Investigating the effectiveness of health and safety management systems within construction organizations

Objectives. Previous studies presented the advantages of implementing health and safety management systems (HSMSs) in the construction industry. Few studies have investigated the effectiveness of HSMSs in developing countries. This study adopts a strategic management and multilevel perspective to assess the three main construction HSMS types in South Africa in terms of their adequacy across 14 HSMS dimensions. Methods. A literature review identified 14 health and safety (H&S) management dimensions as building blocks of the strategically developed component of a HSMS. Statistical methods analysed the feedback from a questionnaire survey amongst 59 construction companies on the adequacy of three HSMS types observed in these companies across 14 HSMS dimensions. Results. Differences between the three H&S management types were identified, with inadequacies in three of the 14 H&S management dimensions across all three HSMS types. The three dimensions are accountability and incentives for employee participation, management of subcontractors, and employee competence and training. This could indicate less attention is paid to behavioural-based safety control strategies. Conclusions. The study quantified the differences between the three H&S management types and will help contractor organizations to improve their HSMSs.