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A case study is described in which an audit programme was developed as a measure of health and safety performance. The audit programme was implemented as a safety competition in a UK water utility over a period of three years with the results also used for benchmarking the company’s health and safety management system. The audit programme, which was based on the Health and Safety Executive’s guidance for effective health and safety management, was used to assess; how well health and safety management was understood; how well health and safety procedures were implemented; and accident frequency rates within the company. An important aspect of the audit programme was the inclusion of managers, supervisors, operators and examples of all operational activities in the assessment process. Weaknesses in the company’s health and safety management performance, which were identified in the benchmarking exercise, are discussed.

Since its introduction in 1992, the balanced scorecard (BSC) has rapidly gained in importance throughout the world. Harvard Business Review even selected it as one of the most important management tools of the past 75 years. This paper takes the performance indicators used in an offshore health‐and‐safety benchmarking study carried out by Aberdeen University on 13 offshore installations operating on the UK Continental Shelf and relates them to the BSC framework. The results from the benchmarking study are discussed from the perspective of suggesting which indicators should populate each perspective of the BSC: financial, customer, internal business and learning and growth. In addition the paper includes the results of interviews conducted with senior managers in the UK and Norwegian oil and gas sector, about use of the BSC in general and with regard to health and safety performance indicators in particular. Reasons for including occupational health and safety in the BSC and reports/papers covering occupational health and safety indicators and the BSC are discussed.

Two case studies in health and safety management identified key performance indicators that reflected a company’s overall performance obtained from a full benchmarking audit. An intra‐company benchmarking audit, comparing operational health and safety management performance was completed within 12 semi‐autonomous subsidiaries of a large national food manufacturer. A significant (r = 0.985) positive relationship was obtained between ten operational performance indicators and overall performance. The key factors were found to have a common theme relating to employer‐employee openness in communication on health and safety issues. An inter‐company benchmarking audit comparing strategic health and safety management performance was completed within eight companies in the small, multi‐site retail sector. A significant (r = 0.988) positive relationship was obtained between ten strategic performance indicators and overall performance. The key factors did not have a common theme but there was evidence that integration of health and safety management into long‐term business decision making was a strong factor.

This paper aims to analyse the extent to which health and safety action controls, results controls and informal controls affect the integration of health and safety issues into management actions, which in turn leads to improve health and safety performance. It also investigates the extent to which those health and safety control mechanisms contribute complementarily to the integration of health and safety issues.

A survey of 108 Italian non-listed firms tests a set of hypotheses based on complementarity theory and object of control framework.

Not all the health and safety control mechanisms positively influence the integration of health and safety issues into business practices and external stakeholder relations. Complementarity between health and safety control mechanisms is significant only for higher health and safety performance companies, indicating that the health and safety control mechanisms operate as a package.

The health and safety performance measure could be replaced in future research by improved inter-subjectively testable information, although collecting health and safety quantitative data is difficult. An additional limitation is the response rate.

The findings encourage companies to design and use a comprehensive set of health and safety control mechanisms to promote a healthy workplace.

The paper contributes to the management control, sustainability management control and health and safety accounting literature. The paper provides an in-depth interdisciplinary analysis of the effectiveness of different control mechanisms in the context of health and safety that hitherto has rarely been investigated despite the multiple importance of the topic.

This study aims to assess the impact of adopting selected green construction site practices on the health and safety performance of the construction projects. The impact of storm-water management, energy management and construction waste management on projects health and safety performance was also examined.

A survey was conducted to collect information from Class A contractors in Nigeria, and 168 usable responses were received. The data were analysed using the partial least squares (PLSs) structural equation modelling technique.

The findings indicate that energy management and waste management practices have significant effects on the health and safety performance of the construction projects, while storm-water management has no effect.

Project and site managers need to take into consideration the skill set of their workforce when attempting to adopt new innovative construction strategies the workers are unfamiliar with in a changing construction environment. There is also a need for more training of workers on generic and specific green skills to avoid health and safety challenges on site.

The findings of this study make significant contribution to the debate on the health and safety performance of green projects, as only a few studies have been conducted on this topic. The empirical relationships between the constructs of energy management, waste management, storm-water management and health and safety performance are unique in the context of other related studies and have advanced the body of existing knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influences of the characteristics of procurement strategies, in this instance labour-only, on project performance concerning health and safety (H&S), a project performance indicator.

Using non-probability purposeful and snowballing sampling methods, questionnaires were used to collect data from construction professionals in Nigeria. This was then analysed using descriptive (frequency and mean scores) and inferential statistics (Mann–Whitney-U and Kendall's Tau_b tests).

The findings indicate a statistically significant negative correlation between ‘the level of client involvement and ‘fatalities' and a positive one with ‘conducting of health and safety risk assessment' and ‘conducting employee surveys on health and safety attitude’. Poor hygiene is found to be the worst lagging indicator, while conducting of inspection is the most adopted leading indicator of project health and safety performance. It also emerged that there is no significant difference in the health and safety performance of projects procured through the procurement strategy in urban and rural areas.

The study provides valuable insight into the complexities in H&S management due to the high level of client involvement in labour-only procurement system (LoPS) projects and the level of diversity in their responsibilities therein. It creates a fundamental direction for developing a detailed framework or guidance notes for client involvement in the integration of H&S into LoPS projects.

This is the first study that examines the influence of the characteristics of procurement strategy on project health and safety performance. Evidence in the literature shows that project delivery outcomes significantly improve if procurement is strategically used, including when it is considered early in projects. However, integrating H&S into procurement strategies has received little attention.

Health and safety in small construction firms is often neglected by owners leading to poor health and safety performance and unacceptably high fatality and injury rates. A body of knowledge has established significant links between the motivational behaviours of operatives towards health and safety. Motivation is also considered as a key tool for improving operative productivity as when operatives experience safe worksites, they can carry out their work in a more productive manner. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework to examine the motivational factors that affect operative health and safety in small construction firms.

A critical review and synthesis of the body of knowledge incorporating motivational theory, health and safety literature and the factors which characterise small firms, is used to develop the framework.

Key components of the framework include the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic components, appropriate health and safety policies and procedures, the type of work environment, the operatives (i.e. attitude, experience and training) as well as the presence of appropriate management and supervision. The study revealed that operatives in small firms are less likely to be extrinsically motivated due to the absence of training, management commitment, policies and the wider working environment

Failure of motivational support can result in increased danger and risk in exposing operatives to injury in the small firm environment. In this context, the damage caused to operative's health and safety in small construction firms is dependent mainly on the extrinsic factors.

The framework provides a basis for improving our understanding of how to motivate operatives to act safely and will help to improve the health and safety performance of small firms. It is therefore vital to emphasise enhancement efforts on these extrinsic strategies in the small firms' environment especially in the initial stages of the project (or activity), so that the health and safety of operatives in small firms can be improved.

This study proposes a contribution in developing an understanding of the motivational factors and their influence on the health and safety of operatives in small construction firms. The study revealed that operatives in small firms are less likely to be extrinsically motivated and have only intrinsically motivated elements in their workplace. The study proposes an indirect link between the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that affect motivation.

The emergence of implementation and certification of structured management systems, such as the occupational health and safety management system, implies that companies should be able to measure the results and achievements from such implementation. This paper focuses on the description and comparison of the traditional indicators of health and safety performance and the use of different safety performance indicators, such as the companies’ safety culture. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the safety measurement performance process and analyze what is the potential role of safety culture in this process.

Many facility managers are now required to deal directly with small firms engaged in the maintenance, alteration and cleaning of physical infrastructure. Increasingly the performance of small firms reflects on the manager of the facility, and so an understanding of their operation is required. It is mandatory for all firms to provide a safe working environment for their workers and subcontractors. Consequently, occupational health and safety (OHS) is a major issue for companies mainly due to the fear of prosecution. The introduction of Zero Tolerance by the Victorian government WorkCover Authority in 1999 provided even higher OHS safety standards for the construction industry. This has placed an increased burden on construction and maintenance companies especially small firms that are not in a position of financial strength. The size of the company has been found to be a major contributing factor to the OHS performance of construction contractors. This research is based on a benchmarking study of 44 construction companies in Victoria, Australia. The results show that the major factors influencing safety performance were; company size, and management and employee commitment to OHS.

This study proposes a self-regulatory framework to enhance safety performance at the construction stage among building developers.

Extant literature identified 137 potential factors that influence the construction safety performances of building developers. Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted with 11 panels of experts and professionals. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to analyse the response feedback described in a similar paper. In this study, the survey tool used was set up with 40 variables grouped into eight latent variables in the framework, which were agreed and certified as “extremely important” by the panel. Based on random sampling, data were collected from 229 valid respondents. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using Smart PLS software was then used to analyse the respondent's feedback.

The results show that safety administration and processes, effective communication of safety behaviour, significantly influenced safety performance on a construction site with β values of 0.330 and 0.431 along with t values of 3.005 and 2.547 at p < 0.1, respectively. These factors, among others, provide a distinct approach to understanding and improving on-site construction safety. The study findings will potentially benefit building professionals and other stakeholders by improving awareness of safety practices.

The study may not have covered all possible factors that influence the construction safety performance of building developers. Also, the generalizability and transferability of the research outcome to the construction industry wide use is also limited when reference is made to the characteristics of the research respondents and/or participants. In addition, validation of the framework by five professionals is rather small.

Theoretically, the framework through the identified factors provide a distinct approach to understanding and improving on-site construction safety through voluntary adherence to self-regulatory standard where there are no enforceable laws and regulations to promote safety. The study findings will potentially benefit building professionals and other stakeholders by improving awareness of the health and safety practices of the construction industry.

Many research efforts have developed frameworks and models for construction safety. However, the particularity of these frameworks to countries other than Nigeria requires similar research to be conducted to enhance the safety performance of building developers.