Anna-Marie Pelser & Hazvineyi Saurombe
Anna-Marie Pelser – Professor, Director Global, Innovative, Forefront, Talent Management (GIFT)
Correspondence email address: anna.pelser@nwu.ac.za or ampelser@hotmail.com
Orcid Number: 0000-0001-8401-3893
Hazvineyi Saurombe – Extraordinary Researcher, NWU GIFT ENTITY
Correspondence email address: hazviesaurombe@gmail.com
Orcid Number: 0000-0001-5756-2299
Ensovoort, volume 44 (2023), number 11: 6
ABSTRACT
This paper aimed to evaluate how OHS’s governance principles relate to workplace incidents within the civil construction company. This study was motivated by ever increasing incidents occurring at construction sites and the governance structures employed by construction companies in relation to OHS. A qualitative study approach was undertaken, and five participants were interviewed. This study was vital because OHS governance plays an important role in mitigating and managing OHS incidents in construction sites. The Department of Labour in South Africa is the custodian of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, however, the duty to ensure a safe and healthy workplace relies upon employers and employees. OHS incidents have a detrimental effect not only on company’s profits, but on company’s image as well, and therefore, having good governance programs is important for every construction company. The study followed a phenomenology philosophy using exploratory design. A qualitative research approach was employed and data were collected using in-depth interviews. Interviews were scheduled and conducted with company selected management representatives. The findings of this study revealed that those management deficiencies, lack of top management involvement in OHS programmes, lack of knowledge of legal duties of employers and inadequate application of governance principles, are among the factors contributing to poor OHS governance in construction companies. Furthermore, it was also discovered that, there are construction companies with good OHS governance, and these companies are ripping the benefits of their initiatives. The researcher has provided recommendations that construction companies must incorporate OHS in the overall organisational strategy, management must take the lead on OHS programmes, a bottom-up approach must be employed when OHS strategy is formulated, and a top down approach to be employed in implementation of OHS strategies.
Keywords: Construction company; construction incidents; good governance; King VI report; talented leadership; occupational health and safety;
INTRODUCTION
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS) provides for the protection of employees at the workplace. The protection of employees against hazards to health and safety is a duty and accountability of the employer (OHS Act, 1993:07). The Construction industry being the biggest employer in South Africa, has for many years recorded a higher percentage in terms of workplace incidents causing injuries, fatalities and disabilities. According to Statistics South Africa, there are at least 1.2 to 2.5 fatalities per week in the construction sector, which contributed 12% to the country’s GDP in 2019 (Stats SA, 2020). The construction industry employed at least 1.4 million people by 2019 before the Covid 19 pandemic, but the unacceptably high rate of accidents highlights that the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s construction regulations are not achieving acceptable standards. Prevention of these incidents has been a function of middle and lower management in the construction industry.
Evidence is indicating a lack of senior management involvement in the matters of OHS in the construction industry and that there is still a gap regarding knowledge of their roles and responsibilities for OHS. Therefore, this paper envisages providing a framework which will aid the understanding on how OHS fits within corporate governance and the benefits such integration may bring in the construction industry. The question that needs answers is: Is there proper occupational health and safety governance in a selected civil works construction company in the Gauteng Province?
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Occupational health and safety as a function in the workplace has been the duty of the operational management. The Occupational Health and Safety Act provides for duties of the Chief executive officer; however, these duties are often delegated down to the operational management (OHS Act, 1993:07). The Construction industry in South Africa and around the world contributes a wide percentage of workplace injuries, fatalities and disabilities. The problem being addressed in this study is a lack of governance of Occupational Health and Safety in the construction companies, with evidence indicating that most construction companies do not comply with the minimum requirement of the legislation and senior management personnel is not actively involved in leading the effective implementation and maintenance of the Occupational Health and Safety management system.
This paper focused on the governance in the construction industry that considers Occupational Health and Safety as a strategic imperative to ensure that construction industry becomes a safe workplace. According to Ramutloa (2018), corporate governance as guided by the King IV, provides for ethical and effective leadership by the company executives to guide organisation’s strategy, develop policies, guide implementation and report on performance thereof; it guides the board to focus on triple bottom line (profit, people, & planet) to ensure sustainable operation (Institute of Directors South Africa, 2016). The leadership is more focused on one bottom line; that is the profits and the functions such as OHS are delegated down to line managers with little or no support from the executive management. A typical example is the 2013 Tongaat Mall disaster, where the inquiry suggests that the disaster was a result of poor construction management in terms of not complying with all applicable legislations in the construction and building work (Mothiba, 2014). The Department of Labour therefore referred the matter to the National Prosecuting Agency to deal with the matter going forward. In this case, prosecution or hefty fines for the construction company owner/s was eminent (Ramutloa, 2014). This was evidence of a pure poor corporate governance issue. If the construction companies were managed through the principles of ethical and effective leadership, this incident would have been prevented.
PAPER’S IMPORTANCE
The senior management in the company is responsible for the overall governance of the company, in terms maximising the shareholder value through setting up strategies and policies to govern the organisation (Ramutloa, 2018). OHS is mostly a function that is delegated to lower management, but when something goes wrong, the employer, which is the CEO and the Board of Directors are one to be blamed through their accountability and responsibilities charged with by the law. In this case the senior management always acts reactively to all undesirable events resulting from poor implementation of Occupational Health and Safety. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (2021), there are roughly 150 000 construction site injuries (incidents). The BLS further reported that while falls make up the majority of construction site accidents, contact with equipment was also a significant cause of injury for workers. Leadership is not directly involved with the implementation of the policy at stake and only plays a role when a tragedy has occurred. This behaviour is affecting the business negatively.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- Is a certain selected civil works construction company in the Gauteng province applying occupational health and safety governance?
- To what level do construction executives and senior management perceive Occupational Health and Safety as a strategic imperative?
- What actions should be taken by executives and senior management in civil construction companies to mitigate the rate of incidents occurring in the industry?
- What are the implications for HRD practice?
METHODOLOGY
Research purpose
This study used a phenomenological research paradigm to assess current OHS procedures used by construction firms in Gauteng Province. An exploratory research design and qualitative research approach were followed, data collection was done through in-depth interviews and document analysis. Purposive sampling was used in this study. Nine participants were selected based on their seniority within the construction company: five-line managers, one middle manager, one senior manager, one executive and one senior manager from another industry.
Positivism is based on the assumption that nature is ordered, and that reality exists independent of human observation. This study employed a phenomenology paradigm as its underpinning philosophy because this study intends to understand the human (safety professionals) experience. The study also aims to review the existing practices within the construction companies where some practices are commended, and others criticised.
Research Approach
Qualitative research is more useful for exploring new constructs or themes in a phenomenon (Babin & Zikmund, 2016), the study therefore used a qualitative research approach. It is mainly grounded on words, emotions, feelings, sounds and non-numeric factors. The reason for this approach was that the study involved the use of empirical tools such as interviews, documented reports published in newspapers, individual and personal experiences, historical data, and information published on the company’s websites.
Research Design
This study followed an exploratory research design. This research design is solely about unfolding the current situations, which is the current state of governance in Gauteng civil construction work under study and therefore gather, analyse and present the data collected. The objective of exploratory research design is to explain why some phenomena occur and is conducted to build theories and predict future similar behaviour or events as they occur (Biereeni-Nnabugwu, 2018).
Data collection instrument
The data collected in this study was based on face-to-face structured personal interviews conducted with the selected participants. An interview schedule was used. The questions were semi-structured to allow all possible answers which prompted an opportunity for a discussion on the question asked during the interview. Interview questions were purely meant and constructed to understand the participants’ perspectives and feelings regarding the underpinning matters in relation to occupational health and safety governance within the construction industry.
Sampling method
This study made use of a non-probability purposive sampling. The participants were selected based on their seniority within the construction companies. Executives, senior managers, middle managers and line managers were asked to point out their views with regard to governance in relation to OHS within the construction companies. This included the failures, good practices, and recommendations. Furthermore, the executives were asked to point out the importance of managing OHS from the top and developing strategies from their level to manage OHS; and the principles of King IV were tested where all companies were recommended to follow to ensure sustainability.
Sampling size
The sample size for this research was set at 250 construction workers. Based on the nature of qualitative study, a sample size of n=10 was set, focusing on line managers/SHEQ professionals, middle managers, and senior managers.
The participants were selected based on personnel’s seniority within the construction company. The focus was mostly on those personnel who sit in strategic planning of the construction company. These are the people who develop policies and ensure effective implementation thereof. Therefore, having their view on matters that affect the business from strategic to operations answered the primary question and was able to even come up with suitable recommendations.
The participants interviewed are the construction manager (senior manager), senior engineer (senior manager), project manager (senior manager), site agent (middle manager), SHEQ manager (middle manager), and SHEQ professionals in one construction company in Gauteng, South Africa. The construction company is referred as Company ABC for the purpose of ensuring confidentiality rules.
Data coding and analysis
Interviews were recorded and data imported and analysed through ATLAS.ti. Data were transcribed and coded, member checking was confirmed by participants and themes and categories were created. For efficiency and effectiveness of interviews, notes were taken with the use of a Notepad, which recorded the interviews and the researcher was also writing notes on it. The purpose of using of a Notepad was explained to the participants prior to the interview and their consent was requested. The questions were sent to the participants prior to the interview to ensure that the participants are prepared, and time allocated for the interviews were used effectively.
The ATLAS.ti program allows for analysis of audio, video and documents. Coding and group coding, Network creation to link arguments, conflicts and agreements, Query tool to link coding with research question and co-occurring tool for analysis of data context are tools available on the program. Thematic analysis formed part of the data analysis.
Data quality: Trustworthiness
Lincon and Guba (1985) describe trustworthiness in qualitative research as credibility – equivalent to internal validity; transferability – equivalent to external validity; dependability – equivalent to reliability; and conformability – equivalent to objectivity. These were upheld to ensure the current study eliminate biasness and is valid, reliable and trustworthiness.
Ethical consideration
All the various ethical considerations as referred to by Creswell (2014) were considered in this study. These ethical principles were: permission to conduct this research mini study was requested from the North West University research ethics committee as per required process, signing of consent forms, explaining of aim of research to respondents, confidentiality declarations, collected data kept in a locker
and withdrawal of participants at any time during the interviews. The POPI Act was also adhered to.
THEORETICAL BASE
The application of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the working environment of a civil construction company forms the basis of this paper regarding the duty imposed on the management. Corporate governance, according to Institute of Directors South Africa (IoD, 2016), is about moral and effective leadership by the organization’s executive and senior leadership.
The construction sector continues to be one of the most hazardous workplaces and has a high rate of work-related injuries and fatalities despite ongoing attempts to increase safety (Abbas, Mneymneh, & Khoury, 2018). Unsafe working conditions are experienced by workers of any profession. Employers are required to apply the Occupational Health Act, (OHS Act 85 of 1993) to safeguard workers from dangers to their health and safety (Leqheku, 2022). Statistics South Africa (2020) states that at least 1 to 2 deaths occur each week in the construction business. However, little is known about how middle managers take safety into account in their daily operations and the difficulties they encounter (Callari, Bieder, & Kirwan, 2019).
The Construction Industry Development Board’s (CIDB) report on construction health and safety indicates South Africa as one of the countries with the worst OHS records in the world for the construction sector (Smallwod, Haupt & Shakantu, 2017). To prevent workplace mishaps and ensure that all employees are protected both from themselves and their co-workers, it is crucial to equip all employees with basic training on risk assessment and hazard identification (Labour Relations Act, 2009).
Kielkowski (2016) states that, creating thorough policies and enforcing them is essential for providing worker protection and a safe workplace. During the “Know Your Rights and Responsibilities” campaign promotion, a media briefing stated that claims for fatalities, occupational health problems, and injuries totaled over R2 billion in the 2017 fiscal year (Deacon, 2017). Data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) indicates a workplace accident or occupational sickness results in 6300 fatalities daily, or one death every 15 seconds, thus 313 million events yearly, or 860000 incidents every day (Deacon, 2017).
An overview of the construction industry
Construction companies must develop OHS strategies that are incorporated into the overall organisational strategy for every project. Top management must take the lead in OHS programmes to receive buy-in from all employees in programmes to reduce incidents, and a bottom-up approach to establish challenges and suggestions from all levels of the organisation must be established. A top-down approach employed at all levels of the organisation shows management commitment to the OHS strategy and demonstrates a good OHS culture. This can be implemented through the PDCA (plan, do, check and act) model.
According to Statistics South Africa (2019) report, the construction industry is one of the biggest employers in the country, with employment total rising from 14.2 million to 16 million between the periods 2009 to 2017. Following the mining industry, the construction industry has contributed and is still contributing a margin in recorded injuries, fatalities, and permanent disabilities at the workplace.
Impact of poor health and safety governance
Construction work itself is an inherently dangerous and high impact industry. Major or catastrophic incidents tend to have a detrimental implication on the reputation and capabilities of the organisation and inability to work with other organisations; therefore, trust in the organisation can be lost as a result of one incident (Pillay, 2014:1In South Africa, the Department of Labour (2014) introduced measures to ensure that health and safety in the construction industry is improved. One of the measures introduced in 2014 is that construction projects of R16 million and above must obtain a permit issued by the department.
The legislation provides for mandatory training and intervals that construction personnel must undergo to perform certain activities (Mojapelo, 2016:20). However, some construction companies provide inadequate resources to achieve the required competencies for the work and end up having to work with incompetent personnel, who are less knowledgeable about safety hazards in the work they undertake (Geminiani & Smallwood, 2008).
Construction management’s behaviour towards health and safety
Most employee injuries or fatalities have been linked to management failures or poor leadership (Cohen & Colligan, 1998). Essential principles for effective H&S management require strong and active leadership, which simply means that leadership must develop and drive H&S initiatives, be visible throughout all levels of the organisation to implement H&S initiatives from strategic points of view, develop effective downward communication systems through management structures available and continuous improvement initiatives.
The board must encourage strong worker involvement through engagement with the workforce in the promotion and accomplishment of providing a safe and healthy workplace (Kopel, 2009:221). In so doing, leadership should initiate effective upward communication to enhance information escalation to the board, provide quality training to ensure competence and continuous improvement and provide for assessment review through audits and assurance.
Legal responsibilities of employers
The Health and Safety Executive (2017) has summarised the laws that outline the duties of employers with regard to health and safety at the workplace. The laws state that the employer must ensure that risk to employees, visitors, customers and public is assessed, must provide planning, organising, controlling and monitoring and reviewing of preventative and protective measures, develop health and safety policy, provide for professional health and safety guidance, as well as consult with the workforce on workplace health and safety matters.
Corporate governance
Among other duties imposed on the directors, they drive compliance to all applicable legislation and ensure that the organisation operate ethically. Health and Safety guide (2016) suggests that governance on health and safety is a vital part of governance in all organisations. Health and safety is a fundamental aspect of the organisational risk management, which is a crucial responsibility of the Board of Directors. Directors have a responsibility to conduct assurance and due diligence in ensuring that the organisation complies with health and safety applicable legislation and reasonably practicable good practices and standards. They further suggest that failure to manage H&S have negative implications on both the organisation and workers. The costs of incidents resulting from poor health and safety systems are high and unnecessary.
The impact is not only internal in the organisation, but it extends to employees’ family and friends and society at large, reputational damage and risk of fines or imprisonment (Messah, Tena & Udiana, 2012:101). Those organisations that strive to manage H&S can attest that the capacity to manage H&S is the same as the one to manage other functions in the organisation. An organisation with a good H&S record and culture is valued by its employees, public, investors and all stakeholders. It is the role of directors to provide policies that lead the organisations to be effective in its operations.
The safety managers also suggest that the implementation of OHS systems and programmes be employed in the construction companies for the sake of compliance to the law and client specifications rather than actually ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for the employees at workplace. Most large corporates require the construction companies to at least have a health and safety system in place for the company to do business with them (Sofijanova & Zabijakin-Chatleska, 2013:31). If the systems and programmes are not managed and supported from the top of the organisations, the systems cannot effectively work and produce the desired outcomes (Kielkowski, 2010:10).
The significance of leadership
The effectiveness of health and safety management performance originates from the top of the organisation (Tappura, Teperi, Kurki & Kivistö-Rahnasto, 2018:452). Board members have a responsibility collectively and individually for the management of health and safety; they must examine their behaviour against the guidance provided and they are expected to ensure continual improvements within the organisation and strive to be effective leaders in health and safety.
There are principles that provide a guide to manage effective systems of good governance with regard to health and safety performance. These principles involve an active and strong leadership that has knowledge and passion for a safe workplace, visible and committed board of directors, effective downward and upward communication, resource allocation in terms of training, development and competence, and integration of health and safety in business strategic decisions (Saptawati, Pittara & Mia 2018:12). Employees, on the other hand, are obliged by section 14 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 to take care of their own safety and others.
Legislation framework and policies
OHS is governed by legislative frameworks and policies set forth by the South African government. These are discussed below.
Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993
The core legislation regulating health and safety in South Africa is the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993 (OHSA), and this piece of legislation is supported by other regulations such as the Companies Act, National Environmental Management Act, Labour Relations Act and other related acts and standards, such as South African National Standards (SANS) and International Organisation for Standardization (ISO). The Occupational Health and Safety Act defines the duty of the employer through section 8, with regard to ensuring that he/she shall provide a safe and healthy working environment for employees and those who can be affected by his/her operations (OHS Act 83 of 1993). In South Africa, section 16 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 stipulates that the chief executive officer is charged with certain duties; these duties include ensuring that the duties of the employer, for instance the board and the shareholders, as contemplated in the Act, are properly discharged, and he/she may delegate these duties to any person under his/her control (OHS Act, 1993:09).
Companies Act 71 of 2008: Directors’ Liability
Before the commencement of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, the South African common law governed the duties of the company director. The law required directors to act in good faith and with due interest of their company, and the need to exercise care, diligence and provide skill to ensure the company’s success via independent judgement; and therefore, failure to comply with common law duties would see the director/s personally liable to pay all damages incurred (Deloitte, 2017). Section 77 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 prescribes statutory liabilities upon company directors, which directors can be held liable for breach of fiduciary duty for losses, damages or costs incurred by the company as a result of any failure or breach of duties contemplated in sections 76 and 77.
The duty of care imposed on the company directors aligns with the duties of directors as prescribed in the King IV principles, where principle 3 states that the governing body must ensure that the company is and is seen as a responsible corporate citizen.
Due diligence and assurance
Section 17, Functions of health and safety representatives and Section 18, Health and safety committees, provide for the review of health and safety measures for effectiveness and for the health and safety of employees at work (OH&S Act 85 of 1993). Principle 15 of the King IV provides for the governing body to ensure assurance is conducted to enable control of the environment and support for integrity of information internally and externally.
Health and safety function as management responsibility
Leadership’s role in health and safety is to provide strategic intent in providing direction and resources to achieve zero harm for all employee, develop structure and charter of leading health and safety, determination of health and safety strategy and policy, vision and mission statement in support of health and safety strategy, delegate health and safety responsibility to management to implement, as well as specify organisational health and safety performance and goals.
Construction incidents and benefits of good health and safety
Issues pertaining to accidents in construction as well as the benefits of good health and safety are discussed in subsequent sections.
Construction incidents
Evidence has indicated that OHS incidents do not only impact the construction companies on the bottom line, but injuries, fatalities and disabilities have an impact on time loss, production loss, lawsuits, damage to property and the reputation of the company (Ramutloa, 2014). The example can be drawn from the incident of Murray and Roberts that happened on 20 October 2015 (Ramutloa, 2014), where the Johannesburg Grayston bridge collapsed resulting in 19 people injured and two fatalities.
Employers’ commitment is paramount to prevent workplace accidents from a strategic level. This can be achieved by providing competency improvements to employees through skills development, training, and competent supervision on sites. Regular drug and alcohol testing must be conducted at construction sites, which will benefit both the employers and employees (DEL, 2017).
Benefits of good health and safety programme
Good governance may improve the organisation’s strategies for sustainability, which managing cost is one of the factors in ensuring sustainable organisation. Poor governance in health and safety may impact on the cost of the organisation and such costs may include loss of production time due to injuries and illnesses, costs of legal battles for injuries, illnesses and fatalities, legal fines from the legislature, and cost incurred as a result of damaged reputation.
Moral and ethical reasons
A proactive and good health and safety standing does not only give a positive outlook within an organisation’s internal stakeholders, but also externally. This can lead to a positive company outlook on their customers, suppliers, competitors, investors, and potential workers because of reputation gained through strong commitment to health and safety (Claffey, 2010).
Economic reasons
In addition to cost reduction, efficient management of health and safety endorses efficiency. Many incidents of injuries and ill-health are reported and result in losses of millions of rands in lost time (Claffey, 2010). Compliance with legal requirements, conformance to available health and safety standards and good practices locally and globally can mitigate in reducing absenteeism in the workplace.
Legal reasons
The OHS Act 85 of 1993 holds the company’s leadership accountable for providing a healthy and safe workplace for all employees and non-employees who can be affected by the company’s operations (NIBI, 2019).
Employee and skill retention reasons
Employee injuries and ill-health at the workplace become a challenge for both the employer and the employee. The employer has an objective to make returns on his/her investment, while the employee trades with time, skills and loyalty (BSS, 2018). Workplace safety goes further to be important as human life cannot be measured or have a price tag on it.
Underlying factors
The research conducted by construction safety managers (Kielkowski, 2010:10; George 2016; Smallwod, Haupt & Shakantu, 2017) provides that the management of construction companies does not provide adequate resources for the prevention of incidents in the workplace.
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The findings were created in themes and categories, which will now be discussed.
Theme 1: How do you perceive the state of the construction company’s occupational health and safety (OHS) programmes in the past and currently?
Companies were not always involved in their employees’ well-being, but since the take-over of the new government in 1994, there were several changes made to secure the safety of workers, and to take care of their well-being and injuries. New laws were made and effected as is evident from the following: A new law known as the Organisational Health and Safety Act, (OH&S) came into effect in 1993. A change in Section 17, Functions of health and safety representatives and Section 18, Health and safety committees provide for the review of health and safety measures for effectiveness and for the health and safety of employees at work (OH&S Act 85 of 1993).
The most common comment from the respondents is that the industry itself has evolved. This was supported by comments such as the words of P3: “the government’s involvement has improved, the government is stricter on compliance to the legislation, more health and safety standards are in place as compared to the two to three previous decades”.
Participants emphasized that construction safety has evolved in recent years, and companies are now investing time and money in safety, and the people working in construction are not illiterate people as in the olden days, it has a fair mix with those who can read and write, so they think it makes it easy for companies to implement safety measures than in the olden days.
P1 stated the following: “When I first joined the first construction company, safety measures were imposed against workers on site, not for managers and senior personnel on site. Managers would go to site without proper PPE and no one would tell them otherwise, but now things have changed, safety is applicable to everyone on site”. P2 concurred with what P1 said.
One respondent made an interesting comment indicating that OHS programmes in the construction industry were used as a window dressing tool. This comment is supported by the research conducted Hastuti, Setyaningsih and Adi (2020), which suggests that construction companies implement OHS systems for the sake of compliance to the law and clients’ requirements, not to categorically provide a safe and healthy workplace.
Theme 2: Do OHS incidents that occur/have occurred have an impact on the company’s production, image, and costs?
After a single incident, the company can be stigmatised as a company that injure or kill people. Looking into company image, the industry does not want to attach itself to companies that have poor OHS records; therefore, this resonates with the company image being tarnished because of its poor performance in OHS. Kielkowski (2010), mentioned that OHS incidents do not have a negative impact on company profits, but incidents affect the company in loss of time, production, lawsuits, damage to property and reputational damages.
P4 stated: “You know we do not live in a perfect world; yes certain incidents could be prevented, but not all. In my experience in construction, most incidents are human factor based, meaning someone has done something he/she was not supposed to do, and it ended up in an incident”. Participant 2 noted: “Let me tell you something, the costs of putting systems is way less than what it will cost if an incident occurs”.
Claffey (2010) added that cost reduction, and the efficient management of health and safety endorse efficiency and incidents resulting in injuries and ill-health reported cost companies millions of rands in lost time. Construction management needs to realise that preventing incidents is vital for the sustainability of the company and adequate resources must be employed to manage OHS at construction sites.
Theme 3: Which workplace incident was the most terrifying in your experience in construction work?
In DEL (2017) Samuel (Cited by DEL, 2017) indicated that, based on incident investigations conducted, most incidents in construction sites are because of management deficiency. He added that the South African legislation is not a problem, but the attitude towards health and safety by construction employers (executive and senior management) is the major contributor to incidents occurring. HSE (2019) indicated that a good OHS programme starts from the top.
P2 informed about the following incident: “In 2006 April, I was working as a site engineer for a medium project in Durban where we were building office blocks for a client. All was well, casted concrete in the morning and finished late around 19:00 in the evening, while everyone was busy doing housekeeping in preparation to leave site, we just saw the building going down. In my head I was thinking that if this happened 30 min ago, everyone who was there would have been dead or seriously injured”.
P4 responded as follows: I have observed that the incident had a serious impact on the respondent’s perspective of quality of work and he believed that incidents can be prevented if correct actions are taken, which speaks to governance measures”.
P1 remembers: “Personally I was touched by the issue of people who lost their lives and those who were injured, some never made it back to work because of severe injuries and therefore they might not even work for the rest of their lives. I was sometimes blaming myself for it because I was the supervisor. Since that day, I have taken safety seriously and even today I still have a vivid memory of that incident and wouldn’t wish to such in my life”.
During the “Know your rights and responsibilities” campaign promotion media briefing, the chief inspector from the Department of Labour, Tibor Snaza, reported claims of fatalities, occupational health illnesses and injuries exceeding R2 billion during the 2017 financial year (CD & A, 2017).
Theme 4: What is your level of knowledge with regard to the OHS Act and employers’ responsibilities in this regard? Intermediate, or advanced, please back-up your response.
The legal duties of employers are clearly outlined in section 8 and section 16 of the OHS Act and Construction Regulations 8. The health and safety executive (2017), summarises the duties of employers at the workplace. They state that the employers must ensure that risk to employees, visitors, customers and public is assessed, employers must provide planning, organising, controlling and monitoring and reviewing of preventative and protective measures, develop health and safety policy, provide for professional health and safety guidance, and consult with the workforce on workplace health and safety matters.
P4 noted: “My knowledge I can say it’s advanced because in my line work, there are a lot of legislation and standards which I need to be aware of, and one of the most important legislation is the OHS Act.
P3 mentioned: “I can say my information is advanced, the reason for that is that through my career in construction I have undergone a lot of training on OHSA and my appointment as a construction manager is a legal appointment according to OHSA and construction regulations. One shouldn’t wait till an accident occurs, the Department of Labour will then show you what they are made of”.
P1 added: “With occupational health and safety Act, I must say good. I know what I am expected to comply with as an individual and as an employee of ABC. The act is also linking with other legislations such NEMA, Building Regulations and standards such as ISO and SANAS”.
Section 16 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, stipulates that the chief executive officer is charged with certain duties, which include ensuring that the duties of the employer, which is the board and the shareholders, as contemplated in the Act, are properly discharged, and he/she may delegate these duties to any person under his/her control (OHS Act, 1993).
Theme 5: Do OHS programmes and systems form part of executive management’s strategic planning for each project?
The Act imposes strict OHS governance measures to the leadership of companies in ensuring that programmes are planned, and support is provided by company leadership. Claffey (2010) suggests that leadership need to walk the talk, lead by example and engage meaningfully with employees through operational site visits to improve their knowledge on H&S. Health and safety executives (2017) suggest that essential principles for effective H&S management require strong and active leadership.
The answer of P2 was as follows: “As part of senior management, we receive objectives and targets from groups that we need to implement at site level. For instance, the company has a motto of zero harm, which comes with 3 pillars 1) follow the risk assessment, 2) no permit no work, 3) use the correct PPE”.
P3 noted: “OHS is part of every ABC construction company’s project. In fact, it is part of the group’s strategic objectives, ABC is an international company and we are obliged to communicate and report on our statistics annually, therefore all SHEQ strategies are formulated at the executive level and cascaded down to the operational level for implementation. Audits are conducted periodically to ensure alignment with the company safety management system.
P1 and P4 concurred on the following: “Each project is planned from the executive level and executed at site level. Safety programmes are not only planned for a project, it is mandate from the Board and they have objectives and targets set for the company at group level, which must be aligned to all operations in the group. In this company safety is a priority and they have a motto top say ZERO HARM”.
P3 mentions that it very often happens that they receive a visit on site by the executive management to look at how they do business at site and a site walk about is conducted where safety is the major topic for the site visit. The executive will personally address all employees on safety and indicate what the company has put in place to provide and maintain a safe working place.
Executive and senior management’s involvement in OHS is vital in the success of the system. Health and Safety at Work 2015, Section 44, Duties of officers (member of the board), provide for officers to conduct due diligence in ensuring that the provisions of this Act are complied with; and this means that officers will take reasonable steps to acquire and keep updated on health and safety subjects, understand business operations and what hazards and risks are attached to those operations, make available resources and processes needed to eliminate or mitigates health and safety risks emanating from company operations, have a process of managing incident reporting and recording information on hazard and risks, and respond promptly to information, and implement processes to ensure compliance with all provisions of the Act (H&S at Work Act 2015).
Theme 6: What is your level of knowledge and understanding with regard to King IV Corporate Governance principles, mainly with regard to ethical leadership, director’s roles and responsibilities, sustainability and triple bottom line and risk management?
Some companies subscribe to the UK corporate governance code, which is similar to the King Code. According to the Institute of Directors South Africa (2016), corporate governance is about ethical and effective leadership by a company’s senior leadership. This leadership is charged with four responsibilities, which are providing strategic direction, approval of policies to give effect to the strategy, providing guidelines for strategy implementation and performance and disclosing thereof. It is evident that good governance structures may lead to positive results in any company, irrespective of the size and the structure.
The following were answers from Participants 2 and 3: “To be honest, I have no idea what the King IV or even King III was all about, but I have an idea that it has to do with good governance, ethical leadership and sustainability.
P1 was well informed and stated the following: “The King is about corporate governance, how the company must be managed. This is a guide for all listed companies to manage their business effectively, ethically, with integrity and considering the profit, people, and the environment. Our company has an obligation to run the business sustainably. I mean ethical leadership is core in line of our business. The director’s roles are set clearly in the king and are correlation with companies act. In my position as the construction manager, I serve as the first in charge and report straight to the executive board; therefore I know the responsibilities posed to my position”. He further noted: “The principles advocate for Triple bottom line, sustainability, integrity, and ethical leadership”.
According to the King IV Institute of Directors South Africa (2016), corporate governance is about ethical and effective leadership by the company executive and senior leadership. This leadership is charged with four responsibilities, which are providing strategic direction, approval of policies to give effect to the strategy, providing guidelines for strategy implementation and performance and disclosing thereof (Tianya 2015:2). King IV provides guidelines for the role of company leadership, which, in this case, is the company executive or senior managers
Theme 7: Do you believe that the King IV corporate governance guidelines are helpful in the management of risk in relation to OHS?
Many organisations consider health and safety as a corporate governance affair (Tianya 2015:4). The King IV code on corporate governance requires that companies should have internal control systems for risk management, which include risks in relation to business reputation, environment and health and safety (Kopel, 2009:221).
P2 stated: “Like I have indicated, my knowledge in the principles is little close to none. However, risk management is part of the board’s functions. I mean we all know the risks that comes with OHS, for example, fines that can imposed to the company or even individuals for non-compliance. I therefore strongly think that governance guidelines used at executive levels are helpful in managing risks at our company”. P3 concurred with what P2 said.
P3 had the following to say: “The King is about corporate governance, how the company must be managed. This is a guide for all listed companies to manage their business effectively, ethically, with integrity and considering the profit, people, and the environment. Our company has an obligation to run the business sustainable. The King principles provide for such standard. I mean ethical leadership is core in line of our business. The director’s roles are set clearly in the king and are in correlation with the Companies act.
P4 added the following: “As I understand the principles of corporate governance, all functions be managed as per good corporate governance principles. I will agree to say King IV principles could assist in the management of safety in construction as it allows for private companies to follow the principles.
The fact that OHS forms part of the risk and audit portfolio in the board, aligns with Health and Safety Executive (2017) that many organisations consider health and safety as a corporate governance affair. The King IV Code on Corporate Governance requires that companies should have internal control systems for risk management, which include risks in relation to business reputation, environment and health and safety.
Theme 8: Do you believe that OHS management in construction companies must be a strategic focal point in organisational strategic planning?
Organisational image being at risk if an OHS programme is not led and supported from the top. The King IV Code of Governance (IDSA, 2016) stipulates that leadership is charged with four responsibilities, which are providing strategic direction, approval of policies to give effect to the strategy, providing guidelines for strategy implementation and performance and disclosing thereof. Therefore, ethical and effective governance may yield positive outcomes for the organisations; outcomes such as culture on ethical behaviour, sustainable development and creation of values, sound and effective control by the company leadership, protecting and trust building on the company, and its reputation and legitimacy.
Participant 2 said: “OHS plays a very important role in how the company conducts its business and that comes to show that it must be part of company strategy. A company without safety strategy will soon lose their market share just because they do not have proper safety systems in place”.
Participant 1 said: “The company must give SHEQ management the same attention as it gives the profits. If SHEQ is managed from the top, it will be a success because time and money was spent on it. Good SHEQ management systems do not come cheap, but they have a positive impact on the organisation’s reputation in the industry and people will have confidence in the company.
P4 noted: “Safety management is indeed an important function in construction work. Like I have already indicated in my previous comments, it is a definite yes. Without safety management, unfortunately construction companies might not work with clients that put safety at number 1 priority. So, if safety management is given the respect it deserves, then it will be planned from the top of the company, which is at strategic levels”.
P3 concurred with P1, P2 and P4 in saying that: “Construction companies must start to realise that safety is as important as production, safety can ruin everything production has planned. This can happen with a single incident. But, if planned from Head office and it is included in the company strategy, more incidents can be avoided”.
For the company to have an effective OHS programme, it must form part of the organisational strategic planning. Construction companies must have OHS as part of organisational strategy. Health and Safety Executive (2017) adds that many organisations consider health and safety as a corporate governance affair. The King IV Code on Corporate Governance requires that companies should have internal control systems for risk management, which include risks in relation to business reputation, environment and health and safety.
Theme 9: Do you believe that if construction companies can develop policies that support continual improvements in OHS and provide strategic support from executive and senior management that these executive initiatives will improve the incident rate within construction companies?
Management must treat OHS as seriously as they do with profits. There must be integrity in leadership, where leaders must lead with honesty, trust, and care for the people. In line with these views, leaders will design, and support OHS programmes to ensure that they protect and prevent incidents at construction sites. Sustainability is key to the continuing of the company. Although the importance of health and safety in construction companies is not well understood or acknowledged (Velinis, Kielkowski, Wilson, Bello & Rees, 2018), Occupational Health and Safety as a crucial component of every project will improve construction safety performance (Thwala & Monese, 2018).
P4 had the following to say on policies dealing in improvements in OHS: “OHS success requires leadership commitment, and just to note, every initiative in business requires leadership commitment. Construction company’s management need to take safety seriously to be competitive in the market. In this way, employees will see the importance of safety and will also put efforts to support the company’s initiatives”. P2 concurred with what P4 said and added: “Management support is mandatory for every strategy developed. Therefore, executive, and senior management must show leadership and lead the strategy, show commitment so that all can follow.
P1 voiced out the following: “For every strategic decision taken it must be accompanied by support from the top management to be successfully implemented. ISO45001 provides for management commitment, for every Safety audit, management commitment is major part of risk management. If management is committed in all the safety initiatives on site, all personnel will see the importance and follow suit”. P3 added: “Safety management is all about ensuring that the people, equipment, and the environment is safe.
The directors and board members must know and understand that the protection of employee health and safety and the members of the public who can be affected by the organisation’s activities is one of the primary parts of risk management (Kamardeen 2011:310). Leading by example, means that if leadership shows that they value OHS programmes and they are committed to reducing incidents, all lower structures will follow suit. The ISO 45001 Occupational Safety Management system, a system strongly advocating for leadership commitment in OHS systems was recommended.
Theme 10: Do you believe that if OHS in construction companies can be managed from executive level it will provide competitive advantage and ensure sustainability within the organisation?
Leadership as discussed earlier is defined as the capability for the management of the company to set and accomplish goals, capacity to take informed decisions, lead the company in the competitive environment and motivate and inspire others to perform at their best level. Leadership directs the company to its objective (Carlström & Ekman, 2012:175).
P3 said the following: “If construction companies can manage their safety performance, they are one step ahead in competing in this heavily competitive market. Construction management must start to realise that safety is no longer a supporting function that does not bring money in the business directly, but indirectly the company profits are strongly affected by the company’s safety performance”.
P4 noted: “So executive management must be actively involved in managing the company safety performance, they show everyone in the company and the public that they take safety of the people seriously, in that way they will see good reaction in the market”.
P1 noted that: “So, I agree to say that, if the company has a good record of safety it will have competitive advantage, which in urn lead to sustainability”.
P2 added that: “having OHS programmes developed and supported by executive management, the company can achieve good status”.
OHS performance is equally important as competency. Claffey (2010) suggests that a proactive and good health and safety standing does not only provide a positive outlook for organisations’ internal stakeholders, but also externally. This can lead to a positive company outlook on their customers, suppliers, competitors, investors, and potential workers because of reputation gained through strong commitment to health and safety.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The results emanating from study have important practical recommendations suggested for construction companies to implement to govern OHS effectively and manage preventable incidents in construction sites. The problem statement indicated that poor OHS governance leads to incidents occurring at construction sites; however, it noted that not all construction companies poorly govern OHS. Other construction companies are managing OHS very well.
The following recommendations are suggested based on the data collected and analysed. Construction companies must develop OHS strategies that are incorporated into the overall organisational strategy for every project. Top management must take the lead in OHS programmes in order to receive buy-in from all employees in programmes to reduce incidents; a bottom-up approach must be used to establish challenges and suggestions from all levels of the organisation. A top-down approach must be employed after consultation with a level of the organisation. The top-down approach will show management commitment to the OHS strategy and demonstrate a good OHS culture. This can be implemented through the PDCA (plan, do, check and act) mode
This study aimed at evaluating how the governance principles of OHS relate to workplace incidents within the civil construction company. The study was limited to a civil construction company and focused on evaluating governance principles relating to OHS only. Grounded in the findings from the analysed data, this study concludes that management deficiencies, lack of top management involvement in OHS programmes, lack of knowledge of legal duties of employers and inadequate application of governance principles, are among the factors contributing to poor OHS governance in construction companies. However, the study has further indicated that there are construction companies in Gauteng, South Africa, which govern OHS efficaciously and adopted good OHS programmes. OHS governance in the construction industry is not a subject that has been covered greatly by researchers, more especially within the South African context. The research question and the objective of this study were achieved, and gaps identified in literature were addressed successfully.
CLOSURE
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate how the governance principles of OHS relate to workplace incidents within a civil construction company. In this paper, many findings from all participants interviewed were reflected upon. The process of acquiring contact with participants was discussed, the participants’ career profiles were presented, and interview questions were presented to all participants and the interviews were recorded. Interview questions were mainly focused on the objective of the study, and follow-up questions were posed to either get clarity or to further address the objective of the question posed. The participants participated well and answered the questions directly to the objective of the study. Valuable information was gathered, which contains positive aspects that can be further reinforced and negative aspects that can be enhanced to ensure improvements in OHS governance at construction sites.
The findings indicate that the majority of respondents agree that poor OHS governance has a significant impact on incidents occurring at construction sites. Further analysis revealed that respondents believed that construction companies must employ OHS as their strategic focus and that poor OHS records may have a negative impact on the company image. The next chapter provides recommendations, areas for future study and the conclusion of this study.
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