Site safety of Sri Lankan building construction industry

Abstract

The negligence of safety leads to loss of productivity, accidents, poor health issues and several disadvantages to construction industry. Therefore this study focused on safety planning, precautions, regulations and adoption of safe construction practices in the building construction industry and clarifies the problems on site, which prevent the improvement of safety at site. Identifying the issues related to building construction site safety and propose measures to improve the site safety of the Sri Lankan building construction industry are the main objectives of this study. This study also reveals the level of awareness of personnel to the ordinances related to construction safety. The study was carried out through personal interviews, questionnaire surveys and discussions with industrialists and policy making bodies. The detailed questionnaire survey was conducted among the professionals in building construction industry. Relevant legislations, ordinances and required safety provisions were collected from various institutes and departments. A fair response to the surveys was received through meeting industrialists in person rather than postal and email questionnaires. The questionnaire survey answers were ranked in numerical order and interpreted using graphical and tabular outputs. This study was able to reveal the status of the site safety standards that exists in the building construction industry of Sri Lanka and propose recommendations to improve the safety of Sri Lankan building construction industry.