AN INVESTIGATION ON THE IMPACT OF HEALTH

AND SAFETY PRACTICES ON TIMELY DELIVERY OF

ZIMBABWEAN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
 INTRODUCTION

 High incidence of accidents and fatalities (Smallwood and Haupt; 2008) 

 Construction workers in Zimbabwe being exposed to work related diseases,
worsened by workplace exposures that impair working capacity( Jerie, 2012)
 Deaths, severe injuries increasing for building workers, affecting productivity
and overall performance of construction projects(ILO, 2005).
 Improvements have been made, however, the industry continually has injury
and fatality statics that have made it difficult to complete the projects on time
(Muiruri and Mulinge, 2014).
 BACKGROUND

 OHS Implemented early 1904 in UK and passed in 1926 by the Parliament to

help reduce fatalities, accidents and injuries ( SHEQ Management systems,
2014)
 In Zimbabwe, the occupational safety and health policy (2013), was formed
from UK factories work act 1974 and NSSA act. 
 Many construction activities are inherently risky to health and safety such as
working at height, working underground, working in confined spaces and
exposure to live cables ( Mbuya and Lema; 2002)
 15 lives were lost in 19993 during construction of the CABS Millenium tower
(Mpariwa, 2011)
 PROBLEM STATEMENT
 In Zimbabwe, most injuries that occur at the work place are as a result of poor
healthy and safety practices( Dhliwayo, 2012).
 Healthy and safety is one of the major factors affecting productivity in
Zimbabwe(Chigara and Moyo,2014)
 Construction of Tokwe Mkosi Dam in Chivi was suspended due to death and
injuries of workers(Maponga, 2016).
 Incidents also affect productivity and timely delivery of projects. (Muiruri and
Mulinge, 2014)
 Poor health and safety practices on construction sites in Zimbabwe has led to
injuries and deaths of workers thereby affecting productivity.
 The research seeks to find ways to improve adequate implementation of health
and safety practices on constructions projects to help reduce incidents which
can lead to drop in workers productivity.
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the health and safety practices being implemented in Zimbabwe
Construction Industry?
2. What are the effects of implementation of health and safety practices on
timely completion of construction projects in Zimbabwe?
3. How to improve implementation of healthy and safety practices to ensure
timely delivery of construction projects?
 OBJECTIVES

1. To investigate the health and safety practices used in Zimbabwe Construction

Industry.
2. To determine the effects of implementation of health and safety practices on
timely completion of construction projects in Zimbabwe.
3. To determine ways to improve implementation of healthy and safety practices
in order to achieve timely delivery of construction projects

AIM:
 To investigate the impact of the health and safety practices on timely completion
of construction projects in Zimbabwe.
 HYPOTHESIS
 There is a positive relationship between the implementation of adequate health
and safety practices and timely completion of construction projects.
 DELIMITATIONS
 Whilst the implementation of health and safety practices has an impact on Time ,
Cost and Quality (Kanchana, Sivaprakash and Joseph , 2015).
 However, this research focuses on its impact on timely delivery because most of
the researches in Zimbabwe shows that productivity(output per unit time) is a
major constraint affected by implementation of healthy and safety
practices( (Mtetwa, Dozva and Mahembe (2015): Reese, 2016 : Charizeni &
Chigonda, 2018 ).
 ASSUMPTIONS
 Implementation of Health and Safety practices remains a continuous challenge in
construction projects
JUSTIFICATION

 Mtetwa, Dozva and Mahembe, (2015) found that improved productivity is linked to improved SHE
performance
 Reese, (2016) highlighted that the implementation of adequate OSH on construction sites does not reduce
injuries but also enhances productivity and improves worker morale
 Thakkar and Shankar, (2018) reported that health and safety gains on construction sites improves worker
performance
 Yuan, Yi, Miao, Zhang (2018) highlighted that workers efficiency and productivity will be improved if
attention is paid to implementation of OSH
 Reorientation of the management of construction firms on the need to formulate effective and
implementable health and safety practices
 Also, construction employees will in turns acknowledge their efforts by complying to the safe policies in
order to save their lives from accident occurrence.
 The findings from this research shall serve as an eye opener to both the management of construction firms
and employees on the implication of poor health and safety practices
 Hence the study seeks to give impetus to the construction industry to see how OSH can improve on timely
project delivery
 Research Methodology
Process Methodology Justification
Philosophy Pragmatism.  Gray (2013)-Freedom of choice of methods.
 Use of both qualitative & quantitative
 (similar researches)
Approach Deductive &  Saunders at al (2009) Deductive research involves formulating a
Inductive hypothesis and testing the hypothesis to prove what the existing
theory says
Design Descriptive  Focuses on understanding the cause-and-effect relationships
&Explanatory between variables. (Polonsky and Waller,2005)
Choice Mixed method  Mixed method approach is composed of both quantitative and
qualitative data. (Arora and Stone, 2009)
 Data is both quantitative and qualitative
Strategy Survey  Easy to develop, administer and cost effective and allow to collect
data from large sample.
 They include questionnaires, interviews and
emailing( DeFranzo,2012)
Time Cross-sectional  Cross-sectional study involves collection of data from a population
Horizon at one specific point in time (Cherry, 2019)
 Research methodology
Process Methodology Justification
Study Construction Projects  More than single same attributes of interest and
population provide required information, (Chaudry, 2010)
Area of study Harare & Bulawayo  70 % of active construction projects are in Harare &
Bulawayo, (NSSA, OSH Report, 2018)
Target Construction Projects in
population Harare & Bulawayo
Sampling Purposive sampling  No definite size of the study population (Taherdoost,
technique Convenience sampling 2016)
(Glaslow, 2005)
Sampling Management(Site agent,  Always on site and directly exposed to the site
frame SHE Office, COW) & activities
Operatives (Scaffolders,
Bricklayers, Plant
Operators)
Sample size 60 Respondents  Sample size of between 30 and 500 at 5% confidence
level is generally sufficient. (Altunisik, Coskun,
Bayraktaroglu, Yildirim, 2005)
 Data Collection, Presentation & Analysis

Objectiv Data From who Data Collection Method Data Analysis

e required Presentation
OHS  Practices  SHE officer  Open and Close ended  Tables  Relative
Practices being used  Operatives questionnaires.  Textual Importance
 Frequency  Face to face interviews Index
of use  Content
Analysis
Effects of  Experienc  SHE  Open and Close ended  Tables  Pearson
OHS ed Officer questionnaires  Linear Correlation
Practices incidents  Site Agent  Face to face interviews Graphs  Content
on timely  What  Operatives  Textual Analysis
delivery happened

Ways to  Challenges  SHE Office  Open and Close ended  Textual  Content
Improve  What  Site Agent questionnaires paragraph Analysis
needs to  Operatives  Face to face interviews form
be done