Loughborough University
Browse

Design for occupational safety and health: Key attributes for organisational capability

Download (937.31 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2019-03-07, 13:43 authored by Patrick Manu, Anush Poghosyan, Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu, Lamine Mahdjoubi, Alistair Gibb, Michael Behm, Olugbenga Akinade
Purpose: Against the backdrop of the contribution of design to the occurrence of occupational injuries and illnesses in construction, design for occupational safety and health (DfOSH) is increasingly becoming prominent in the construction sector. To ensure that design interventions are safe for construction workers to build and maintain, design firms need to have the appropriate organisational capability in respect of DfOSH. However, empirical insight regarding the attributes that constitute DfOSH organisational capability is lacking. This study, which trailblazes the subject of DfOSH organisational capability in construction, addresses two key questions: (1) what organisational attributes determine DfOSH capability; and (2) what is the relative priority of the capability attributes? Design/methodology/approach: The study employed three iterations of expert focus group discussion and a subsequent three-round Delphi technique accompanied by the application of voting analytical hierarchy process (VAHP). Findings: The study revealed 18 capability attributes nested within six categories namely: competence (the competence of organisation’s design staff); strategy (the consideration of DfOSH in organisation’s vision as well as the top management commitment); corporate experience (organisation’s experience in implementing DfOSH on projects); systems (systems, processes and procedures required for implementing DfOSH); infrastructure (physical, and information and communication technology (ICT) resources); and collaboration (inter and intra organisational collaboration to implement DfOSH on projects). Whilst these categories and their nested attributes carry varying weights of importance, collectively, the competence related attributes are the most important, followed by strategy. Originality/value: The findings should enable design firms and other key industry stakeholders (such as the clients who appoint them) to understand designers’ DfOSH capability better. Additionally, design firms should be able to prioritise efforts/investment to enhance their DfOSH capability.

Funding

This research was funded by The United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant numbers: EP/N033213/1 and EP/N033213/2).

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Published in

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

Volume

26

Issue

11

Pages

2614-2636

Citation

MANU, P. ... et al., 2019. Design for occupational safety and health: Key attributes for organisational capability. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(11), pp. 2614-2636.

Publisher

Emerald

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Construction and Architectural Management and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-09-2018-0389.

Acceptance date

2019-02-07

Publication date

2019-11-18

Copyright date

2019

ISSN

1365-232X

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC