MANAGING SITE SAFETY ON INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS – DEVELOPING A TOOL TO ASSESS NATIVE WORKFORCE SAFETY CULTURE

While international projects may appear as attractive investments, such projects usually involve elevated levels of risk and uncertainty. Morris and Hough (1990) found that 63 percent of 1,778 projects funded by the World Bank between 1974 and 1988 experienced significant cost overruns owing to risk factors including safety risks. The loss or injury of trained and experienced workers, and the worker disruption to progress of work, undeniably represent reduction in the performance of construction. The cost of accidents which includes increased insurance cost, lost productivity, and disruptions, provides an economic motivation to try and prevent accidents from happening; safety culture can set the tone for implementation of safety in construction site environments. Based on the above premise, this study attempts to develop a research instrument that can be utilized by construction contractors working in international markets to assess the safety culture of the native workforce in order to better manage the risks of safety, as well as to take better procurement and management decisions. The research instrument has been developed through structured surveys and interviews of major U.S. contractors (general and specialty) pursuing international business opportunities in the commercial and industrial sectors, in various countries around the globe. The research deliverable provides a structured mechanism for international contractors to assess and curtail site safety risks on international projects and to better respond to the challenges faced by their management in implementing safe construction projects internationally. Strategically, this provides them with a structured approach to decision making under uncertainty for procurement of construction projects in an international context