Construction workers' health and safety knowledge: Initial observations on some test‐result data

Abstract

Purpose

Numerous factors relate to the effectiveness of health and safety (H&S) management within construction; but a specific factor influencing the extent of H&S “incidents” on site, is the amount of H&S knowledge held by construction workers. This paper aims to offer some initial observations on construction workers' H&S knowledge, based upon test‐result data from an invigilated online H&S test.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 564 candidates were analysed principally by observing mean performance scores and apparent differences, among the sample and defined sub‐samples, for each of five H&S subject groupings that make up the test.

Findings

Mean scores indicate better retained knowledge in “general H&S” questions and lower knowledge in “manual handling” questions. There was little difference in mean scores between defined candidate age groups; or between different size classifications of candidates' employer organisations. Perceived characteristics of employers' training regimes did not appear to impact test results either.

Research limitations/implications

Disparity among sub‐sample sizes within the data means that these findings are indicative and accordingly, have implications for a follow‐on study that will utilise deterministic modelling to more definitively confirm the effect of formal training and other (e.g. workplace) characteristics, on worker H&S knowledge retention.

Originality/value

The paper shows that workers having recently undertaken H&S training exhibit greatest retained knowledge, the level of which remains relatively consistent regardless of where a candidate lives, or a candidate's age group.

Citation

Edwards, D.J. and Holt, G.D. (2008), "Construction workers' health and safety knowledge: Initial observations on some test‐result data", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 65-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/17260530810863343