Measuring worker engagement as an aspect of health and safety performance in the construction industry: towards a best practice tool

This thesis addresses the issue of measuring worker engagement in health and safety management in the construction industry. The concept of worker engagement has become important due to the lack of effectiveness of regulation in reducing accidents and incidents in this most risky of industrial environments. It is believed that by involving workers at all levels in the project organisation in health and safety matters and their resolution, the rate of injury can be better controlled. The study adapted and contextualised an existing management tool created by the author, based on the proposition that there are accepted dimensions that describe worker engagement in health and safety in construction and that they can be measured. The research included a close collaborative case study over an 18-month period on a live construction site where a worker engagement programme, Incident and Injury Free (IIF) was in effect. The variable of worker engagement is dependent upon a range of independent variables that are its key indicators. These were found to be: knowledge and capability to engage, attitudes and behaviours regarding safety, perceptions about the organisation and resource provision and actual involvement in assessing and controlling risk. The appropriate management structures, systems and procedures must be in place. Also the commitment of the main contractor in charge of the site to ensuring an open and 'just and fair' culture within the project organisation must be clear for engagement to work. This thesis makes a contribution to construction research in that it provides a novel, valid and reliable management measure of worker engagement in health and safety management for construction. The use of this tool within the construction industry should help managements to improve the effectiveness of their worker engagement programmes. It provides a systematic measure of worker engagement for project managers and is quick to implement. Any intelligent person can apply the tool with a short training programme and can use it to identify systemic failures in worker engagement, particularly in the areas of communications. shared learning and H&S resource provision.