Has Construction Site Safety Changed in Ireland; and is Company Size the Key to Safety Performance Success?

The purpose of health and safety procedures in the construction industry is to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of workers. Due to the relative high accident rates on construction sites internationally, strong health and safety legislation has been devised to minimize accident causation and promote construction worker’s safety. However, little attempt has been made to research the effects of those comprehensive health and safety interventions on the individual safety behaviour on construction sites. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate any changes to the health and safety on construction sites, specifically from the construction workers’ perspective. The research also included an assessment relating to the effects of the recession on construction workers’ health and safety practices in Ireland. The main findings demonstrated that company size predicted site safety behaviour on construction sites. Most noticeably, large organisations demonstrated higher levels of compliance to safety procedures, while medium sized organisations showed signs of regression and cited cost pressures as the main influencing factor. Small organisations reported a low level of compliance due to the cost required to ensure compliance to safety procedures and practices on construction sites.