Perception on Safety Structure and Safety Performance for Construction

This study is a part of an on-going research concerning the factors affecting the safety performance of the construction industry in Hong Kong. Similar research was conducted previously to analyse the perception of senior management of construction companies towards the implementation of safety policy and safety system (Wong 1997). As a follow up of the previous research, this paper examines the perception of various concerned parties relating to the importance of safety factors affecting safety performance of both contractors and construction sites. A questionnaire survey was conducted amongst a group of safety practitioners. The data collected from the questionnaire survey was analysed by the use of statistical techniques including Levene homogeneity of variance test, and two independent-sample t test. The input of the concerned parties is significant because they will shape the construction safety environment, for the local construction industry, for the foreseeable future. The study has shown that there is substantial mismatch between the perception of contractors and clients' employees with that of government officials, in terms of the appropriate amount of people, time, and finance resources for safety, which may cause safety management conflicts amongst the parties.