FACULTY OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES

SEMESTER 4/2012

OSH 2612

WORKPLACE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT I

ASSESS THE SAFETY CULTURE AWARENESS AMONG MANAGERS, SUPERVISORS

AND WORKERS IN CONSTRUCTION SITE IN KLANG: A CASE STUDY AT

HOTWER DEVELOPMENT SDN BHD MAIDEN PROJECT –

THE BOSS SERVICE SUITES

MATRIX NUMBER : FAHS 1105-2083

I/C : 930429-12-6767
HANDPHONE NUMBER : 016-8824147
EMAIL : vkdrai@gmail.com
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW 2
1.1.1 Company corporate profile 2
1.1.2 Organization Chart 2
1.1.2.1 Chairman 3
1.1.2.2 Chief Executive Officer 4
1.1.2.3 Managing Director 4
1.1.2.4 Executive Director 5
1.1.2.5 General Manager 6
1.2 AFFILIATED PARTNERS 7
1.2.1 Goodnite Sdn Bhd 7
1.2.2 The Boss Management Sdn Bhd 7
1.3 PROJECT OVERVIEW 8
1.3.1 Project Profile 8
1.3.2 Project Team 9

2.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH 10

3.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT 11
4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 12
4.1 A REVIEW OF CONCEPTS AND THEORIES OF SAFETY
CULTURE 12
4.2 SAFETY TRIAD THEORY 13
5.0 METHODOLOGY 14
5.1 QUANTITATIVE METHOD 14
5.1.1 Advantages 14
5.1.2 Disadvantages 15
6.0 HYPOTHESIS 16
7.0 POPULATION AND SAMPLE 17
8.0 DATA COLLECTION 18
9.0 DATA ANALYSIS 19
10.0 RECOMMENDATION FOR PRACTICE 20
11.0 CONCLUSION 21

REFERENCE 22

APPENDIX 24
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Worldwide, construction is one of the most hazardous industries due to its unique nature of
the industry (Jannadi and Bu-Khamsin, 2002). Furthermore, construction is often classified
as higher and unacceptable injury rates (Charles Y.J. Cheah, 2007). It is needed to implement
safety and health program in construction industry to reduce the injury rates and fatality rates.
Safety and health issue have gained a wide attention in worldwide at construction sites.

Construction is a high hazard industry that comprises a wide range of activities involving
construction, clearance, alteration, and repair. Examples include residential construction,
bridge erection, roadway paving, excavations, demolitions, and large scale painting jobs.
Construction workers engage in many activities that may expose them to serious hazards,
such as falling from rooftops, unguarded machinery, hit by falling object, being struck by
heavy construction equipment, slip and fall, electrocutions, silica dust, and asbestos. In order
to reduce the accident that happens at construction site, there should have an awareness of
safety culture among employees. Awareness of safety culture need to be derived to all
employees before the day their start working.

The safety and health problem in Malaysia construction industry has a very poor record
compared to other industries. The statistics of accident by industry in the year 2011 showed
that fatal accident in construction industry is the highest with 51 death cases compared to
2429 number of accidents by other industry. This statistics proves that safety status in
construction site is at a critical condition. The Malaysia government has formulate a number
of legal requirements such as Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA 1994) and
Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (FMA 1967) to decrease the annual accident and fatality
rate but the accident rates are still at an unacceptable level. To increase the current safety
issue, safety culture awareness need to be established in between employees and employer.

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1.2 ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

1.2.1 Company corporate profile

The present research will be conduct at The Boss Service Suites, maiden project
by the Hotwer Development Sdn Bhd. Hotwer Development Sdn Bhd was
established in year 2008 to venture into property development in line with the
Founder’s vision to develop and build iconic buildings. The company has a vision
to improve, upgrade and enhance the real estate value through these developments.
Hotwer stands for Hotel Tower as the maiden project is a Serviced Suite
development. Ground works and inception of this maiden venture began in 2009
with the acquisition and planning for a prime land located at the gateway into
Klang town. Statutory approvals were all obtained in 2010 and physical works
began in the same year. Official launch held in 2011 saw tremendous sales
reaching almost 100%. Physical works are currently in full swing and the entire
project when completed in 2013 will be the focus of the property development
circle and pride of the Company. The company mission is to strive to create a
branding in our products that will far surpass industry expectation.

1.2.2 Organization Chart

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1.2.2.1 Chairman

Dato’ Yusli bin Mohamed Yusoff, 52 year old, graduated with a

Bachelor of Economics from the University of Essex (United
Kingdom) in 1981. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants, England & Wales, the MIA, the Malaysian Institute
of Certified Accountants as well as an Honorary Member of the
Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia.

He began his career with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co London and
since held various key positions in a number of public listed and
private companies in Malaysia, providing him with experience in
property and infrastructure development, telecommunications,
engineering and merchant banking. His career in stock broking
commenced in 2000, when he was appointed the CEO of CIMB
Securities Sdn Bhd. He also served as the Chairman of Association
of Stock Broking Companies Malaysia from 2003 to 2004.

He was the former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director

of Bursa Malaysia and a Director of its group of Companies. He
also sits on the Capital Market Development Fund Board and is an
executive committee member of the Financial Reporting
Foundation of Malaysia and Malaysian Accounting Standards
Board.

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1.2.2.2 Chief Executive Officer

Chew Yem Sing is a witty entrepreneur with a big vision. Prior to

the inception of this Organization, Chew Yem Sing was very
active in the building hardware industry. His involvement was via
Earth Mover Industry Sdn Bhd, a manufacturer and exporter of
industrial plastic sheets. He was very active in its day to day
operation for 5 years to prior venturing into property development.
His maiden venture into property development is The Boss
Serviced Suites in Klang. The business model and the
development concept were mooted by Chew Yem Sing. He also
played a major role in conceptualizing the design and facade of
this unique and iconic looking building.

Today as the CEO, his role in the Organization is operation driven.

His involvement in Sales & Marketing has greatly helped in the
sales and in addition to other areas of the Organization’s operations.
As a great advocator of ‘Branding’ he has created a niche product
and also branded the Organization as a young and innovative
corporate set-up.

1.2.2.3 Managing Director

Dato’ Edmond Chew Kar Chong (as he is widely known) came on

board the Organization at the onset and has lent his critical
business accruement and financial assistance during the initial set-

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 up period. His many years as being an entrepreneur are an asset to
the Organization in its infancy stage.

In his personal capacity, Dato’ Edmond is the Principal of

Goodnite Sdn Bhd, Goodnite Enterprise (M) Sdn Bhd, Good Foam
Industries Sdn Bhd and Casanova Industries (M) Sdn Bhd. All
related Companies producing Goodnite brand of mattresses and its
related products. They are among the top producers of mattresses
in this Country.

1.2.2.4 Executive Director

Quah Chee Hui is carries with him many years of experience in the
property development and construction industry. Throughout the
many years of experience he has in property development, he has
established a good rapport and networking support from related
quarters e.g. solicitors, consultants and contractors.

His involvement in property development started since 1996

through some ventures mainly in Klang and Shah Alam. The
Companies he has jointly established for these property
development projects are Metro Sehati Sdn Bhd, Suez Domain Sdn
Bhd, Iktimetro Sdn Bhd, Uni Dynasty Holdings Sdn Bhd, Dynasty
United Sdn Bhd and Xia Jia Development Sdn Bhd. These
developments are mainly light industrial buildings, terrace houses,
semi detached houses, shop offices and apartments. Quah Chee
Hui is appointment as the Executive Director brings new

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 dynamism to the Organization as he spearheads the Project
Department.

1.2.2.5 General Manager

Ong Beng Khoon graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil)

from the National University of Singapore in 1990, he returned to
Malaysia in year 1993 after a short stint of employment in
Singapore.

Since his return, he has been in property development having

worked for Bolton Berhad and later on as the General Manager for
Titijaya Group of Companies. Having been exposed to property
development for some 20 years, he has experience in development
projects of various natures from industrial, residential, commercial,
high rise, hypermarkets, to turnkey projects.

Ong Beng Khoon’s experiences are indeed valuable for the

Organization as it undertakes to build its maiden project – an
iconic 28-storey serviced suite cum retail building in Klang called
The Boss Serviced Suites.

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1.3 AFFILIATED PARTNERS

1.3.1 Goodnite Sdn Bhd

The Goodnite brand was established in 1989 with one mission in mind – to offer
better, healthier sleep to Customers with its mattresses. Goodnite believes that a
good-night sleep is the key to healthier living.

The Goodnite name is recognized for its sleeping assurance, which makes
Goodnite a trusted name for generations.

Today, the Organization has established itself as one of the top three leading
bedding manufacturers in Malaysia. Goodnite focuses in investing in the
industry’s best technology to help Customers achieve better, quality sleep. Its
commitment, quality and service have been the driving force behind its star-
studded line-up of mattresses and other bedding products.

1.3.2 The Boss Management Sdn Bhd

The Boss Management Sdn Bhd Is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hotwer

Development Sdn. Bhd.

The Boss Management Sdn. Bhd. is a Property Management Company

specializing in managing and providing hospitality services. It was founded with
the aim of providing hotel management services. Through the collaboration with

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 Hotwer Development Sdn. Bhd. via the Boss Serviced Suites, it hopes to build a
foundation of managing a full-fledged boutique hotel.

1.4 PROJECT OVERVIEW

1.4.1 Project Profile

The Boss Serviced Suites is the latest addition to the fast paced modernization of
the royal capital of Selangor, Klang. The future tallest & iconic building is poised
to be the centre of vibrant life and commercial activities. The Boss is a 28 storey
contemporary building incorporating 377 units of service suites, 3 storey retail
and F&B podium.

The Boss will be your choice location for formal and informal meetings, a wide
variety of culinary delights, and the most modern retail therapy or spa indulgences.
Each suite at The Boss comes complete with modern furnishings which are
functional, convenient and opulent. With tourism on the rise for Klang, The Boss
will be the accommodation of choice for visitors both from neighboring states as
well as countries. Purchasers looking for a golden opportunity to invest in a home
that offers occasional stays and yet be assured of healthy investments returns need
not look any further.

Being in the heart of Klang city and connected by main road networks, The Boss
is within easy reach of Westport Malaysia and Northport, Malaysia’s largest
logistics hubs. With steady economic development, many new local and foreign

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 logistic and trading companies will take root in and around Klang. Upon
completion, The Boss will cater to thousands of business travelers and functions
annually, and will play an essential part to Klang city’s business in the future.

1.4.2 Project Team

Developer : Hotwer Development Sdn Bhd

Architect : Akipanel Architects Sdn Bhd
Civil & Structural Engineer : Setia Runding Sdn Bhd
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer : Perunding MNE-Mexergy
Quantity Surveyor : CNH Jurukur Bahan
Land Surveyor : Jurukur Generasi
Town Planner : Berkat Consult
Landscape Architect : MLA Landscape Architects Sdn Bhd
Interior Designer : Harris Haus Sdn Bhd
Piling Contractor : Peck Chiew Piling (M) Sdn Bhd
Main Contractor : Superforte Construction Sdn Bhd

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2.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH

This research is undertaken because of the importance of safety culture at the workplace with
the main intent to assess how employees perceive safety culture at their workplace, and to
provide recommendations for improving the site safety at project currently under
construction. Especially, the objectives of the present research are as followings:

 To determine the level of safety culture among managers, supervisors, and workers in
the construction site.
 To determine the factor which contribute to safety culture.
 To determine the current safety measures in the construction site.
 To recommend opinion for improve safety culture awareness among employees in the
construction site.

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3.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The construction industry is an important sector in any national economy, especially

regarding its employment potential. But accidents, incidents, injuries, and fatalities continue
to occur unabated on construction sites around the world at consistently high rates (Hinze,
1997). The construction industry tends to have a low awareness of the long-term benefits of
safety practices, while the tendering process often gives little attention to safety, resulting in
cost and corner cutting (Biggs et al, 2005). This is due to the diverse and complex nature of
work tasks, trades and nature of construction workplace. Construction sites can be dangerous
to contractors and subcontractors if they fail to meet the safety standards. Many studies have
been done on safety at construction site, and many causes are said to contribute to accidents
at the workplace such as falling from heights, falling materials, exposure to chemical
substances, heavy lefts during formwork, and accident involving personnel unsafe act.

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4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

This study was conducted principally to study the safety culture in The Boss Service Suites
construction site. Specifically, this study was to achieve these related objectives: (a) to
identify the level of safety culture awareness among employees in the construction site; (b) to
identify factors which contribute to safety culture; and to recommend ideas for improve the
safety culture awareness among employees at work. To achieve these objectives, the study
was conducted among managers, supervisors, and workers in a construction site in Klang,
Selangor. Data for the study were collected through questionnaires.

4.1 A REVIEW OF CONCEPTS AND THEORIES OF SAFETY CULTURE

The concept of safety culture promotes universal understanding of the accident phenomenon
since it helps clarify people’s perception of safety and behavior related to safety. Safety
culture is a term used to describe the way in which safety is managed in the workplace, and
often reflects "the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values that employees share in relation
to safety" (Cox and Cox, 1991). Building a safety culture on so many diversities is not an
easy task. But it had been proven that companies with good safety and health cultures have
employees with positive patterns of attitude towards safety and health practices. Companies
need to gather safety related information, measure safety performance and bring people
together to learn how to work more safely. Glendon and McKenna (1995); Caborn (2005)
also identified four critical indicators of safety culture. They are:

i. Good organizational learning, whereby organizations are able to identify and respond
appropriately to changes.
ii. External factors, including the financial health of the organization, the prevailing
economic climate and impact of regulation and how well these are managed.

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 iii. Effective communication, it leads to commonly understood goals and means to
achieve them at all levels.
iv. Organizational focus upon safety and health, how much time and attention is
essentially paid to safety and health.

Fig 4.1: Gellor’s safety triad.

4.2 SAFETY TRIAD THEORY

Gellor investigated a safety triad theory (see Fig 4.1) in which he thought that a “Totally
Safety Culture” should maintain a continue monitoring process to three domains which are
environment, behavior factors, and person factors. They are dynamic and interactive and the
changes in either one factor will eventually impact the other one. Once people choose to act
safety, they act themselves into safe thinking and the corresponding behaviors often result in
some environment change.

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5.0 METHODOLOGY

The main objective of this study was to assess and describe safety culture among managers,
supervisors, and workers in a construction site. Therefore, to carry out his research, a
quantitative method was been used. To achieve the objective, a set of questionnaires was
used as the main data collection technique.

5.1 QUANTITATIVE METHOD

Quantitative research is empirical research where the data are in form of numbers (Loraine &
Christina & Malcolm, 2006). Furthermore, quantitative data is piece of information that can
be counted mathematically. Usually gathered by surveys or questionnaires from large
numbers of respondents selected randomly. Besides that, secondary data such as census data,
government statistics and etc are another type of quantitative data.

5.1.1 Advantages
Quantitative research allows the researcher to measure and analyze data. The
relationship between an independent and dependent variable is studied in detail.
This is advantageous because the researcher is more objective about the findings
of the research. Quantitative research can be used to test hypotheses in
experiments because of its ability to measure data using statistics. Besides that,
the data can be very consistent, precise and reliable. Data collection is usually
cost efficient.

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5.1.2 Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of quantitative research is the context of the study or
experiment is ignored. Quantitative research does not study things in a natural
setting or discuss the meaning things have for different people as qualitative
research does. Another disadvantage is that a large sample of the population must
be studied; the larger the sample of people researched, the more statistically
accurate the results will be. Quantitative research has another more disadvantage
that is difficult to understand context of program activities and the data may not
be robust enough to explain complex issues.

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6.0 HYPOTHESIS

H0 : Organizational commitment and communication are positively correlated to accident

reporting system.

H1 : Organizational commitment and communication are negatively correlated to accident

reporting system.

H0 : Personal role is positively correlated to workforce’s influence.

H1 : Personal role is negatively correlated to workforce’s influence.

H0 : Personal role is positive correlated to risk taking behavior and obstacles to safe
behavior.

H1 : Personal role is negative correlated to risk taking behavior and obstacles to safe
behavior.

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7.0 POPULATION AND SAMPLE

A research population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main
focus of a scientific query. Population is also known as a well-defined collection of
individuals or objects known to have similar characteristics. All individuals or objects within
a certain population usually have a common, binding characteristic or trait. A sample is
simply a subset of the population. The concept of sample arises from the inability of the
researchers to test all the individuals in a given population. The sample must be
representative of the population from which it was drawn and it must have good size to
warrant statistical analysis. The main function of the sample is to allow the researchers to
conduct the study to individuals from the population so that the results of their study can be
used to derive conclusions that will apply to the entire population. It is much like a give-and-
take process. The population “gives” the sample, and then it “takes” conclusions from the
results obtained from the sample.

The population of this study is the employees of a construction site project in Klang, who
consist of managers, supervisors, and workers involved in the maiden project of Hotwer
Development Sdn Bhd in Klang. 40 samples was decided that the data to be collected.

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8.0 DATA COLLECTION

The data collection technique of this study been used is questionnaires technique.
Questionnaires are one of the most widely used social research techniques. The idea of
formulating precise written questions, for those whose opinions or experience you are
interested in seems such an obvious strategy for finding the answers to the issues that interest
you.

The questionnaire (refer to Appendix A) consisted of one section and ten (10) statements.
The section asked questions about safety culture. Table 8.1 summarizes the number of item
asked in the questionnaire.

Table 8.1: Items in the questionnaire

Section Variables No. of Items

Section one Reporting of accident and near misses 2

Workmate's influence 3

Risk taking behavior and some contributory influence 5

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9.0 DATA ANALYSIS

Since the present study was interested in describing the level of safety culture awareness,
descriptive analyses were used, such as computation of frequencies and percentages. In
addition, other analyses were also carried out, for example, a t-test was performed to analyze
the differences in gender with respect to perception towards safety culture to enhance further
understanding about the safety culture awareness and perception amongst the respondents.

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10.0 RECOMMENDATION FOR PRACTICE

Based on the finding, a numbers of recommendations that can use by the organization to
improve their safety performance in the construction site are offered such as the
following:

 Management should prove sufficient training to their employees to create a

learning culture in the construction site.

 Employees should be involved in all organizational activities especially related to

safety issues at work site.

 The safety committee members should play their roles and responsibilities
according to OSHA 1994 in order to improve the effectiveness of the safety and
health management system.

 The employer has to ensure an appropriate safe working environment (i.e. proper
ventilation, comfortable working space and good housekeeping) to all employees.

 Managers and supervisors staff can launch some safety promotion campaign to
raise the workers awareness.

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11.0 CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study was to assess the awareness level of safety culture among three
groups of employees (managers, supervisors and workers) and to identify the current
safety culture in the construction site, and provide recommendations for improve safety
culture awareness among the three groups of employees in the construction site.

In general, this study has managed to describe the current practice of safety in the
organization under study and hence to offer valuable information to construction
practitioners and safety professionals in the direction of cultivating safety culture in the
construction site.

However, these finding are only applicable on construction personnel in The Boss
Service Suites project site.

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 REFERENCE

[1] Jannadi, O.A. and Bu-Khamsin, M.S. (2002). Safety factors considered by industrial
contractors in Saudi Arabia. Building and Environment, 37(5): 539–547.

[2] Y.J.Cheah, C. (2007). Construction Safety and Health Factors at the Industry Level: The
Case of Singapore. Construction in Developing Countries , 12.

[3] Bakri, R.M. Zin, M.S. Misnan, and A.H. Mohammed., “Occupational safety and Health
(OSH) Management Systems: Towards Development of Safety and Health Culture,” In
the Proceedings of the 6th Asia-Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction
Conference (APSEC 2006), 2006.
[4] Hinze, J. W. (1997). Construction Safety. Columbus, Ohio: Prentice Hall. 1-6.
[5] Biggs, H.C., Sheahan, V.L. dan Dingsdag, D.P. (2005). A Study of Construction Site
Safety Culture and Implications for Safe and Responsive Workplaces, The Australian
Journal of Reheabilitation Counselling, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1-8.

[6] Loraine Blaxter, Christina Hughes and Malcolm Tight. (2006). How to Research (3rd ed.).
Two Penn Plaza, New York, USA: Open University Press.

[7] Malaysia (1994). Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. Act 514.
[8] Malaysia (1967). Factories and Machinery Act 1967. Act 139.

[9] Tonya Smith-Jackson, Sharnnia Artis, Yu-Hsiu Hung, Hyung Nam Kim, Caleb Hughes,
Brian Kleiner and Alicia Nolden. (2011). Safety Critical Incidents Among Small
Construction Contractors: A Prospective Case Study. The Open Occupational Health &
Safety Journal , 39-47.

[10] Council, O. S. (2001, September). A Survey of Safety Culture in Hong Kong

Construction Industry. 1-15.

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[11] Caborn, J. (2005). News From The ILO: ILO World Day for Safety and Health at Work
2005, IOHA Newsletter, January 2005, Vol. 13, No. 1, Geneva: International Labour
Office.

[12] Glendon, A.I dan McKenna, E.F. (1995). Human Safety and Risk Management, London:
Chapman and Hall.

[13] Cox, S. &. (1991). The structure of employee attitudes to safety. a European example
Work and Stress , 5, 93-106.

[14] Gellor, E. (2001). The psychology of safety handbook. New York: Lewis Publishers.

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 APPENDIX A

Questionnaire

INSTRUCTION: Please read carefully before answering the questions.

Personal information

1. Gender (Male/Female) :

2. Occupation :

SECTION ONE: Please read the question carefully before circle the answer.

Scale: 1. Strongly Disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Neither Agree or Disagree. 4. Agree. 5. Strongly

Agree.

1 Accidents and incidents that happen here are always

1 2 3 4 5
reported.

2 Near misses are consistently reported, investigated and

1 2 3 4 5
reviewed at my workplace.

3 All the people who work in my team are fully committed 1 2 3 4 5

to safety.

4 My workmates react strongly against people who break 1 2 3 4 5

safety procedures or rules.

5 Most employees in my work group would not feel

comfortable if their work practices were observed by 1 2 3 4 5
their workmates.

6 Some of the workforces pay little attention to safety. 1 2 3 4 5

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7 Some people have a poor understanding of the risks
1 2 3 4 5
associated with their work.

8 Not all the safety procedures/ instructions/ rules are 1 2 3 4 5

strictly followed by people.

9 People are sometimes pressured to work unsafely by 1 2 3 4 5

their colleagues.

10 People who work in your company sometimes take risks 1 2 3 4 5

at work which you could not take yourself.

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