ABSTRACT
People are an organisation’s most valuable asset and so safeguarding their health, safety and welfare should be central to an organisation’s HRM strategy. It is an organisation’s ethical responsibility to do so and it is also good for business. In construction, threats to health and safety come from a myriad of sources, for example the physical nature of tasks, the attitudes of the employees, the culture of the industry, cost and time pressures, the uncertain production environment, client and management priorities, onerous contracts and a fragmented system of organisation. It is these issues and their management that lie at the heart of construction accidents. This chapter will discuss the management of occupational health, safety and welfare within the construction industry. It will look at what an organisation can do to prevent injuries and ill health amongst its workforce and, just as importantly, how a culture of safety can be engendered which is transferred from project to project.
