Assessment of the Cost Impacts of Health and Safety Practices on Construction Projects in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Forecasting the costs of a construction project usually fails to include the cost of health and safety of the construction workers, and the construction process itself contains a series of crafty activities which require time and costs for smooth execution. Thus, the research aimed at assessing the cost impact of health and safety practices on construction projects. The study adopted quantitative technique. The research population constituted the professionals in the construction industry who are directly involved on construction sites.A total of 181 structured questionnaires were administered to the sampled participants (23 project managers, 43 consultants, 48 contractors and 67 safety officer) within Abuja, using the stratified random sampling method, from which a total 170 was retrieved, representing 93.9% response rate. The collected data were analysed by using the descriptive methods (Relative Importance Index, frequencies, percentages and ranking method). The research found that struck by falling objects; slip, trip and falling from heights; collapse of cranes; death; and respiratory deformation, are the major health and safety risks that have major effects on project cost. The research also found that the provision of health and safety programs on construction sites contributes between 3–5% of the project costs. It was also revealed that the percentage cost of accidents to the overall cost of construction projects is less than 1%, with an average percentage contribution of 0.218%.Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the costs of health and safety programs and practices are significant in increasing the costs of building projects.It was recommended that health and safety practices and programs should always be given priority at the initial project estimating stage of a project, as they constitute a reasonable percentage of project cost.