Construction Safety and Occupational Health Education in Egypt, the EU, and US Firms

Amal ElSafty, Adel ElSafty, Maged Malek

Associate Professor, School of Engineering, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA.
Department Chair, Construction Management Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA.
Professor and Head of Dept. of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/ojce.2012.23023                

Abstract

The construction industry has been considered an accident prone industry. Alarming statistics indicate thatthe construction industry accounts for 55,000 fatal injuries each year. That is because construction sites are often filled with potential hazards that can lead to serious injury or death. Responsibility for these injuries may be attributed to a variety of individuals including owners, contractors or subcontractors, engineers, equipment manufacturers, and architects. This mandated a new safety culture to emerge resulting in a decline in the incidence rate of all recordable nonfatal injury and illness for construction workers. This study explores the safety culture encountered in twolarge construction companies in the USA and Egypt, over the last five years. Comparison of the results recorded in both companies was also conducted. The study also investigated the benefits of focusing on the occupational health in the construction field in Egypt and USA. In addition to the literature review, the research methodology used for this study was inspired by the Contextual Design (CD) Methodology. The study indicated thepositive impact of implementing safety programs on significantly reducing the recordable injuries. It also showed the benefits of focusing on occupational health and wellness, training, and education of workers.

Keywords

Occupational Health; Workplace Safety; Accidents; Construction Industry

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “OSHA Forms for Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses,” 2003. http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04.pdf
[2]	OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “OSHA Regulations (Standards-29 CFR),” 2006.
[3]	OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,” 2009.
[4]	BLS—U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in 2007,” 2008. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/osnr0030.pdf
[5]	BLS—U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness-2008,” 2009. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm
[6]	F. Murie, “Preventing Injuries and Ill-Health in the Construction Industry, Health and Safety at Work: A Trade Union Priority,” Labour Education 2002/1, No. 126, 2002.
[7]	NORA—National Occupational Research Agenda, “National Construction Agenda for Occupational Safety and Health Research and Practice in the U.S. Construction Sector,” 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/NORA/comment/agendas/construction/pdfs/ConstOct2008.pdf
[8]	T. S. Abdel Hamid and J. G. Everett, “Identifying Root Causes of Construction Accidents,” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 126, No. 1, 2000, pp. 52-60. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2000)126:1(52)
[9]	D. H. Baldev, “Design of a Construction Safety Training System using Contextual Design Methodology,” Master’s Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 2006.
[10]	P. Hughes and E. Ferrett, “Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction,” 2nd Edition, Elsevier Ltd., Oxford, 2007.
[11]	OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Occupational Safety and Health Guidelines,” 2009. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/index.html
[12]	A. A. G. Hassanein and R. S. Hanna, “Safety Programs in Large-Size Construction Firms Operating in Egypt,” Journal of SH&E Research, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1-31.
[13]	A. A. G. Hassanein and R. S. Hanna, “Safety Performance in the Egyptian Construction Industry,” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 134, No. 6, 2008, pp. 451-455. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2008)134:6(451)
[14]	J. P. Leigh, S. Markowitz, M. Fahs and P. Landrigan, “Costs of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses,” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2000.
[15]	N. Chau, A. Bhattacherjee and B. M. Kunar, “Relationship between Job, Lifestyle, Age and Occupational Injuries,” Occupational Medicine, Vol. 59, No. 2, 2009, pp. 114-119. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqp002
[16]	G. C. Gauchard, D. Deviterne and F. Guillemin, “Prevalence of Sensorial and Cognitive Disabilities and Falls, and Their Relationships: A Community-Based Study,” Neuroepidemiol, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2006, pp. 108-118.
[17]	C. Rosano, E. M. Simonsick and T. B. Harris, “Association between Physical and Cognitive Function in Healthy Elderly: The Health, Aging and Body Composition Study,” Neuroepidemiol, Vol. 24, No. 1-2, 2005, pp. 8-14. doi:10.1159/000081043