years while enjoying sufficient financial security. 5.1.3

Loss of earnings of the immediate family members

Due to the death of a prominent contributor to the family, immediate family members at times may have to give up their employment or take up part-time work in lieu of full-time work so as to be able to take care of the children or elderly parents. Such losses are paid under this heading. 5.1.4

Loss of personal property

The victim may lose the clothes worn at the time of the accident and other personal belongings. This is usually a very nominal sum often awarded without being contested by the defendant. 5.1.5

Funeral expenses

The actual full value of the funeral expenses is paid to the family. Court decision becomes easy when receipts of the expenses are submitted as documentary support. 5.1.6

Loss of services

On the death of a husband, a wife loses the handy man at home who would attend to all the repairs , anything heavy to be moved and so on, requiring her to employ outsiders for that purpose. On the death of a father, children lose the person who would take them to school safely, take them to see places , etc., and the mother may need to employ outsiders to attend to such needs. On the death of a wife, a husband would need to employ outsiders to attend to housekeeping, child minding, cooking and so on. Such losses are remedied by the award for Loss of Services as provided in the LARCO (1998) , Cap 23, Clause 20C.

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5.2

Non-material damages

5.2.1

Bereavement

This non-material damage is not calculated by the judges based on any monetary value. The award, stipulated in the Fatal Accidents Ordinance (1997) (FAa) , Cap 22, Section 4, is clearly meant to compensate the grief suffered by the family members who survive the deceased for not less than 30 days. The value of compensation to be awarded is also stipulated in the FAa , being HK$lS0 ,000 at present, although it used to be only HK$70 ,000 before 30 June 1997 (at the time of death of almost all the victims in the fatal cases studied under this research).

6

Total compensation awarded The total compensation awarded by the court for a victim would be the sum of compensation for all the damages considered. Judges may not award compensation under each and every category of damages because every amount ordered to be paid is based on careful decisions. The objective is to remedy the victim as close as possible to the status that would be , had the accident (due to others' negligence) not occurred. Once the total compensation to be awarded is arrived at, the judge decrees what percentage of it should be paid to the employee according to the percentage of liability the employer bears in the accident, as discussed earlier in the common law claims section of this chapter. The payment finally made to the employee is the net amount, that is, the amount deducting all previous payments received by the employee in connection with the injury (including the compensation already paid under the ECO) prior to the judgment. For the purpose of this study, however, the authors do not have to consider the percentages of liabilities of the parties in the court cases, because the subject of interest is the pain and suffering costs incurred by the society, irrespective of whether these costs are caused by employers or employees.

7

Accident data analysis High Court judgments of 77 personal injury cases, exhaustively representing construction work related accident case judgments handed down in the years 1999 to 2003 , have been compiled. Of these cases , 62 are non-fatal and the

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

159 - - - - -

remaining 15 are fatal. 8 non-fatal cases and one fatal case have been excluded from the analysis due to incomplete data. Hence, 54 non-fatal cases and 14 fatal cases are used in the analysis. As stated before , in most cases , High Court Judges' calculations of compensation for material damages depend on monthly incomes of the victims and the potential future years of earnings assumed based on the victims' ages. Exceptions to the consideration of ages are the relatively few cases where the injuries have been already healed or are likely to be fully healed within a finite time. It is, hence, considered logical to sort the cases as follows: 1st priority for sorting: Monthly Earnings - cases in the descending order 2nd priority for sorting: Age (at Accident) - cases in the ascending order To take inflation (or deflation) into account, the authors have adjusted the monthly earnings based on the Composite Consumer Price Index (CCPI) at year 2000 level (Census and Statistics Department, 2004). The monthly earnings are so adjusted only for the purpose of prioritizing (or arranging) the cases. The other monetary values included in the cases do not need such an adjustment because the authors' findings will finally be based on the ratio of non-material damages to material damages.

7.1

Analysis of non-fatal accidents According to the priorities given in sorting the cases , the monthly earnings graph has a smooth downward trend (see Figure 1). The ages at accident indicate an average age of around 40 years, and may indicate a slightly upward trend towards lower income employees (see Figure 2). Perhaps there is a tendency, especially for the lower paid manual workers, to injure themselves towards the latter part of their careers.

- - - - - 1 60

MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Figure 1 Monthly earnings of the injured employees in the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed. 100,000 90,000 ~

80,000

'"~

70,000

u u

60,000

0::

*g}, c 50,000

'E

..::: 40,000 >:;:: 'E 30,000 0 ::;: 20,000

10,000

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15 17 19 21

23 25 27 29 31

33

35

37 39 41

43 45

47 49 51

53

Case No .

Figure 2 Ages of the injured employees in the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed. 65 60 55 50

~ ~

45

~ 40
35 30 25

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

21

2J

25

27

29

31

33

35

37

39

41

43

45

47

49

51

53

Case No .

The non-fatal accident Case No. 24 is used as an example to illustrate the calculation of compensation awarded by the court. The vic tim was working as a casual labourer at the time of the accident, although he was a qualified bartender. The defence counsel representing the employer argued that the compensation should be calculated on the basis of the casual labourer's rate of pay. The judge gave due recognition to the trade certificates and efforts by the victim to improve his skills by way of attending programmes conducted

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

161 - - - - -

by the Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA) of Hong Kong. The victim's counsel led evidence that, due to the economic downturn affecting the construction industry, bartender work was available on some days only and on the other days the victim worked as a casual labourer. For the purpose of calculating the notional monthly income, the judge, based on the evidence , found it safe to assume that in each month on average , 15 days could be counted as bartender work at the rate of HK$900 (thus earning HK$13 ,500) , and a further 11 days could be counted as labourer work at the rate of HK$550 (thus earning HK$6,050) , yielding a total monthly income ofHK$19 ,550. The accident involved fire and explosion resulting in 6% burns to the neck, face , hands and forearms. The victim continued to suffer from weakness in the left hand thus causing loss of ability to work as bartender. The Employees' Compensation (Ordinary Assessment) Board assessed that the victim had suffered 4% loss of earning capacity. The awards given by the court are summarized in Table 3 , and a brief description of how the judge arrived at each value is given below. Table 3 Claims awarded to the victim of Case No. 24. Material Damages

Non-material Damages

Value HK$

Award

Value HK$

Pre-trial loss of earnings

223, 424

Pain, Suffering and loss of Amenities

240,000

Future loss of earnings

604,800

loss of Society

Total loss of Earnings

828,224

loss of Earning Capacity

80,000

loss of Personal Property

0

Pre-trial medical and misc expenses

5, 976

Future medical and misc expenses

7,000

Award

Total medical and misc expenses

12,976

Total Material Damages

921 ,200

Total Non-material Damages

Total compensation awarded to the victim was HK$1, 161,200.

0

240,000

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

PSLA: The victim claimed HK$280,000 whereas the defendant was only ready to concede HK$120,000. Considering that the injury fell far short of the Serious Injury category given above, the judge considered an award of HK$240 ,000 to be appropriate. Loss of earnings: The judge was satisfied that the victim tried his best to reemploy himself after the sick leave. Hence, for the pre-trial period (which happened to be 48 months) , the victim was paid at the rate of HK$19 ,550 less his actual earnings earned initially as a casual labourer and subsequently as a painter receiving HK$13 ,OOO per month. The damages awarded for the post-trial period were the difference of the pre-accident earnings (HK$19,550 per month) and earnings as a painter (HK$13,OOO per month) for a period of 12 years. (The victim was 47 years old at the time of the accident and 51 years old by the time of the trial in the High Court). A Mandatory Provident Fund retirement scheme was implemented in Hong Kong with effect from 1 December 2000. The 5% contribution required by the employer for this scheme was also added from the said date onwards. Loss of earning capacity: The victim claimed HK$80 ,000 and the defendant refused to concede this damage. The judge found that, as a result of the impairment attributable to the burn injury, there would be a "substantial" risk that the victim could, in the future, lose his HK$13 ,OOO job, and he would further be disadvantaged by the same impairment in securing replacement employment. The judge hence considered that the HK$80 ,000 claimed by the victim would give him a cushion of just 6 months and was, therefore, not unreasonable. Medical and miscellaneous expenses: This was claimed to cover the travelling expenses , costs of the ointment (a quantity required for 12 years of consumption) required to ease the irritation in the burnt areas. The above example has illustrated how the awards were made for Case No. 24. The same philosophy applies to all the other cases. The total compensation awarded for non-material damages and material damages in the 54 nonfatal accident cases analysed is graphically presented in Figures 3 and 4 respectively. The four exceptional cases that could be observed are: •

Case No.7, where the victim suffered severe disabilities (including brain and spinal injuries) that could be categorized as Disaster, thus received HK$I ,OOO,OOO for PSLA and HK$100 ,000 for loss of society. Damages included medical and miscellaneous expenses HK$I,26 7,500 incorporating compensation for wife's care and employment of a domestic helper.

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HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

•

Case No. 27, where the victim suffered almost total paralysis that could be categorized as Disaster, thus received HK$l ,SOO ,OOO for PSLA and HK$lSO,OOO for loss of society. Medical expenses awarded alone came to HK$7,SOO ,000. Case No. 34, where the victim suffered injuries requiring amputation above the knee that could be categorized as Substantial Injury, thus received $ 720,000 for PSLA. Considering the circumstances , it was judged that he could not return to work and was compensated for full loss of future earnings. Case No. 48, where the victim suffered multiple injuries including spinal that could be categorized as Substantial Injury, thus received $ S64 ,000 for PSLA. He suffered from recurrent pain that prevented him from being employed.

•

•

Figure 3 Total non-material damages of injured employees in the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed. 1,600,000

~

1,400,000

~ 1,200,000

"E l1 ,000,000

~

800,000

.,!i ~

E i:

z

0

"] ~

600,000 400,000 200,000

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33

35 37 39 41

43 45 47 49 51

53

Case No.

Figure 4 Total material damages of injured employees in the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed. 10,000,000

~ ~

8,000,000

~

."

~

~ 6,000,000

~

.,!i

~

4,000,000

"iii

;§

2,000,000

1

3

5

7

9

11

13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 Case No.

35

37 39 41

43 45

47 49 51 53

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The total compensation awarded is the sum of awards for total non-material damages and total material damages, as follows: Total Compensation Awarded = Total Non-material Damages + Total Material Damages The graph of total compensation awarded in the 54 non-fatal accident cases is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5 Total compensation awarded for injured employees in the 54 nonfatal accident cases analysed. 12,000,000 ~ 10,000,000

'"~

-E

8,000,000

~

~ 6,000,000 .,!i

~

"iii 4,000,000

;§

2,000,000

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17 19 21

23 25 27 29 31

33

35 37 39 41

43

45

47 49 51

53

Case No.

The graphs presented in Figures 3, 4 and 5 do not indicate any particular patterns. The authors consider it more meaningful to calculate the average values for the 54 cases. The total compensation awarded to each injured employee in the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed is calculated at an average of HK$2,300,657, with the average compensation for non-material and material damages being HK$378,627 and HK$1,922,030 respectively. Figure 6 presents the ratios (expressed as %) of total non-material damages to total material damages for the 54 non-fatal accident cases analysed. The 5 exceptional cases that could be observed are: Case No. 10 where the victim received $ 276 ,000 for PSLA because the condition of his injuries was below the Serious Injury category. He was also found to be an untruthful witness with regard to post-accident employment history and was not awarded much as loss of earnings. Further, Cases Nos. 43 , 44, 51 and 54 are cases where not much damages for loss of earnings were awarded because of the victims' relatively lower income levels or their being close to retirement age, although higher values of PSLA were paid considering their injuries.

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HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

The apparent upward trend of the graph in Figure 6 is due to the downward trend in the total earnings causing a corresponding downward trend in the material damages assessed, and is not indicative of any real upward pattern in the non-material damages assessed. The average ratio of non-material damages to material damages is 29.02% , say, 30%. Figure 6 Percentage of non-material damages/ material damages in the 54 nonfatal accident cases analysed. 140.00

~ 120.00 ~

"E~

~ ~

.,!i ~

::;:

100.00 80.00

";;;

"E~

60.00

.,!i

40.00

~ ~ ~

E ~ 0

z

20.00

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15 17 19 21 23 25

27 29

31 33

35

37 39 41 43 45

47 49 51

53

Case No.

7.2

Analysis of fatal accidents As explained before , the only non-material damage that could be awarded to the family of a deceased is Bereavement, and the value is fixed at HK$lS0,000 (FAO , 1997). Considering the fact that surviving injured victims in nonfatal accidents are paid an average compensation of HK$378,627 for PSLA, it is difficult to appreciate, in Hong Kong monetary terms, that the grief of a family that has lost the breadwinner or a prominent member is equated to HK$lS0 ,000. From Figures 7 and 8, it can be observed that the 14 fatal accident victims in the cases analysed spread over a range of monthly earnings and ages at the time of accident, which are quite similar to the victims of the non-fatal accidents. Figure 8 , similar to the non-fatal cases , suggests that many persons at around 40 years of age on average have been involved in fatal accidents. A further similarity is that there is an upward tendency in this graph, thus suggesting that the lower paid manual workers are more accident prone during the latter part of their careers.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

The graph of total compensation awarded for material damages has a steady downward trend (see Figure 9) , except for cases Nos. 3 and 5 where the victims were shareholders of the subcontracting company, thus having a high potential to earn in the future , especially during the construction boom in the mid-1990s. The average total compensation awarded for material damages in each fatal case is HK$3,911,321 (compared to the average figure of HK$1 ,922 ,030 for non-fatal cases). In addition, considering the family conditions and hardships presented by the litigants in the 14 cases studied, the authors feel that it is not unreasonable to assume that the pain and grief suffered by the respective families could safely be estimated to be of the same proportion as that suffered in the non-fatal cases , i.e. , 30%. Figure 7 Monthly earnings of the victims in the 14 fatal accident cases analysed. 50,000 45,000 ~

40,000

'"~0::

35,000

tl *g},

30,000

c

'E

25,000

:;::

20,000

~

15,000

...

..::: "E

10,000 5,000 + - - , - - , - - - , - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - , - - - - , - - . , - - , - - - - . , - - - - ,

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Case No.

Figure 8 Ages of the victims in the 14 fatal accident cases analysed. 60 55 50 -;;;~

~

45

~

'"


40 35 30 6

8 Case No.

9

10

11

12

13

14

167 - - - - -

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

Figure 9 Total material damages of the victims in the 14 fatal accident cases analysed. 14,000,000 12,000,000 ~

'"~ 10,000,000 ~E 8,000,000 ~

C

~ 6,000,000 ..!i

~

"iii 4,000,000

;§

2,000,000

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Case No.

8

Non-material damages due to all construction accidents in Hong Kong Chapter 9 has indicated the total material damages to victims of all construction accidents in Hong Kong in 1999, 2000 and 2001 as shown in Table 4 below. Using the data from Table 5 of Chapter 9, the material damages for 1999 can be calculated as follows , and similar calculations can be done for 2000 and 2001. Costs Costs Costs Costs

due due due due

to to to to

medical expenses (non-hospitalized) hospital expenses losses of victims losses to relatives

Total costs to the victims' parties

=HK$ =HK$ =HK$ =HK$

439,284 6,194,426 44,523,316 22,198,902

=HK$

73 ,355,928

As the above damages are assessed from a sample of construction sites representing 10.03673% of total construction output in Hong Kong, it can be estimated that the material damages of all accidents in Hong Kong would be HK$73,355,928 7 10.03673% = HK$730,874,777. The total non-material damages, estimated at 30% of the material damages based on the findings presented above , would be: HK$730 ,874,777 x 30% = HK$219,262 ,433

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

Table 4 Total material and non-material damages to victims of all construction

accidents in Hong Kong.

Year

1999

2000

2001

Total Material Damages to Victims (H K$)

730,874,777 500,264,440 355,947,082

Total Non-material Damages to Victims (HK$)

219,262,433 150,079,332 106,784,125

(Estimated at 30% of the Material Damages)

9

Conclusion High Court personal injury cases pertaining to S4 non-fatal and 14 fatal construction accidents have been analysed. Based on the non-fatal cases, it has been found that the average ratio of compensation for non-material damages (pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life) to material damages (loss of earnings, medical and travelling expenses, etc.) is about 30%. Extracting non-material damages directly from the fatal cases is not feasible because the only non-material compensation allowed by the courts for such cases is Bereavement which is fixed at HK$lS0,000. Nevertheless, by examining the data of the fatal cases in terms of pre-accident earnings of the deceased and the ages at the time of accidents, and the data on family conditions and hardships presented to the courts by the immediate family members, it has been found reasonable to estimate the pain and grief suffered by the respective families to be in the same proportion as that suffered in the non-fatal cases, Le., 30%. Based on previous estimates of material damages to victims of all construction accidents in Hong Kong by De Saram and Tang (200S) , it is estimated that the total non-material damages (pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life) to the Hong Kong society due to construction accidents in 1999, 2000 and 2001 are HK$219,262,433, HK$lS0,079,332 and HK$106,784,12S respectively.

Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge the kind assistance given to this research project by the Legal Aid Department, High Court Library and the Labour

HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING COSTS OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

169 - - - - -

Department of the Hong Kong Government. Their special thanks are due to Mr. Andrew Stables, Assistant Principal Legal Aid Counsel, who, with lots of enthusiasm, has put in much time and effort to help select the court cases and clarify many difficulties that the authors have often encountered with legal concepts. Their special thanks are also due to Dr. D. Darshi De Saram, Research Associate of the research project described in this chapter, for his invaluable contributions to assist in acquiring the data and analyzing them. Thanks are also due to the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for providing funding support for this work (Grant Nos. A-PE30 and G-T956).

References Census and Statistics Department (2004) Annual Report on the Consumer Price Index, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations, Cap 59 I, Laws of Hong Kong (Version 2003). Also available at: www.justice.gov.hkIHome.htm De Saram, D.D. and Tang, S.L. (2005) Pain and suffering costs of persons in construction accidents: Hong Kong experience. Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 23, No.6, pp. 645-658. Employees' Compensation Ordinance, Cap 282, Laws of Hong Kong (Version 2002). Also available at: www.justice.gov.hkIHome.htm Every v Miles [1964] UK Court of Appeal No. 261 (unreported, but cited in Lee Ting-lam and Leung Kam-ming [1980] HKLR 657@ 659). Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, Cap 59, Laws of Hong Kong (Version 2002). Also available at: www.justice.gov.hklHome.htm Fatal Accidents Ordinance, Cap 22, Section 4, Laws of Hong Kong (Version 30 June 1997). Also available at: www.justice.gov.hklHome.htm Labour Department (2003), A Concise Guide to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (with frequently asked questions on common employees' compensation issues), The Government of the Hong Kong SAR, www.labour.gov.hklenglpublic/content2_7.htm Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance, Cap 23, Clause 20C, Laws of Hong Kong. (Version 1998 September 4). Also available at the Internet URL http://www.justice. gov.hklHome.htm Lee Ting-lam and Leung Kam-ming [1980] HKLR 657, (Hong Kong Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. 11 of 1980 reported in the Hong Kong Law Reports 1980, pp. 657-661). Munkman, j. (1985) Employer's Liability, 10th edition. Butterworths, London.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

s.w.

Poon S. W Po on is an Associate Professor in the Department of Real Estate and Construction at the University of Hong Kong. He obtained his M.Sc. in Construction and Ph.D. from Loughborough University, U.K. Besides being a Chartered Structural Engineer and a Corporate Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers , he is also an Expert Member of the Formwork and Falsework Scaffolding Professional Committee, and the Construction Technology Academic Committee of the China Construction Institution, Beijing, China. Dr. Poon has been appointed over thirty times as an independent safety expert in investigating construction accidents and failures. His research interests include construction and project management, temporary works design and construction, and failures during construction. He has published many papers on construction safety and accidents and is a co-author of Modem Construction Project Management and Construction Quality Management published by Hong Kong University Press.

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MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY IN HONG KONG

s.

l. Tang

S. L. Tang is a Chartered Civil Engineer and obtained his B.Se. in Civil Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 1972, M.Sc. in Construction Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 1977, and Ph.D. from the Civil Engineering Department of Loughborough University, U.K. in 1989. Dr. Tang had nearly seven years of working experience in civil engineering practice in contracting/consulting firms and government departments before he joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in which he is currently involved in the teaching and research of construction management and water &: environmental management. Dr. Tang has written over one hundred journaVconference papers and books/reports related to the areas of his expertise. He has also taught as a Visiting Scholar or Visiting Professor in universities of different countries such as China, Australia and the USA.

Francis K. W. Wong Francis Wong is the Head of Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), as well as the Director of Research Centre for Construction and Real Estate Economics (RCCREE) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University He has 28 years of academic and practical experiences , and has published more than a hundred papers in the form of refereed journal articles, refereed conference papers , professional journal papers , research monographs , and consultancy reports. Professor Wong is a Fellow Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) , a Founding Member as well as the Chairman of the Safety Specialist Group of HKIE in 1999/2000. He is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Senior Vice-Chairman of the CIOB (Hong Kong Branch) in 1994/95. He is also a Fellow and a Founding Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers (HKICM). His main research areas include construction safety and affordable housing development.