H&S Training Construction Industry II

Construction Industry

In 2018, the total market value of the global construction industry had increased to $8.4 Billion with an increment of 0.5 Billion when compared with 2017 in the fields of infrastructure, building structures, and housing. The construction industry is, without doubt, a major contributor to the economic growth of any nation and is a major contributor to an increase in the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The construction industry is predicted to grow by 85% with a gross value of $15.5 Trillion by 2030. The dominant markets will be China, the USA, and India. There are more than 600,000 workers in different industries in the Kingdom of Bahrain, but the highest percentage is employed within the construction industry. A projection of 2.1% growth is predicted for the Bahrain Construction sector in 2021.

The construction industry is a mixed environment of different nationalities and cultures and dealing with such diversity in the Middle East environment requires many things including an effective H&S training program to develop and build a work team that has a strong KSAA to perform safely their activities in the global market. The stated aim of this training is to ensure the successful completion of the construction project safely and on time as H&S training playing a major role in maintaining a risk-free environment and a positive safety culture for the duration of the project.

The KSAA of the workforces is also a very important element in doing safe acts and avoiding unsafe conditions. KSAA factors are also considered as critical issues on the construction sites. Many H&S experts prefer H&S training as one of the most effective measures to tackle safe working practice issues. H&S training is basically considered as the second element after the management commitment to providing a strong safety climate and via such elements, it is felt that the KSAA can be significantly improved and developed. Furthermore, H&S training without a doubt has become a major subject of interest and attention for the overall performance of most of the local and global construction firms as it is considered an effective proactive element in a firm accident prevention strategy.

Therefore, for more than three decades, a high number of global firms have made major efforts to get the maximum competitive advantage within the worldwide overall economy through investing in the H&S training field to overcome this continual challenge. As a good example, the ASTD as a major training organization in the USA announced that firms invested billions of USD annually on workforces’ H&S training as well as development. Such training investment is without a doubt considered to be probably the most successful methods to making certain that workforces KSAA are maintained up to date leading to significantly assist in improving the organizational overall output. Therefore, since that time the traditional perspective relating to H&S training just considered as one of the operational elements for a long time, but it has been changed and turned into a value-driven perspective when firms realized the positive impacts and advantages of H&S training in term of i.e. business continuity.

H&S Training Issues

No one can deny that the Ministry of Labour is highly considered as the main player for ensuring that an effective H&S training policy is being provided and delivered in each construction firm to its workforce in different levels and occupations. Moreover, most of the construction firms have now developed their own H&S departments where purpose-designed training facilities are provided such as separated classrooms, skilled trainers, materials, etc. These kinds of efforts are without a doubt highly appreciated by all involved. However, there are still some gaps in the provision of H&S training programs within the construction industry such as the detection of barriers to and identification of the weaknesses of an effective H&S training program. These gaps need to be reduced and eventually eliminated otherwise companies will not be able to successfully complete projects. Some construction H&S officers may not be fully aware of the main requirements of H&S training programs within the established construction firms. It appears that they have not been given a real opportunity by their employers to design and build an effective H&S training program as some employers view these costs as being too high plus and tedious efforts, they consider them to impact on the productivity of the workforce. Language is another major concern as the majority of H&S training courses either in-house or from external training courses are delivered in English which serves as a language barrier to a high number of workers in the construction workforce. The majority of expatriate workers do not have a basic ability in the use of the English language thus maintaining a positive training culture becomes a major challenge within construction firms where many different nationalities and cultures are engaged. This generates a continuous communication gap/crack somewhere between the construction workforces and their employers. Such gap/crack seems to be poor and needs to be closed out whenever detected.

How to build and introduce yourself as a professional H&S facilitator is another major challenge facing H&S officers who should be equipped with the necessary skills such as strong communication, critical thinking, and safe working practice skills so as to be able to deliver a number of different types of instructional approaches. They should also have the ability to distinguish between important terms such as “training and education”, “Training Solutions” and “Non-Training solutions” as well as project aims & objectives. The composition of a training business case is a relatively new area of interest and one that seems to be absent within construction H&S, as a result, this article has been written to help construction firms in tackling those H&S training issues that are affecting their projects and to hopefully help them build an effective H&S training program within their company requirements and parameters.  

Why H&S Training  

In general, training is without a doubt a high priority element in planning and running a business and also a critical key for business outstanding and H&S excellence. Within an extensive H&S management system, the H&S training is the main player in maintaining a positive culture, behavior, and a modern lifestyle within firms and even the local community. Moreover, the H&S training can highlight the regulatory, cooperate and business standards and finally focus and develop the most desirable practices.

In the construction industry, the H&S training enables construction firms, especially the project management team (PMT) to be more aware of H&S issues along with other hazards and risks related to a task or work environment within the construction project. The application of best elimination and reduction methods of hazards and risks to minimal levels combined with the application of best safe work methods will lead to the successful completion of a project on time and within a planned budget. The PMT has a legal obligation in ensuring the provision of an effective H&S training program within the construction project. Most importantly, PMT needs to have a method of recognition and assessment about the level of the workforce's KSAA within their construction site. Many research studies demonstrate the need for construction firms to provide an effective H&S training program as a crucial component of being awarded more business opportunities that lead to increases in profitable projects by the reduction of expenses, fewer insurance claims elimination of improvement, or prohibition notices. The development of a workforce with stronger KSAA than its competitors will allow its workforce to maintain a risk-free environment and a positive safety culture.