Key Reasons for Poor Safety Performance in Construction Projects in Australia Essay

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ASSESSMENT TASK

The construction industry comprises work involved with the construction, alteration, or demolition of buildings and other structures or the preparation of building sites. The construction industry accounted for 9 percent of total employment in November 2017, with employment growing strongly by 18 percent over the five years to November 2017 (more than double the rate of overall employment growth at 8 percent). There have been significant reductions in the numbers and rates of injuries and fatalities in this industry over the last ten years or more. Nevertheless, the construction industry remains a highrisk industry and shows poor safety performance. The nature of work in the construction industry means it is a relatively high-risk industry and is reflected in both the comparatively high level of fatalities and serious workers’ compensation claims.According to Safe Work Australia (2015-16), there were around 11,535 serious compensation claims in the Australian construction industry, which was approx. 32 claims serious claims per day. However, these statistics didn’t include the number of near misses and minor injuries in the construction industry. Based on the context above, it is important to explore the reasons behind this poor safety performance in Australian construction projects.

For this individual assignment, each student must undertake some research and produce an individual essay that addresses the following topic:

Discuss the key reasons for poor safety performance in construction projects in Australia.

You must include an annotated bibliography of at least five journal (5) articles.

ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE

You must use journal articles, rather than text books or websites, to provide the information for this essay.

The Week 2 class will include advice from library staff on how to search for appropriate materials as well as a short lecture from language and learning advisors on how to analyse journal articles.We will use our seminar in Week 2 to help you understand annotated bibliographies, find journal articles and to further understand the expectations for this assignment.

There is no ‘correct answer’ to an essay – your task is to form a valid opinion based on the research of others.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ASSIGNMENT

Working in the construction industry requires strong oral and written communication skills.These skills are also essential for success in your studies.

In the first instance, completion of this task will teach you some basic research skills as well as some critical thinking skills.These skills will be needed in all units in the postgraduate construction management program.As well, the theoretical knowledge gained in this assignment will be used to

develop Assignment 4. It is important to analyse the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of current knowledge to assist you in forming your own opinions.

More importantly, you will learn about one of the key problems – poor safety performance in construction projects - you may face as you forge a career in the construction industry.

FORMAT OF ASSIGNMENT

The essay must be no more than 2000 words, conform to workplace standards for a formal essay structure and format and be fully referenced in the Author-Date (Harvard - DU) style.The annotatedbibliography will not be included in calculating the number of words.Please note the word count for your essay component on the front page of your submission.

Each annotated bibliography should be between 180 – 200 words.Please try to keep between these limits as it is good practice to communicate succinctly.

The overall structure of the assignment 1 should be:

  • Essay (Introduction, Body of the essay [include specific sub-headings], Conclusion) – 2000 words
  • Annotated Bibliography (Research aim, research method, key findings, critical analysis of key findings, and reflection on how this work connects to your current assignment) x 5 - total 900-1000 words
  • Reference list

The assignment should be submitted as a single A4 pdf document.

Please include a completed rubric that indicates how you would assess your submission, including comments for the grades you have given.

User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Explanation & Answer

Attached.

KEY REASONS FOR POOR SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA 1

KEY REASONS FOR POOR SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
IN AUSTRALIA

By Name of Student

Name of Unit
Name of Professor
Name of Institution
Date
(1941 words)

KEY REASONS FOR POOR SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA 2
Introduction
As the demand for housing, offices, warehouses, and other structures continues to rise, so
do the number of people tasked with building them. The people hired by the owners of such
properties expect to earn money from their work. The construction of a building for offices or
residential living comprises many stages and normally takes a long time. The different stages
involved in the construction of a building require different types of expertise. This means that
that erecting a building from the ground requires different types of experts.
In some cases, the experts work together and in others only complement the work of
other experts and professionals that came before them. If working on another professional's
work, the current professional cannot introduce new designs even if the current design is faulty.
The construction industry in Australia is tasked with different activities such as erecting
buildings, demolishing old ones, and even altering them to suit new purposes. All these activities
need to be conducted in a safe way to prevent injuries to workers. If done wrongly, these
buildings pose a danger to the workers of the companies erecting the buildings and, at times, to
the people nearby. The people at the greatest risk are the workers themselves because
construction requires such things as heavy equipment and cutting tool. There are several reasons
for the buildings and construction projects posing a danger to people. This paper will look at the
key reasons behind the poor safety performance in construction projects in Australia.
Size of the Company
The size of the company matters when it comes to safety performance in Australia. The
size matters because there are and small companies and each company wants to get the tender
when bids are requested. Small companies bid mostly for small construction works that their
finances can afford. The small works may not have a lot of budget to interest the large

KEY REASONS FOR POOR SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA 3
companies. Thus, small companies will compete against themselves and try to outdo each other
by quoting lower prices. The small companies quote lower prices for the tenders and other jobs,
removing some of the costs that they think are not essential. One such cost is the cost associated
with Safety (Arewa & Farrell, 2012).
On the other hand, the large companies quote figures that cater to all the expenses they
may incur in the course of the project. This means that the large companies will attend to any
injuries that may occur while implementing the project. The cost will also be enough to put
measures that ensure that the injuries do not occur in the first place. Thus large companies can
reduce the number of risks that their employees face, and they can also quickly treat those that
get injured. Large companies also have enough money finances to invest in expensive safety
equipment that further reduces the number of injuries and consequent deaths (Arewa & Farrell,
2012). The safety equipment is normally used over a long time and can be used in different
projects. Small companies work to reduce their expenses, and not many of them can afford
expensive safety equipment. They also do not have the resources and finances to respond to
minor injuries, which quickly progress to fatal injuries.
Negative Perceptions of Safety
To win bids, companies may quote low figures, and after winning the tenders, they get rid
of safety obligations. Their negative perception of safety is not intentional but is a way to reduce
the expenses incurred. Some companies see the safety standards as complex for the work that
they are doing and therefore disregard the whole obligation of safety. Some of the safety
requirements set by the government can be excessive for simple jobs. However, the price of not
implementing them is costly in case of an injury (Wadick, 2010). However, if an injury does not
occur, the safety precautions that the company undertakes becomes a financial burden. If the

KEY REASONS FOR POOR SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA 4
company that put them in place is a small company, the forgone cost could get the man...


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