Research

Consultation In The Civil Construction Industry.

Phil conducts many OHS consultation courses for OHS committee members and OHS representatives who work on large civil construction projects. He uses these courses to gather research data, and runs much of them along the lines of focus groups. He takes notes of stories in his journal and uses this information as research data. The information gathered in this way is tested for reliability and validity by seeing if similar themes unfold across different courses and different workplaces.

Following is an abstract for a paper being delivered at the ‘XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work’ in Seoul, Korea, June 29 – July 2, 2008.

Abstract

Title: Challenges to effective OHS consultation on large civil construction projects

Abstract: Most major construction sites place a heavy emphasis on OHS management systems which often takes the form of documented policies and procedures. However, these do not always capture the hazards associated with the many non-routing jobs on a constantly changing site. Workers often perceive that management place more emphasis on getting the paperwork correct rather than listening to their ongoing health and safety problems. The heavy reliance on paperwork silences the many workers who struggle with literacy. The boss vs. worker struggle often means that workers are reluctant to speak up with their real safety concerns. The constant drive to keep costs to a minimum creates a subtle message that OHS is not as important as profits and can result in cutting corners. Many subcontractors make minimum safety efforts; many of the OHS representatives do not have the skills or confidence to bring their concerns to a management who is perceived to care little about answering the hard questions. Workers notice what managers pay attention to rather than what they say or what the procedures/documents say.

This paper proposes an approach to training both managers and OHS consultation representatives to overcome some of these problems. It also explores a style of induction for all employees and contractors that will encourage them to come to management with any safety concerns. It requires a cultural shift in which workers will make suggestions because they believe that they are listened to and acted on.

Data for this project was gathered from focus groups comprised of individuals who attended 4-day OHS Consultation curses for OHS representatives and OHS committee members. These 4-day encounters provided a valuable forum to problematise the practical implementation of OHS, from the point of view of the construction worker, whose voice is often marginalised and rarely taken seriously.