Barriers to the implementation of insurance policy for site workers' safety in construction projects in Abuja

Abstract

The workplace environment in the Nigerian construction industry remains one of the most dangerous workplaces among all industries because of high number and frequency of accidents. In spite of provision of Insurance Act and availability of H&s policies with specific insurance and risk management considerations to combat high number and frequency of accidents; Insurance policy implementation for site workers' safety continues to suffer major setbacks due to poor compliance structure, ineffective implementation strategy by the insurance regulator and lack of awareness on the part of the Nigerian public. Thus, injuries, fatalities and death from construction related activities appears unabated. This study examines the barriers to the implementation of insurance policies for the safety of site workers in construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria with a view to enhancing the safety performance and productivity of construction workers on site. Survey research design was adopted and data were collected using structured questionnaires distributed to • construction/insurance professionals and contractors selected within Abuja, Nigeria, Descriptive statistics was used for the analysis. The study identified several barriers under five major categories, out of which the major ones were "Lack of trust in insurance providers" (MIS = 4.56), "Low or total lack of awareness of the various insurance policies" (MIS= 4.42). "Unwillingness to pay insurance claims leading to long period taken to settle insurance related problems* (MIS = 4.24), Non or inadequate enforcement of compulsory insurance" (MIS = 4.21). Hence, it was concluded that the barriers to the implementation of insurance policy for site workers' safety on construction sites as revealed by the findings above, is high and it has a detrimental effect on the overall construction projects output if left unchecked. Thus, it was recommended that In order to improve the level of compliance with insurance policy for site workers' safety in construction sites, construction stakeholders should develop a mechanism that will adequately minimized the barriers identified by this study by using the most effective drivers to combat such barriers.