Browsing by Author "Wamuziri, SC"

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    A REVIEW OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES - OMAN PERSPECTIVE
    (2016-08-22) Umar, T; Wamuziri, SC
    Data from a number of industrialized countries show that construction workers are 3 to 4 times more likely than other workers to die from accidents at work. In the developing world, the risks associated with construction work may be 3 to 6 times greater. Construction is one of the world’s biggest industrial sectors, including the building, civil engineering, demolition and maintenance industries and in Oman it account 10% of the total GDP. Statistic indicates that a total of 723,000 residents were working in construction industry in 2014. Construction workers build, repair, maintain, renovate and demolish houses, office buildings, factories, hospitals, roads, bridges, tunnels, stadiums, docks, airports and more. During the course of their work they are exposed to a wide variety of hazards on the job, including dusts and vapours, asbestos, awkward working positions, heavy loads, adverse weather conditions, work at heights, noise, vibration from tools, among many others. In most developed countries, organizations have significantly reduced the risk of injuries and fatalities by understanding the impact of construction safety on their performance. This involves the development and implementation of construction safety rules and laws by the organizations itself and by authorities responsible for this purpose. Such safety rules and laws are based on the studies of organization safety cultural and post-accident investigations. Statistics indicates that worker deaths in America are down on average, from about 38 worker deaths a day in 1970 to 12 a day in 2014 and worker injuries and illnesses are down from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.3 per 100 in 2013. This paper presents the challenges and opportunities available for Oman to improve the construction safety performance of the organization by developing and implementing standard safety rules and laws. The research methodology includes the comparison of existing construction safety in Oman with some of the developed countries. The paper further describe how Oman can improve construction safety by developing specific safety rules and regulation and their enforcement through inspection of construction site under an independent authority of health and safety.
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    A review of construction safety, challenges and opportunities - Oman perspective
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2016-07) Umar, T; Wamuziri, SC; Sandanayake, YG; Karunasena, GI; Ramachandra, T
    Data from a number of industrialized countries show that construction workers are 3 to 4 times more likely than other workers to die from accidents at work. In the developing world, the risks associated with construction work may be 3 to 6 times greater. Construction is one of the world’s biggest industrial sectors, including the building, civil engineering, demolition and maintenance industries and in Oman it account 10% of the total GDP. Statistic indicates that a total of 723,000 residents were working in construction industry in 2014. Construction workers build, repair, maintain, renovate and demolish houses, office buildings, factories, hospitals, roads, bridges, tunnels, stadiums, docks, airports and more. During the course of their work they are exposed to a wide variety of hazards on the job, including dusts and vapours, asbestos, awkward working positions, heavy loads, adverse weather conditions, work at heights, noise, vibration from tools, among many others. In most developed countries, organizations have significantly reduced the risk of injuries and fatalities by understanding the impact of construction safety on their performance. This involves the development and implementation of construction safety rules and laws by the organizations itself and by authorities responsible for this purpose. Such safety rules and laws are based on the studies of organization safety cultural and post-accident investigations. Statistics indicates that worker deaths in America are down on average, from about 38 worker deaths a day in 1970 to 12 a day in 2014 and worker injuries and illnesses are down from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.3 per 100 in 2013. This paper presents the challenges and opportunities available for Oman to improve the construction safety performance of the organization by developing and implementing standard safety rules and laws. The research methodology includes the comparison of existing construction safety in Oman with some of the developed countries. The paper further describe how Oman can improve construction safety by developing specific safety rules and regulation and their enforcement through inspection of construction site under an independent authority of health and safety.
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    The use of alternative building materials in developing countries: addressing challenges faced by stakeholders
    (2012-06) Mpakati-Gama, EC; Wamuziri, SC; Sloan, B; Mpakati-Gama, E.C. & Wamuziri, S.C. (2012). The use of alternative building materials in developing countries: addressing challenges faced by stakeholders. In S. Senaratne & Y.G. Sandanayake (Eds.), Global challenges in construction industry (pp. 266-275). Ceylon Institute of Builders. https://ciobwcs.com/downloads/WCS2012-Proceedings.pdf; Senaratne, S; Sandanayake, YG
    The rising concern on inefficient wood consumption associated with shelter development has led to policy and regulatory reforms to address such problems in most countries in recent years. The use of alternative building materials (ABMs) and technology, for example, have been proposed by decision makers as one of the ways of curbing deforestation hence promoting sustainable development. Although the use of alternative materials has enhanced housing stocks where these are appropriately employed, there are several problems faced by developers to embrace the proposed strategies more particular in developing countries. Focusing on the Sub Sahara Africa (SSA), this paper proposes strategies the decision makers would employ to promote the use of ABMs. In this paper, which is based on the extensive literature review of an ongoing academic research to find ways for promoting sustainability in developing countries, it is noted that cost of raw materials, flaw of sustainability definition as well as the lack of information related to the building sector are some of the limitations for building stakeholders to promote the use of ABMs. Therefore, the course of actions proposed is regarded as one of the possible ways for decision makers to take into consideration to improve the current situation in the building sector in SSA and beyond.
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    USING SAFETY CLIMATE AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVEMENT OF SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN CONSTRUCTION ORGANIZATIONS
    (2016-09-06) Umar, T; Wamuziri, SC
    Data from a number of industrialized countries show that construction workers are 3 to 4 times more likely than other workers to die from accidents at work. In the developing world, the risks associated with construction work may be 3 to 6 times greater. Construction is one of the world’s biggest industrial sectors, including the building, civil engineering, demolition and maintenance industries, and in Oman it accounts for approximately 10% of the total GDP. Statistics indicate that a total of 723,243 residents including 91% foreigners were working in 100,000 construction organizations in 2014 and was having second larger rate of occupational injuries after manufacturing industry with an estimated cost of 3,700,000 US$ per year. Construction workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazards on the job, including dusts and vapours, asbestos, awkward working positions, heavy loads, adverse weather conditions, work at heights, noise, vibration from tools, and therefore more closer to occupational accidents. In recent years the awareness of the importance for safety performance of organizational, managerial and social factors, has increased. Safety climate is an aspect of organizational climate, and offers a route for safety management, complementing the often predominant engineering approach. Safety climate investigations are more sensitive and proactive bases for developing safety, rather than reactive information from accident rates and accident and incident reports. Based on a thorough literature review, relevant safety climate dimensions including (1) management safety priority, commitment and competence; (2) management safety empowerment; (3) management safety justice; (4) workers’ safety commitment; (5) workers’ safety priority and risk non-acceptance; (6) safety communication, learning, and trust in co-workers’ safety competence; and (7) workers’ trust in the efficacy of safety systems, are identified and discussed. This paper further describes how construction organizations in Oman can improve their safety performance by using and assessing leading safety climate dimensions/ factors among their workers.
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    Using safety climate as a tool for improvement of safety performance in construction organizations
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2016-12) Umar, T; Wamuziri, SC; Sandanayake, YG; Karunasena, GI; Ramachandra, T
    Data from a number of industrialized countries show that construction workers are 3 to 4 times more likely than other workers to die from accidents at work. In the developing world, the risks associated with construction work may be 3 to 6 times greater. Construction is one of the world’s biggest industrial sectors, including the building, civil engineering, demolition and maintenance industries, and in Oman it accounts for approximately 10% of the total GDP. Statistics indicate that a total of 723,243 residents including 91% foreigners were working in 100,000 construction organizations in 2014 and was having second larger rate of occupational injuries after manufacturing industry with an estimated cost of 3,700,000 US$ per year. Construction workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazards on the job, including dusts and vapours, asbestos, awkward working positions, heavy loads, adverse weather conditions, work at heights, noise, vibration from tools, and therefore more closer to occupational accidents. In recent years the awareness of the importance for safety performance of organizational, managerial and social factors, has increased. Safety climate is an aspect of organizational climate, and offers a route for safety management, complementing the often predominant engineering approach. Safety climate investigations are more sensitive and proactive bases for developing safety, rather than reactive information from accident rates and accident and incident reports. Based on a thorough literature review, relevant safety climate dimensions including (1) management safety priority, commitment and competence; (2) management safety empowerment; (3) management safety justice; (4) workers’ safety commitment; (5) workers’ safety priority and risk non-acceptance; (6) safety communication, learning, and trust in co-workers’ safety competence; and (7) workers’ trust in the efficacy of safety systems, are identified and discussed. This paper further describes how construction organizations in Oman can improve their safety performance by using and assessing leading safety climate dimensions/ factors among their workers.