Assessment of Health and Safety Risk Perception of Site Managers, Supervisors and Workers in Tanzania Urban Construction Sites

Paper in proceeding, 2011

Risk perceptions play a prominent role in the decisions people make, that is, differences in risk perception lie at the heart of disagreements about the best course of action between the individual and their context. In the construction industry risk perception holds a central position in health and safety risk management through risk assessment and risk communication. Construction site managers and supervisors, as individuals, are regarded as having greater impact on project performance in relation to health and safety risk. Their assessment and communication of risk depends largely on their perception of risk. This paper is part of an ongoing research to develop a conceptual framework for health and safety risk assessment and communication in Tanzanian urban construction workplaces. It presents preliminary fieldwork results of which 20 construction site managers, 10 gang supervisors and 50 workers were interviewed on how they characterize and rank risk in different activities in construction projects under two trades namely concrete casting and block laying trades. Twenty large construction sites were purposively selected. The findings are based on site managers’ perception of health and safety risk, and factors influencing such perception(s) of risk.