An Assessment of Occupational Health and Safety Practices at Construction Sites in Nairobi City Region, Kenya

Abstract

Construction industry is one of the adequately regulated sector but still rated amongst the most risky place to work in. Accidents and the subsequent losses are common in this sector. Regulations have been enacted to control these risks. So as to understand applicability of these regulations, this study was designed to assess how Nairobi City region’s housing construction workplaces have implemented the occupational safety and health practices. The study objectives were to: profile occupational safety and health regulations governing construction workplaces; establish compliance to basic OSH practices at construction workplaces; establish the extent of construction project stakeholders’ intervention to influence adoption of OSH practices and; analyze the challenges facing the county’s construction workplaces in the implementation of the OSH practices. The targeted population were 871 approved housing construction projects that were in operation between April and May 2015. Multistage sampling design was used in selecting sample sites for the study through which, 60 sites were randomly selected that served as units for data collection. Data was collected through administering questionnaires to site safety representatives, interviews as well as use of observation schedule. The study established that 90% of the sites had complied with the legal requirements of registering their work places with National Construction Authority against 30% that had registered their workplaces with the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services. 25% of the sites had been inspected by government regulatory bodies out of which 69.2% of these inspections were made by NCA officials, 30.8% by county public health officials and none by the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services officials. On a Likert scale of 1-5, contractor management and clerk of works were both ranked at 1 (to a large extent on their level of influence on adoption of OSH practices) while government institutions and general workers were both ranked at 4 (to a small extent on influencing OSH adoption). The study established that full compliance to OSH requirements had been hindered by high safety cost with a 76% response rate, lack of knowledge on advanced safety practices by 60%, lower productivity by 56%, lack of management commitment by 42% and negative expected impact on project schedule by 26%. The study recommends that sites be subjected to meeting safety standards with a workplaces registration certificate number displayed on the signboard issued once full compliance is proofed. The study also recommends that monitoring bodies be supported to give them capacity to monitor all industry players to ensure they provide a conducive working environment and adhere to statutory laws and regulations on health and safety.