A comparative study on occupational health and safety practices betweeen domestic and foreign contractors. (a case of addis ababa city public construction projects

Abstract

The construction industry is an important part of the economy in many countries and often seen as a driver of economic growth especially in developing countries. In Ethiopia, accounting for 18% of the country’s GDP for the financial year 2017-2018. The government has pumped millions of dollars into social housing, which has been a windfall for both foreign and local building contractors, and the construction sector is currently the largest employer in the country, with more than two million people employed in full-time and temporary jobs. The nature of the construction work is dangerous, risky and needs attention in integrating health and safety management into the entire process. How to reduce the accidents and ill-health problems at construction sites in public construction projects has been a challenge for a long time, and the main objective of this study was to assess the current health and safety management practices of domestic and foreign contractors working in public construction projects which found in Addis Ababa city. The study was qualitative and quantitative type and the data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The data was analyzed by using Microsoft excel. The result of the data shows that foreign contractors are relatively good in managing health and safety than the domestic contractor. Even though the country has a different code of practice to manage the health and safety performances of the contractor but the result indicates that there is a lack of enforcing those rules and regulations by the government and regulatory bodies. As the result shows 83% of respondents from foreign companies and 29% of respondents from domestic companies believe that health and safety is used as a criterion during the prequalification phase of public bidding. The researcher recommends that every stakeholder of the industry should work together to reduce the safety risk of construction sites and to make the construction site healthy and safe for everyone.