Work Health & Safety Perceptions
Work Health & SafetyPerceptionsConstruction IndustrySafe Work AustraliaFebruary 2015
SAFE WORK AUSTRALIAWork Health and SafetyPerceptions: ConstructionIndustryFebruary 2015
Creative CommonsISBN978-1-76028-031-4 (pdf)978-1-76028-032-1 (doc)With the exception of the Safe Work Australia logo, this reportis licensed by Safe Work Australia under a Creative Commons3.0 Australia Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit .enIn essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work,as long as you attribute the work to Safe Work Australia and abide bythe other licensing terms. The report should be attributed as ‘WorkHealth and Safety Perceptions: Construction Industry’.Enquiries regarding the licence and any use of the report arewelcome at:Copyright OfficerStakeholder EngagementSafe Work AustraliaGPO Box 641 Canberra ACT 2601Email: erThe information provided in this document can only assist you in themost general way. This document does not replace any statutoryrequirements under any relevant State and Territory legislation. SafeWork Australia accepts no liability arising from the use of or relianceon the material contained on this document, which is provided on thebasis that Safe Work Australia is not thereby engaged in renderingprofessional advice. Before relying on the material, users shouldcarefully make their own assessment as to its accuracy, currency,completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtainany appropriate professional advice relevant to their particularcircumstances. To the extent that the material in this documentincludes views or recommendations of third parties, such views orrecommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of Safe WorkAustralia nor do they indicate a commitment to a particular course ofaction.
ContentsPrefacevExecutive SummaryviiBackgroundMain findingsConclusionsviiviiviii1. Context1Background12. Approach33. Main findings4Work-related injuriesSelf-reported exposure to disease-causing hazardsWork health and safety practicesWork health and safety communication and consultationWork health and safety motivations, attitudes and perceptions48122228Appendix A- Description of data sources used in this report37Work-Related Injuries Survey, 2009-10CEOs and Supervisors Telephone Survey, 2000National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance Survey 2008Motivations, Attitudes, Perceptions and Skills (MAPS) Survey 2009Work Health and Safety Cost of Compliance (Regulatory Burden) Survey 20133738394144Appendix B. Strengths and limitations45Appendix C. Further detail on NHEWS exposure variables46How exposure is defined46iii
PrefaceThe Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 (the Strategy)describes the construction industry as a priority industry for work health andsafety. While much is known about work-related injuries and illnesses in thisindustry from the national workers’ compensation dataset (NDS), we alsoneed to know about disease-causing hazard exposures, work health andsafety attitudes and perceptions and work health and safety activities in thisindustry. This information will help to identify issues requiring preventionaction and will ensure that resources and prevention efforts can be targetedappropriately.This report summarises findings from construction employers andworkers from six existing Safe Work Australia data sources. The reportpresents areas where the construction industry is doing well and areas forimprovement in relation to: disease-causing hazard exposures and workplace control measures work health and safety activities, and work health and safety perceptions and attitudes that may act as barriersor enablers to work health and safety.Conducting and publishing research to inform the development andevaluation of work health and safety policies is a function of Safe WorkAustralia as specified in the Safe Work Australia Act 2008. This researchreport was written to inform the development of policies in relation to workhealth and safety in the construction industry. The views and conclusionsexpressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of Safe WorkAustralia Members.Perceptions of Work Health and Safety Survey: Employers andworkersThis report presents findings from a nation-wide survey of employers andworkers. Responses to the survey questionnaire were weighted to reflectthe size, primary location and main industry of businesses in Australia.As is often the case with large surveys, the response rate was low. Thisincreases the risk that the views and experiences of the study sample arebiased and affects the extent to which those views and experiences canbe generalised to the population of interest. In short, the survey providespotentially valuable information from 1052 employers and 1311 workersbut we cannot be confident that the information is representative of thewhole population. It is therefore important that estimates or comparisons,particularly those based on the relatively small number of medium-sizedand large businesses, are seen as indicative or suggestive rather thanrepresentative or definitive.As with all statistical reports, the potential exists for minor revisions overtime.v
Executive SummaryBackgroundThe construction industry is designated as a priority industry for work healthand safety due to the high number and rate of work-related injuries andillnesses and inherent risks associated with working in the industry. Theother priority industries are Manufacturing, Agriculture, Road transport,Accommodation & food services, Health care & social assistance andPublic administration &safety. Other than work-related injury and illnessdata and the findings from relevant Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities(HWSA) audit and education campaigns, little information on work healthand safety in the Australian construction industry is available.This report attempts to address this information gap by summarisingfindings from six existing Safe Work Australia data sources and oneAustralian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data source. A concise report suchas this cannot cover all topics in these data sources. Therefore, this reportfocuses on exposure to hazards in construction, provision of controlmeasures, other work health and safety practices and work health andsafety attitudes and perceptions that may be relevant to work health andsafety practices in the industry.Main findingsConstruction workers reported a substantially higher proportion of workrelated cuts and open wounds compared to workers in the other priorityindustries. Construction workers also experienced a greater proportionof injuries due to falls from height compared to workers in other priorityindustries. In terms of disease-causing hazards, construction workersreported that the most common hazards in their workplace they wereexposed to were airborne hazards, vibration and noise.The utilisation of work health and safety practices was very high amongconstruction employers with almost all reporting that they make workpractices safe, remove hazards as much as possible and use personalprotective equipment in the workplace.Workers had high levels ofagreement that these safety practices were used in their workplace.However, this level of agreement was less than that of their employers. Ofsome concern was the finding that only four in 10 employers indicated thattheir workplace reviewed incident reports and statistics.Construction businesses spent much more time per week preparing SafeWork Method Statements (SWMS) than businesses in the other priorityindustries. In 2012 the most costly compliance activities for constructionbusinesses were the replacement of plant and equipment in order toensure compliance with work health and safety laws, the employment of anadditional worker or engaging an expert with skills specific to handling workhealth and safety matters and the hiring of a lawyer for work health andsafety matters.vii
Thirty nine percent of construction employers did not provide any workhealth and safety training to their employees during 2012. This was lowerthan the proportion of employers in other priority industries who reportedthey provided training. While employers in medium and large constructionbusinesses appeared to provide their employees with some training, 45% ofemployers in small businesses did not provide any training. A much higherproportion of construction employers included contractors in their inductiontraining for new employees than employers in other priority industries.Ninety percent of construction employers felt that there was goodcommunication in their workplace about safety issues and that safetyinformation is always brought to the attention of workers. While there werealso generally high levels of agreement among workers, the proportionwho agreed with these statements was lower. In terms of consultation,construction workers generally had lower levels of agreement that variousconsultation activities occurred in construction workplaces compared toemployers.Almost one third of construction workers agreed that conditions in theirworkplace stopped them from working safely, which was much higher thanreported by employers. While workers and employers were equally likely toagree that risks are unavoidable in their workplace, employers were muchmore likely than workers to agree that they never accept risk taking even ifthe work schedule is tight. One quarter of construction employees indicatedthat they accepted risk taking at work.ConclusionsThis report examines the work health and safety practices, motivations,attitudes and perceptions of employers and workers in the constructionindustry. The aim is to provide a summary of the current state of knowledgeon this industry from existing data sources held by Safe Work Australia. Bydoing so, the report also aims to provide information on where the industryis doing well, areas for improvement and where the knowledge gaps are toinform prevention activities and future research.Examination of the perceived causes of work-related injuries in theconstruction industry revealed some surprising findings. One quarter ofconstruction employers felt that risk taking was a main cause of injury.Perhaps more concerning, one in five employers felt that not having theright equipment was a main cause of injury, while 17% of employers feltthat the use of alcohol or drugs was a main cause of injury. These causesof injury were perceived to be more common in the construction industrythan they were in the other priority industries.viii
The implementation and use of work health and safety practices andcompliance activities is high within the construction industry and has beenover the past few years. Employers were more likely than workers toindicate that health and safety practices are followed in the workplace eitherall or most of the time. Nearly all employers indicated that they knew whento report incidents to their work health and safety inspectorate. Only four in10 agreed that the business acts decisively when a safety concern is raisedand that the workplace reviews incident reports and statistics. Despite this,almost all agreed that corrective action is undertaken when they are toldabout unsafe practices and that safety improvements are implementedwithin a reasonable time frame. This suggests that while constructionemployers are working to ensure their workplaces are safe and that theyare complying with work health and safety requirements, employers maybe lacking in terms of responsive actions following work health and safetyincidents.Findings in this report suggest that about half of employers in smallconstruction businesses did not provide their workers with work health andsafety training. This appears to be echoed by workers in small constructionworkplaces and is clearly an issue with one third of workers in smallworkplaces indicating that a lack of training and education is a main causeof work-related injury in their workplace. Findings from the 2012 regulatoryburden survey confirm this issue where just over half of small businessindicated that they provided internal staff training over the past twelvemonths. This suggests that small business employers may be strugglingto provide training to their workers and may require assistance to fulfil thisobligation.Approximately 70% of construction employers provided work health andsafety information to contractors and subcontractors, which was a muchhigher level than observed in the other priority industries. Provision of workhealth and safety information to contractors appeared to be high acrossall business sizes suggesting that construction employers are particularlyin tune with the needs of contractors and subcontractors in terms of workhealth and safety information.Construction employers generally had high expectations of workers interms of following company policies, organisational rules and managementdirectives about how to work safely and these were generally met byworkers. Workers were more likely to work safely even when they didn’tthink it was important compared to employer expectations, while workerswere less likely to follow safety rules without questioning them comparedto employer expectations. This could indicate that employers believe safetyrules should be adhered to regardless of circumstance, while workersfeel that questioning safety rules in some instances is appropriate. Rulefollowing is important but so is the need to be mindful about what we aredoing, to think about the way we are working and to alert the employer to apotential problem.ix
About half of construction employers and workers agreed that risks areunavoidable in construction workplaces. In general, workers were moreaccepting of risk taking than employers. Workers were also more likelyto indicate that conditions in their workplace prevent them from followingsafety rules. This could indicate differences in expectations betweenemployers and workers in terms of accepting risk in the workplace. Thismay be supported by the finding that less than one third of workers agreedthat they never accept risk taking even if the work schedule is tight,compared to almost three quarters of employers.DisclaimerThis research report was written to inform the development of policies inrelation to work health and safety in the construction industry. The viewsand conclusions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect theviews of Safe Work Australia Members.x
1. ContextBackgroundIn order to achieve the 2012-22 Australian Work Health and SafetyStrategy’s outcome of reduced incidence of work-related death, injury anddisease, there needs to be a reduction in exposure to hazards throughimproved use of control measures, especially in high risk industries.The priority industries identified in the Australian Strategy for preventionactivities are Agriculture, Road transport, Manufacturing, Construction,Accommodation & food services, Public administration & safety, and Healthcare & social assistance. The Strategy also encourages attention on thespecific sub sectors of these industries requiring the greatest improvement.The construction industry has been designated as a priority industry dueto the high number and rate of work-related injuries and illnesses andfatalities. The construction industry consistently has had the fifth highestincidence rate of serious claims of all industries. In 2011-12 (preliminary)the construction industry recorded an incidence rate of 18.7 serious claimsper 1000 employees. This compares to the national all industries rate of12.2 serious claims per 1000 employees. The construction industry isinherently hazardous due to the nature of the work carried out.This report is one of a series produced by Safe Work Australia on priorityindustries. These reports are intended to provide an overview of Safe WorkAustralia’s current state of knowledge about work health and safety inpriority industries. Other than work-related injury and illness data and thefindings from relevant Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) auditand education campaigns, little information on work health and safety in theAustralian construction industry is currently available. This report attemptsto address this information gap.Aim and structure of the reportThe main aim of this report is to provide a summary of what is currentlyknown about work health and safety in the construction industry fromexisting Safe Work Australia data sources. The report focuses on four mainareas:1. work-related injuries in the construction industry and their perceivedcauses2. disease-causing hazard exposure and the provision of control measuresin the construction industry3. work health and safety practices, and4. work health and safety motivations, attitudes and perceptions.The report also highlights some differences by business/ workplace sizeand industry (construction vs other priority industries).The next section presents the conclusions drawn from the findings. Part2 contains a brief overview of the data sources used in this report. Part3 contains main findings. Appendix A provides a brief description of eachdata source and sample profile. Appendix B highlights the limitations of thisreport.WORK HEALTH & SAFETY PERCEPTIONS: CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. 1
It is important to note that any findings in relation to business size areindicative only. Due to small numbers in some of the business sizegroupings, we cannot have confidence that these findings hold true forthe population of construction employers and workers. The findings inthis report in relation to business size do provide a flavor of the attitudes,perceptions and behaviours of employers and workers in the constructionindustry.Results preambleDue to the qualitative nature of the findings, there are no accompanyingstatistics such as confidence intervals to indicate the reliability of estimatesor inferences.2 . SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA
2. ApproachThe findings presented in this report stem from descriptive analyses of sixexisting Safe Work Australia data sources and one data source held by theAustralian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). All data sources are survey data. Allseven data sources are briefly described in Table 1. Descriptions of eachdata source and profiles of respondents are provided in Appendix A.Table 1: Data sources used in this reportNo.Data source1Sample populationDesignCommentsABS Work-related28 554 workers ininjuries survey, 2009- scope for the Labour10Force Survey andWork-related injuriestopic.Personal interviewsby either telephoneor at selecteddwellings. Informationwas collected usingComputer AssistedInterviewing.Weighted againstpopulationbenchmarks – state,age, sex, householdcomposition.2CEOs andSupervisorsTelephone Survey2000962 CEOs andsupervisors (153construction workers)across AustraliaCATI, samples drawnfrom work health andsafety/work coverauthorities and Dunand Bradstreet list ofemployersData weighted bybusiness size withinstate/territory.3National HazardExposure WorkerSurveillance Survey(NHEWS) 20084500 workers aged18–64 years (655construction workers)across AustraliaCATI, random digitUnweighteddialling, oversamplingof priority industries4Motivations,Attitudes,Perceptions andSkills Survey 2009762 workers over 18years old workingin one of the fivepriority industries (176construction workers)across AustraliaCATI, random digitUnweighteddialling, quotas set byindustry, age groupsand state/territory5Work Health andSafety PerceptionsSurvey of Workers20121311 workers over18 years of age (90construction workers)across AustraliaCATI, dual frame(mobile and landline)sample fromSampleWorxData weighted bystate/territory, sex,age and occupation.6Work Health andSafety PerceptionsSurvey of Employers20131052 employers(87 constructionemployers) acrossAustraliaPaper based, drawnfrom a randomsample of 10 000businesses fromthe ABS AustralianBusiness RegisterData
construction industry revealed some surprising findings. One quarter of construction employers felt that risk taking was a main cause of injury. Perhaps more concerning, one in five employers felt that not having the right equipment was a main cause of injury, while 17% of employers felt tha
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