THE MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY: INVESTIGATING THE COST-BENEFIT

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (1994) require that every construction project gives due consideration to health and safety management. According to a UK Health and Safety Executive- (HSE) report published in 2003, work- related injuries and ill health result in a loss of over 30 million working days per year. The annual costs of work-related injury and ill health are estimated to be in excess of £10 billion to society taken as a whole. Unfortunately, most construction organisations are not aware or do not know the cost of accidents and ill health to their businesses. Evidence suggests that about 3 to 6% of the total project cost can be lost as a result of accidents. Furthermore, the rate of fatalities, major injuries and ill health are likely to increase if nothing is done to reduce accidents to the barest minimum. However, it is envisaged that the construction industry would do more to improve health and safety management if stakeholders were made to perceive the financial benefits of proactive and efficient health and safety management procedures. To date, health and safety management is still perceived as being costly and counterproductive in the construction industry. However, the need to constantly investigate the cost of accidents in relation to overall profits and productivity is deemed necessary. A cost benefit analysis approach to construction health and safety management is proposed as a means of providing the required motivation to ensure improvements to current levels of implementation. The study identifies and evaluates a cost benefit analysis technique that may be relevant to the management of construction health and safety. The results of this investigation will form part of an ongoing study of cost benefits of construction health and safety management.