




































In ternationa l
Scholars
Journa ls

 

African Journal of Environmental Economics and Management ISSN: 2375-0707 Vol. 5 (5), pp. 328-340, 
August, 2017. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 
 
 
 

Review 
 

Towards accident-free construction sites: The role of 
human resource management – A review 

 

N Munu, PA Owusu, R Kizza, N Banadda and I Kabenge* 

 
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda. 

 
Accepted 14  March, 2017 

 

Rural-urban migration has put a lot of pressure on governments and private sector actors to provide decent 
infrastructure in many developing parts of the world. Buildings for example, are hastily put up to meet ever 
growing demand for housing and in so doing raise the risk of accidents at construction sites. The occurrence 
and widely publicized construction site accidents has attracted a lot of international and local concern. 
Although the challenges are multi-faceted, the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) play a pivotal role 
in this dynamic industry. As such, the aim of this paper is to review construction accidents with a bias towards 
better HRM to reduce them in the industry. It can be concluded that proactive HRM in the form of Tier II 
Workforce Management Strategy significantly solves the construction site accident problems. 
 
Keywords: Construction accident, construction industry, human resource management. 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
The construction industry is one key sector in the 
economic growth of both developed and developing 
economies. Advancement in commerce, transport, 
communication, and education is inevitably affected by 
the level of national construction industry progress. There 
is ―a highly positive correlation between the growth in 
construction sector and the overall growth measuring in 
terms of gross domestic product or GDP‖ (Kokkaew and 
Koompai, 2012). This relationship is reported in research 
carried out in developed economies (CITB, 2002; 
Loosemore et al., 2003), emerging economies (Kokkaew 
and Koompai, 2012; Gürcanli, 2009) and developing 
economies (Jimoh et al., 2017; Ogiriki et al., 2017; 
Basheka and Tumutegyereize, 2013; Okpala and 
Aniekwu, 1988). According to Loosemore et al. (2003), 
construction industry also plays a significant contribution 
to the world gross GDP. This is easily explained by the 
fact that major sectors such as chemical process, food  
 
 
 
*Corresponding author E-mail: isakabenge@gmail.com 

processing, manufacturing, petrochemical, and power 
generation and transmission are all part of industrial 
construction (Brandenburg, 2006). 
The construction industry research has seen global 
interest. The interest is largely attributed to the 
challenges, potential opportunities, and the import of this 
industry. Construction industry research has been carried 
out in many countries including but not limited to; US 
(Chini and Valdez, 2003; Derr et al., 2001; Arditi and 
Mochtar, 2000), UK (McCabe, 2007; Murray and 
Langford, 2003; Construction Industry Task Force, 1998), 
Spain (López et al., 2008), New Zealand (Tran  and  
Tookey, 2011), Australia (Richardson, 2014), Turkey 
(Ugur and Gürcanli, 2005; Gürcanli, 2009), Thailand 
(Kokkaew and Koompai, 2012; Aksorn  and 
Hadikusumok, 2008), India (Thomas and Sudhakumar, 
2014), Kuwait (Kartam et al., 2000), Trinidad and Tobago 
(Hickson and Ellis, 2014), Nigeria (Jimoh et al., 2017; 
Nkem, 2015), and Uganda (Alinaitwe, 2006). 
Construction industry research has also been done at 
international level (Du et al., 2007). Notwithstanding, the 
construction industry faces several challenges (Ogunde et

 



Munu et al.       329 
 
 
 
 
al., 2017; Lubega et al., 2000). High frequency of 
accident occurrence and poor nature of Human Resource 
Management are two serious challenges in the industry. 
The rate of accidents in the construction sector is 
unacceptably high both in developing as well as 
developed economies. Risk of a fatality in the 
construction industry is five times more likely than in a 
manufacturing based industry, while it is two and a half 
times higher in cases of major injury (Maraqa and 
Mohamed, 2013; CIDC, 2006; Davis and Tomasin, 1990). 
According to International Labor Organization, as cited by 
Aneziris et al. (2012), construction sector contributes 
about 17% to total world workplace fatalities.  
 

In addition to human cost of suffering, the economic 
effect of an accident can be devastating (Mthalane et al., 
2008; Sawacha et al., 1999). Many labor days and hours 
are lost due to injuries leading to an absence from work. 
By 2001 in Europe, annual direct insurance costs of 
workplace accidents alone was estimated to be €20 
billion and 149 million working days were lost 
(Konkolewsky, 2001). In their research Haslam et al. 
(2005) found that problems arising from workers or the 
work team and work place issues contributed to 70% and 
49% of construction accidents respectively. Inadequacy 
of safety provisions often make individual workers prone 
to accidents (Charehzehi and Ahankoob, 2012; Lubega 
et al., 2000; Carasco, 1993).  These factors are all 
related to Human Resource Management (HRM) and 
thus indicate that more studies should be done to 
understand the cause-effect relationship between HRM 
and construction accidents. 
 

Dainty and Loosemore (2012) defined HRM as the way 
people are employed and managed. People management 
practices remains poorly understood in the construction 
industry (Dainty and Loosemore, 2012). Management of 
people within the construction sector has been labeled as 
complex and problematic given that the applicability of 
much mainstream human resource management (HRM) 
theory to this industry is limited (Dainty and Loosemore, 
2012). Human resource management in the construction 
industry is not widely researched and unfortunately the 
known strategic human resource management has little 
application in the construction industry either 
(Brandenburg, 2006). 
 

In other industries the implementation of strategic HRM 
practices with other business strategies have been 
associated with reduced employee turnover (Van 
Dierendonck et al., 2016; Hashim et al., 2016;Sheppeck 
and Militello, 2000; Arthur 1994), and higher productivity 
(Wright et al., 1996). But in construction firms HRM has 
typically been an emergent rather than a strategic or 
deliberate process (Brandenburg, 2006) with HRM 
activities often regarded as marginal activities (Dainty 
and Loosemore, 2012). This is rather unexpected given 
that construction labor form 7.5% of the world labor force 
(Kulkarni, 2007) and is one of the most people-reliant 

industrial sectors (Dainty et al., 2007). HRM has been 
previously labeled a vital factor to the aspiration of long-
term improvement for the construction industry (Kilby and 
McCabe, 2008; Construction Industry Task Force, 1998) 
and there is a strong connection between HRM 
performance and project performance (Dainty and 
Loosemore, 2012). This is because proper use of human 
resource management brings about an optimum 
utilization of other resources (Raheem and Bankole, 
2014). 
Construction industry accidents have significant ongoing 
cost to employers, workers and society (Haslam et al., 
2005). Construction accidents are unplanned for costs 
and in addition to human costs involved it may lead to 
bad publicity that could even make a company 
uncompetitive in the industry (Asanka and Ranasinghe, 
2016). Many have said that effective use of HRM can 
increase the competitive advantage and help improve the 
overall performance of construction industry (Paauwe, 
2004; Paauwe and Boselie, 2003) currently characterized 
as a labor-intensive and low-tech sector (Kokkaew and 
Koompai, 2012). It is time the construction industry 
wakes up and solves the HRM problem that potentially 
will (as discussed later in this paper) significantly address 
accidents in the industry. There is still a gap in literature 
to examine the connection between construction HRM 
and construction accidents. This paper reviews 
independent literatures on construction accidents with a 
bias towards better construction HRM. The special aim of 
this paper is to fill the knowledge gap in the 
understanding of how effective HRM can be used to 
minimize construction accidents and hence improve the 
construction industry especially in developing countries 
like Uganda. 
 
Sections of the review paper 
 
The paper is organized as follows: section 3 is a detailed 
review of accidents in construction industry. It discusses 
construction accident global situation and also the factors 
that lead to immediate accident circumstances. Section 4 
reviews HRM in construction industry and expounds on 
HRM practices, policies and processes in the 
construction industry. Section 5 discusses the connection 
between construction HRM and construction accidents. 
Connections of HRM practices, policies and processes 
with accidents are discussed separately into detail and 
suggestions are made on how each can be aligned to 
ensure minimization of accidents at construction sites. 
 

Accidents in the construction industry  
 
The construction industry is very hazardous worldwide, 
because of the ―unique dynamic nature, poor conditions 
and tough environment‖ (Aneziris et al., 2012). The 
industry is often characterized as very diverse, complex 
and risky (Fang et al., 2015; Kokkaew and Koompai,



330     Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 
 
 
 
 
2012). In 2003, 60,000 fatalities out of a world total of 
355,000 workplace deaths, (nearly 17%), were reported 
in construction section (Aneziris et al., 2012). 
Construction accounted for 31% of all deaths when 
collated with all other UK industries in the year 2002/03 
(Haslam et al., 2005).  A statistical portrait released in 
2010 by the European Union showed that in 2007 about 
4.8% of construction workers in the EU-27 reported 
having experienced at least one or more accidental 
injuries at work or in the course of work (Silva and 
Šteinbuka, 2010). In 2007 the U.S. construction industry 
experienced more fatalities than any other industry in the 
private sector (BLS, 2007). Japan also reported in 2008 
that out of 1,268 fatal workplace injuries, nearly 34% (430 
cases) were from construction sector (Toyosawa and 
Katsutoshi, 2011), while in India the likelihood to be 
injured is 16.5% for any of the four million construction 
workers (Goswami and Rana, 2011). However the 
situation looks more alarming given that these published 
statistics seems to be the tip of an iceberg. In some 
countries like the UK injuries reported by employers have 
been stated to be as low as 40% (HSC, 2003). 
Fall from height contributes to majority of construction 
fatalities (Goswami and Rana, 2011). Haslam et al. 
(2005) said that in 2002/03 fall from height contributed as 
high as 46% of construction accidents followed by struck 
by a moving vehicle 15%. In order to solve the 
construction accident problem the root causes for it must 
be identified and analyzed. Factors such as failure to 
ensure safe systems of work, poor maintenance of 
equipment, use of defective materials, and poor 
supervision and training have been identified as causes 
for fatal accidents in Great Britain HSE (1988; 1978). 
Other workplace risks that have been reported to lead to 
accidents include time pressure, long/irregular hours, 
poor communication, job insecurity, and discrimination 
(HSE, 2016). Research shows that 
Headquarter/managerial, site, and individual factors 
contribute to accidents in approximate ratio of 1:2:1 
respectively (Gibb, 2014; Whittington et al., 1992) and 
unsafe behaviour is the root cause of accidents at 
construction sites (Whittington et al., 1992). This is similar 
to other researchers‘ work that has revealed that 
individual factors contribute to about 70% level (Haslam 
et al., 2005) and in some cases up to about 80% level 
(Rasmussen, 1997) to accident causation. Haslam et al. 
(2005) believes that in addition to those factors 
mentioned above, project design also contributes to 
accident causation. Project phase and project progress 
compared to schedule affect performance expectation 
from management and hence can lead to dangerous 
undertakings resulting into accidents. 
Construction accidents do not occur haphazardly. There 
seems to be a model of causal influences that lead to 

immediate accident situations. A model for hierarchy of 
causal influences in construction accidents was 

developed by Haslam et al. (2005). It describes how 
accidents arise from a failure in the interaction between 
the work team, workplace, equipment and materials, 
giving rise to the ‗immediate accident circumstances‘. 
Accident causation starts from distal ‗originating 
influences‘ such as permanent works design, project 
management, construction processes, safety culture, risk 
management, client requirements, economic climate and 
education provision. These factors influence the 
development of accident ‗shaping factors‘ of workers, 
sites and material/equipment that affect the operation of 
workers, sites and material/equipment. The attitudes, 
motivations, knowledge, skills, supervision, health and 
fatigue affect the actions, behavior, capabilities and 
communication of the work team that may lead in to 
accident. Site constraints, work scheduling and 
housekeeping of the workplace shape the site layout, 
noise, lighting, space, temperature and local hazards that 

may lead to accidents. Similarly, the suitability, usability, 
condition and, therefore, safety of materials and equipment 
depend on their design, specification and supply/availability.  

There is a poor safety culture in the construction industry 
that promotes or fails to inhibit ‗unsafe behavior‘ among 
the construction workers leading to site accidents (Agwu 
and Olele, 2014; Dester and Blockley, 1995). The three 
major reasons given for construction workers engaging in 
unsafe acts, as pointed out by Haslam et al. (2005), are; 
(1) overlooking safety in the context of heavy workloads 
and other priorities, (2) taking shortcuts to save effort and 
time, (3) inaccurate perception of risks, with the feelings 
of invulnerability and ‗it won‘t happen to me‘. It is clear 
that underlying all of these is inadequate safety 
knowledge. Pointing to deficiencies in safety training 
among the construction workers. Safety knowledge is 
also needing among construction supervisors at global 
level (Fang et al., 2015). Great Britain is doing relatively 
well at international construction accident levels but 
interviews among construction supervisors revealed that 
they frequently have little safety awareness and poor 
understanding of accident causation and prevention 
(Haslam et al., 2005). 
The diversity, complexity and risky nature of the industry 
makes it less attractive for young people to enter into the 
construction workforce. This aggravates the problem of 
lack of skilled workers (Kokkaew and Koompai, 2012; 
Tressell, 1914/1957). To maximize effectiveness of 
human resource management in the heavily people-
reliant construction industry, Kokkaew and Koompai 
(2012) suggested that there should be consideration of 
safety and health. Essentially, human factors are involved 
in most safety failures thus the need for proper 
understanding of the HRM in the construction section. 
 

HRM in the construction industry  
 

Raheem and Bankole (2014) defined Human Resource 
Management (HRM) as ―the planning, organizing,



Munu et al.       331 
 
 
 
directing and controlling of the recruitment, 
compensation, integration, sustenance, and separation of 
man power resources to an end best suited to the 
achievement of organization, and individual objectives.‖ 
Construction human resource is therefore the managerial 
and technical workforce required for construction 
(Raheem and Bankole, 2014). In order to effectively 
manage the human resource, HRM utilizes different 
practices, policies, and processes depending on the 
organization‘s tastes and interests. 
HRM is important in all organizations including 
construction (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). It contributes to 
organizational success (Huselid, 1995) and creates 
competitive advantage for the organization (Amit and 
Belcourt, 1999). Armstrong (2006) said that people are 
the most valued asset for an organization. People 
contribute to the achievements of organization‘s 
objectives both individually and collectively and deserve 
to be treated in a way that reflects so. HRM helps to 
create this environment by changing the attitude and 
behavior of employees toward the organization hence 
better organization‘s performance is often realized 
(Kokkaew and Koompai, 2012). For an industry such as 
construction with productivity studies revealing below 
average performance (Zhang and Liu, 2006; Liu et al., 
2006), the proper understanding and application of HRM 
is very vital. Project-based culture, temporary teams and 
fragmentation that are commonly mentioned as major 
causes for the poor performance are just indicators of the 
poor human resource management and understanding 
within the industry. 
HRM is understood and discussed largely in large, stable 
organizations that are classically managed. However, in 
organizations that rely principally on projects such as 
construction, HRM is often marginalized in discussions 
about what it is and how it should be practiced (Huemann 
et al., 2007). This is because much of mainstream human 
resource management (HRM) theory is not applicable to 
this industry (Dainty and Loosemore, 2012). 
Huemann et al. (2007) stated that certain specific 
features of project-oriented companies make HRM in 
such organizations different from the traditional HRM 
processes and practices for the classically-managed 
organization. The specific features of project-oriented 
companies include; (1) ―managing by projects‖ as a 
strategy of project-oriented companies, (2) temporary 
nature of projects, (3) dynamism, (4) project-portfolio 
resource and multirole demands and (5) specific 
management paradigm. In ―managing by projects‖ the 
HRM policies, processes and practices must somehow 
be supportive of project orientation and therefore it is 
different from traditional HRM for classically-managed 
organizations where the emphasis is not on projects but 
instead on routine products and services with well-
defined and stable job requirements (Huemann et al. 
2007). Due to the temporary nature of projects when a 

new project is introduced or an existing project is 
stopped, there is a change in human resource 
requirement and hence change in overall human 
resource configuration of the company. This is quite 
different from the classically managed organizations 
where the human resource configuration is relatively 
stable. The following sections will expound on this 
difference by discussing in detail HRM practices, policies 
and processes in the construction industry.  
 
HRM Practices in construction industry 
 
Human resource management practice is a management 
process of an organization's human resources. It aims to 
establish a more open, flexible and caring management style 
so that staff will be motivated, developed and managed in 

order to maximize their contributions to organizations‘ 
objectives. Consistent planning, monitoring and 
evaluation are key for the progress of HRM (Raj and 
Kothai, 2014). Successful implementation guarantees 
that all employees know their roles and responsibilities, 
and also feel part of the organization which is able to 
meet their expectations as well as the objectives of the 
organization. Construction working conditions became 
terrible during the Industrial Revolution in which building 
projects soared and workers were forced to work beyond 
their capacity. However they were paid relatively well 
though insufficient. Following the two centuries after 
Industrial Revolution, construction rate reduced. Hence 
pay, conditions and the prospects of workers through 
training and development fell to the smaller organization 
(Kilby and McCabe, 2008). Construction industry became 
unattractive and characterized as a labor-intensive and 
low-tech sector dominated by unskilled labor force. The 
employee turnover became high and there is a general 
need to develop good understanding of the HRM 
practices to improve this. 
Many current HRM practices can be traced to the needs 
of companies in the 1950s to develop and retain talent 
(Cappelli, 2015; Grattonet al., 1999). Employee 
motivation through workers participation, team belonging, 
recognition, management and commitment, and effective 
training schemes in the construction industry have 
brought about an increase in efficiency and effectiveness 
of the workers (Raheem and Bankole, 2014; Yankov and 
Kleiner, 2001). And it is the theory that is widely accepted 
in the U.S. construction industry. Motivation being the 
inner power in the process of human resource 
enhancement is of much interest to construction 
managers as a tool to achieve an organization‘s goal 
(Kokkaew and Koompai, 2012). In Europe, financial matters 
and also psychosocial factors affect the work rate of the 
workforce in the construction industry (Arashpour and 

Arashpour, 2011). Dainty et al. (2007) said that the HR 
practices in construction industry are still informal. 
The industry is described as a craft labor market. To shift 



332     Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 
 

 
 
 
the industry to an occupational labor market Clarke and 
Herrmann (2004) suggested a package of formal HR 
practices for directly employed staff coupled to an 
industry-wide training and obligatory skills certification 
scheme. In this way, the HRM provides good training and 
development opportunities for employees to enhance 
individual skills and flexibility of roles (Mullins, 1999). This 
will improve the confidence and work standard among the 
construction workers. 
 
HRM Policies in construction industry 
 
Human resource policies are strategies on the approach 
the organization aims to adopt in managing its people 
(Armstrong, 2001). It states the intent of the organization 
about aspects of human resource such as recruitment, 
promotion, compensation, training, and selection (Durai, 
2010). In construction there is a mindset in which workers 
are seen as ‗commodity‘ that can, at best, be effectively 
managed using personnel policies and procedures; at 
worst they are simply ‗hired and fired‘ and it is difficult to 
confront such a culture (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). 
Employees are the most precious resources in the 
construction industry (Kilby and McCabe, 2008) so 
policies and guidelines that an organization intend to 
adopt should be able to address the welfare of the 
workforce.  However, in most construction industries, 
employees are not considered as the greatest assets and 
are not being treated as such. This can be witnessed in 
the general industry policy on employee hiring and 
payment. There is common use of casualized employees 
who are usually employed and paid based on output but 
without any deduction for tax, insurance and pension 
contributions that are left as the responsibilities of the 
worker (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). This was the cause of 
the National Building Strike of 1972 in Britain in which 
such a policy was fought to be abolished.  
In the construction sector, the needs of the people are 
subjugated by performance concern (Dainty and 
Loosemore, 2012). Thus employee interests are not of 
primary concern. This has potentially dire consequences 
for those who work in the industry, for the organizations 
that employ them and eventually, on the prosperity and 
productivity of the industry as a whole (Dainty and 
Loosemore, 2012). For the construction industry to be 
successful, there must be a fine line between companies‘ 
interests and employee well-being. In the dynamic 
environment in which the human resource configuration 
is constantly changing, the challenges of ensuring 
employee‘s well-being and proper treatment of workers is 
important (Huemann et al., 2007). It is therefore 
necessary to consult, discuss and agree with the 
employee representatives before implementing any 
human resource policy. The casual nature of recruitment 
in the construction industry is encouraged by 
decentralized system of recruitment common in most 

construction firms. In decentralized recruitment system, 
recruitment is done at both the head office and the site 
office (Raheem and Bankole, 2014). In such a 
recruitment system formalization of the process is very 
difficult (Brandenburg et al., 2006; Maloney, 1997) and 
application of strategic planning is hard. Maloney (1997) 
defined strategic planning as a process whereby the 
objectives of an organization are developed and the 
actions required to meet those objectives are identified. 
With a strategic policy in place to ensure meeting clearly 
defined company objectives, there is little room for 
informal and workforce casualisation. Strategic human 
resource planning is possible in construction firms and 
leads to higher organizational performance, including 
higher productivity, greater cost effectiveness, and 
greater overall efficiency (Ferris et al., 1990). 
 
HRM Processes in construction industry 
 
HRM processes are the courses through which workers 
are subjected by an organization in order to better 
contribute to organizational objectives. It starts with the 
way that the employees are obtained, then their 
development through trainings and all the other 
organizational aspects of improvement that are available. 
It also ensures that there is career structure to keep them 
in the organization (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). 
In the construction industry, non-standard employment is 
common accounting for around half of the industry‘s total 
employment (Loosemore et al., 2003). Recruitment is 
done both at the head office and at the site. However, 
recruitment at head office seems to be focused on 
construction management and technical staff while site 
workers are mainly recruited at sites (Raheem and 
Bankole, 2014). On the job training is the most practiced 
method by construction firms for training and 
development of human resources especially for site 
workers (Raheem and Bankole, 2014). Full-time well 
educated highly skilled permanent workers are more 
likely to receive training (including long-term) than their 
insecure and unskilled colleagues (Forde et al., 2005; 
Cully et al., 1999). This can be attributed to the hefty 
reliance on self-employment in the industry. 
Casualization of the recruitment process makes 
employers reluctant on training employees since their 
stay at the company is deemed only temporary and may 
not last long enough for the training investment to be 
realized (Dainty and Loosemore, 2012; Dainty et al., 
2007). 
According to Kokkaew and Koompai, (2012), in order to 
maximize the effectiveness of human resource 
management in construction industry, strategic human 
resource management, job analysis, training and 
development as well as performance management are 
key. These require detail planning by an organization 

especially before an employee is recruited. 



Munu et al.       333 
 
 
 
 
The organization should be clear on the skill 
requirements, roles, possible future trainings and how 
performance measurement will be conducted well before 
an employee is recruited. Through this, employee quality 
can be ascertained which will ensure longevity in the 
organization. This form of strategic planning answers the 
three key R-aspects (Respect, Recruitment and 
Retention) that were called for in ‗Respect for People‘ 
(McCabe, 2007). This is also in line with the 
recommendation of Raheem and Bankole (2014) who 
pointed that to foster quality production and ensure 
excellent professionalism in construction, workers should 
be recruited through the human resource department 
after satisfying all criteria for selection of workers for that 
particular work. Good trainings and development to 
improve construction techniques can be achieved 
through frequently organized seminars and trainings by 
the human resource department. 
 
The Two-Tier Approach for Construction HRM 
 
A Two-Tier Approach has been developed and proposed 
to improve HRM in construction section. The approach 
consists of two workforce management strategies; Tier I 
which was developed by Construction Industry Institute 
(CII) and Tier II which was developed by Center for 
Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) at The University of 
Texas at Austin.  

 
Tier I  

 
Tier I is a HRM approach designed to efficiently manage 
standing workforce, irrespective of its skill level. The 
focus is on organization, communication, and utilization 
of field management (Brandenburg, 2004). Tier I strategy 
improves the effectiveness and productivity of the 
construction workforce through effective supervision and 
project management (Brandenburg, 2006). Supervisors 
(including general foremen, foremen and super 
intendants) must have strong management abilities to 
effectively coordinate and manage their team. 
Management, communication, and technology utilization 
are emphasized at all levels of the project. 
Characteristics of Tier I were summarized by 
Brandenburg (2006) as shown in Table I.  

 
Tier II 

 
Tier II is a revolutionary and future-oriented HRM 
approach designed to enhance workers‘ value by 
increasing their skills and productivity (Borcherding et al., 
2001). The goal of this increased value is increased 
wages and longer careers in the industry (Brandenburg, 
2006). This approach also ensures formalization of 
recruitment processes which is key in solving HRM 
issues in an industry that has a tendency to transfer 

power away from centralized personnel departments to 
site managers. It promotes the need to train, develop, 
and retain workers because of their increased value. Tier 
II solves the widespread problem of ‗hiring to fire‘ in 
which many workers are hired as casual laborers. Casual 
laborers are poorly skilled and with little or no idea of the 
standards and working practices. 
Tier II provides effective training and development 
opportunities for all employees. This enhances personal 
skills and multi-skill capability (Du et al., 2007) and 
develops not only the company but the industry in the 
long run (Ramlall, 2003). In the present construction 
industry, the cost of labor accounts for a significant 
portion of the total construction cost (Loosemore et al., 
2003) but Tier II lowers labor costs because fewer workers 

are required on site (Tucker, 2001). A higher productivity is 
realized through more effective human resource 
management without compromise or sacrifice of the 
construction work (Kokkaew and koompai, 2012).  
Characteristics of Tier II were also summarized by 
Brandenburg (2006) as shown in Table I.  
 

HRM and construction accidents  
 

HRM and accidents in construction industry are strongly 
linked because accidents involve human aspects in one 
way or the other. Lubega et al. (2000) said that accidents 
in construction include not only direct physical injury to 
persons or damage to property but also short and long 
term effects or incidents due to other exposures on sites 
that affect the worker‘s health and physical well-being. 
The profession of construction became common place to 
death and injury during the Industrial Revolution. There 
was a lot of work to do and profit became more valued 
than workers‘ conditions and safety (McCabe, 2007). 
During this period subcontracting became common. 
There was little training given to employees who were in 
demand. Subcontractors were under pressure and would 
press supervisors/gangers to force their men to work 
faster and take risks and injuries increased (McCabe, 
2007). Nevertheless a research done by Coleman (1991) 
revealed that nearly 90% of all construction accidents 
leading to death can be prevented of which positive 
management can contribute up to 70%. 
Sawacha et al. (1999) named top five important issues 
that are associated with site safety. Interestingly all these 
are related to HRM in one way or the other. They are (1) 
Management talk on safety, (2) Provision of safety 
booklets, (3) Provision of safety equipment, (4) Providing 
safety environment and (5) Appointing a trained safety 
representative on the site. In addition to these we add the 
aspect of (6) Personality/individuality that contributes to 
70% or more cases of accidents (Haslam et al. 2005). 
 

HRM practices and construction accidents 
 

Management talk on safety is a measure of top 
management commitment to workers‘ safety. Previous



334     Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 
 
 
 

Table 1. Tier and Tier II Characteristics. 
 

Tier I Tier II 

Highly skilled front-line supervisors in all crafts Highly skilled journey-level workers in key crafts 

Single-craft journey-level workers Multi-craft journey-level workers 

No pay differential to workers for skill Workers are paid a higher wage for their higher skill level 

Traditional top-down management structure Proactive, horizontal management structure 

Strong communication between supervisors and 
managers 

Strong communication between journey-level workers 
and project managers 

Information technology used extensively at supervisor 
and project management level 

Information technology used extensively at all levels 

Large labor pool available (possibly unskilled) Skilled labor pool available 

Management, computer, planning training available to 
supervisors only 

Management, computer, planning training available to 
journey-level workers 

Task training available to all workers Craft training available to workers 

Traditional hierarchical work environment at crew level 
in all crafts 

High performance work teams utilized at crew level (for 
key crafts) 

 

Source: (Brandenburg, 2006). 

 
 
 
 
research has shown that avoiding engaging in risk-taking 
behaviors was related to enhanced feelings of workers‘ 
responsibility for safety and more positve assessment of 
senior management commitment (Yule et al., 2007). 
Frequent communications about safety by top 
management make the workforce feel that they are 
valued by the management and hence risk-taking 
becomes minimal. Having a clinic/first aid rooms at the 
site can also depict the level of management commitment 
to safety. Supervisors or front-line managers are key 
individuals in accident prevention. In their daily contact 
with staff they have the opportunity to control unsafe 
conditions and acts leading to accidents (Simard and 
Marchand, 1994; Chew, 1988). In other words they set 
the tone for the work atmosphere and hence safety 
climate for their operatives (Flin et al., 2000). 
 

Personal involvement and participatory involvement by 
supervisors with their workforce in safety activities rather 
than a centralized bureaucratic relationship also seems to 
promote safety (Simard and Marchand, 1994). In their 
research, Shannon et al. (1997) found that good relations 
between management and workers was consistent with 
lower injury rates.  Appointment of a safety manager 
(Simard and Marchand, 1994) and a safety committee 
(Flin et al., 2000) help in creating a safety system in the 
company. The HRM department‘s role is to ensure and 
enforce safety by recruiting safety manager(s) and 
establishing a safety committee. Supervisor evaluation 
for performance and rewards should also include 
assessment of level of participatory involvement and 
safety talks given to workers and also the number of 
injuries registered among his/her crew members.  
Haslam et al. (2005) pointed out that economic climate is 
an originating influence to construction accidents. Timely 
payments and rewards show the level of commitment to, 
and value placed on, the workers and are crucial for 
productivity (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). It creates an 

environment where workers are less stressed, happier 
and focused on fulfilling company goals. On the contrary 
poor and untimely payments tend to increase the risk of 
injury. Workers should frequently be monitored and 
assessed based on their attitudes towards work. Unsafe 
and unscrupulous behaviors that can lead to accidents 
(personal or workmates) shouldn‘t be tolerated with 
possible dismissal. We discuss other practices such as 
employee motivation and training under HRM policies 
and processes in relation to construction accidents 
respectively. 
 

HRM policies and construction accidents 
 

In their research, Sawacha et al. (1999) found that safety 
performance in the United Kingdom Construction Industry 
was most dominantly influenced by organizational policy. 
Poor HRM policies in construction can be traced back to 
during the Industrial Revolution. During this period the 
culture of the emerging industry was shaped into one in 
which speed, agility, and fearlessness became the prized 
attributes (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). Casualization of 
employment process became common. Workers were 
hired to be fired at the end of projects. This is still the 
status quo in today‘s construction section (Kilby and 
McCabe, 2008). With this type of mindset, employee 
perception of the value the organization places on them 
is reduced and this can in some cases increase the 
chance of risk-taking (Yule et al., 2007). High employee 
turnover is also associated with such a culture and with it 
increased injury rates (Shannon et al., 1997). Employee 
turnover and injury rates are associated by the learning 
curves, new experiences and mastering of a new job. 
Strong HRM policies that ensure centralization and 
formalization of the recruitment process for longer 
retention can contribute to solving this. Employees should 
also be insured against accidents. 



Munu et al.       335 
 
 
 
Hinze and Gordon (1979) found that supervisor-worker 
relationship affects injury rate. The HRM department 
must constantly nurture, monitor and reward this 
relationship to create a better working environment. 
Incentives for safe operation should also be given at 
personal and team levels (Konkolewsky, 2001). 
Outsourcing and subcontracting do not guarantee skills 
and performance and may impair organization‘s ability to 
control some processes making it difficult to implement 
coherent HRM strategies (Dainty and Loosemore, 2012). 
Construction firms (including large firms) should focus on 
creating and developing their own human resource base. 
Policies on working conditions must be clear. 
Compromised safety is linked to tiredness and fatigue 
leading to reduced concentration (Haslam et al., 2005). 
Bonus pay and overtime works should be discouraged.  
Bonus payments can lead operatives to achieve higher 
production through performing unsafely (Sawacha et al., 
1999). It is a motivation to work faster and thus 
encourages the use of unsafe methods like risk-takings. 
Leather (1983) found that 67% of foremen and 43% of 
housing managers in the Public Sector Group did 
consider bonus targets to be a major contributing cause 
of risk-taking and corner-cutting by the direct labor 
operatives. HRM can indirectly reduce the rate of 
accidents that occur from overtime works and productivity 
bonus pay by assigning moderate amounts to overtime 
works and productivity to discourage such activity from 
happening in the organization. Assigning high overtime 
payment may have negative implication on project 
schedule and accidents as the workers may intentionally 
slow their work during the norm time in order to be caught 
behind schedule and hence earn overtime and 
productivity bonus payments. When it is deemed 
necessary to assign productivity bonus, a safety bonus is 
advised instead as it combines productivity and safety 
performance as a goal for reward (Sawacha et al., 1999). 
 
HRM processes and construction accidents 
 
Many of the accidents in the construction industry arise 
from workers‘ negligence, ignorance, and carelessness 
(Lubega et al., 2000). Understanding employee 
personality, capability and talent is vital for accident 
prevention in construction industry. It should guide the 
HRM department to decide acceptance for recruitment 
based on possibility of required future trainings to ensure 
required safety climate in the organization. Where 
coordination is required, poor command of local language 
can impair safety and productivity (Haslam et al., 2005). 
Sawacha et al. (1999) found that a strong correlation 
between care for personal safety and safety performance 
exists and employees who are concerned about personal 
safety in their work approach have better safety record. 
HRM Department should include safety among the 
factors evaluated during interviews and tests for the 

selection into the organization and also during 
assignment to a given project. Language and personal 
safety history should also be considered.  
There is a strong relationship between age and 
experience and level of safety performance of workers. 
Younger workers register more non-fatal accidents than 
older ones (Sawacha et al., 1999; Salminen, 2004). The 
trend falls steadily to reach a low point in mid-forties. This 
is because the older the operative gets the more 
experience and safety requirement awareness gained. 
However older persons seem to be more subject to 
fatalities than younger ones. Jeong (1998) found that 
workers aged 45 and above have highest number of 
injuries. This could be because of lack of mental agility, 
sensory deficiencies, and the longer time required by the 
older worker to learn when put into a new situation (Pratt 
et al., 1996). Seniority of workforce is consistently related 
to lower injury rates (Shannon et al. 1997). Employees 
are more prone to accidents in the first years of their work 
with an employer. Jeong (1998) found that 95.6% of non-
fatal injuries and 92.5% of deaths occurred during the 
first year of employment. Experience and age should be 
factors of consideration during selection for recruitment 
into the company and assignment of workers to 
construction projects depending on project type. Pre-
employment screening/health surveillance should also be 
done to take only healthy and capable workers. 
Tasks that are considered ‗dangerous‘ should have only 
experienced and aged workers controlling or supervising 
it or even working on them. It may require an extra effort 
from the HRM Department to secure such a service by 
searching for the required expertise or outsourcing. This 
can seem expensive or waste of time from a layman‘s 
point of view. But may prove more economical in the long 
run taking into account the direct and indirect costs the 
organization would incur in event of probable accidents 
when working with inexperienced employees. Factors 
such as loss of company‘s image due to frequency in 
accidents, fatalities of employees and legal cases can 
prove more expensive in the long run. On the other hand 
the accumulation of loss of working hours and days and 
poor publicity due to accidents is more costly to the 
organization. When deciding whether to work with a 
relatively cheap inexperienced organization employee or 
employ and/or outsource experts for the particular task, 
the HRM Department should consider all the risks 
involved. 
Safety trainings amongst workers was reported to be 
important in preventing accidents in the work of Hale 
(1984). However most construction firms have not 
adopted safety trainings. In a research done by 
(Sawacha et al., 1999), ninety-two percent of operatives 
reported that they have been asked to operate machinery 
without adequate training. The use of both short-term and 
long-term training at places like training centers, rather 
than on-the-job training is more beneficial (Tabassi and



336     Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 
 

 
 
 
Bakar, 2008). Effective training is an important factor for 
implementation of HRM in construction projects (Tabassi 
and Bakar, 2008). López et al. (2008) concluded that 
workers in different work age group may require different 
specific trainings.  
During the separation phase, the HRM Department 
should come out with a strong way forward that reflects 
the company‘s commitment and love towards the worker 
for his service. This may include financial help and 
frequent communication. When a worker is fatally injured 
or injured to the level that he can no longer serve the 
company, special benefits can be conferred on the family 
depending on the service he/she has offered to the 
company. 

 
HRM and OHS in construction industry 

 
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is a component of 
HRM (Zanko and Dawson, 2012). Successful 
management of OHS is crucial to the construction 
industry because of the direct and indirect costs of 
mobilizing human resources. A number of disciplines 
have helped to further the knowledge of OHS. Despite 
the many developments, a challenge still remains to 
improve the skills of managers and make them aware of 
their responsibilities on the subject of preventive and 
corrective measures to improve occupational health and 
safety. Gravel et al. (2013) revealed that OHS problems 
are related to difficulties with work organization, 
management, wearing of protective equipment, 
harmonization of work methods and physical or 
psychological overwork. Recruiting and retaining a 
competent workforce, poor work relations, increased 
absenteeism and staff turnover, and lack of work/family 
balance are the problems associated with HRM (Gravel 
et al., 2013). The impact of increased workload on 
employees‘ mental health can be measured from the 
angle of imbalance: (1) job demands-control imbalance 
(Karasek model) and (2) effort-reward imbalance (Siegrist 
model). Vézina et al. (2006) said these imbalances are 
indicators of perceived poor health. It is vital that 
managers in the construction industry understand the 
economic and organizational issues associated with OHS 
and that they master the associated problem-solving 
processes. In addition, managers must be able to 
critically analyze risks and mobilize human and material 
resources to overcome them in a lasting way. Some 
workers believe that the failure to wear/use safety 
clothing and equipment ought to be punishable offense 
through sanctions imposed on the offender. They 
suggested that such a sanction should be written into the 
Contracts of Employment (Sawacha et al., 1999). In 
another study, (Shannon et al., 1997) also found that 
good housekeeping was consistent with lower injury rate 
among workers and Konkolewsky (2001) pointed to the 
importance of highlighting danger spots. 

Tier II and construction accidents 

 
A quick summary of the discussions of the HRM 
practices, policies and processes in relation to 
construction industry accidents points out the following 
among others: (1) recruitment of safety manager(s) and 
establishing a safety committee, (2) timely payments and 
rewards, (3) assessment of rewards to include supervisor 
participatory involvement, safety talks given and number 
of injuries among crew members, (4) centralization and 
formalization of the recruitment process for all workers 
with employee retention focus, (5) insurance of 
employees against accidents, (6) standardized salary 
scale where employees are paid on guaranteed monthly 
basis not based on work load performed, (7) 
encouragement of standard working hours (for example 
eight hours per day), (8) discouragement of bonus pay 
and overtime works by lowering rates, (9) consideration 
of employee personality, capability, talent and injury 
history during recruitment, (10) creation and development 
of a company‘s own human resource base through 
frequent trainings and talks, (11) promoting seniority of 
workforce, and (12) avoiding on-the-job training but 
upholding regular safety trainings at places like training 
centers. Considering all these factors and the 
characteristics of Tier II Workforce Management 
Strategy, it therefore follows that Tier II Workforce 
Management Strategy if properly implemented is better 
suited and positioned to significantly reduce accidents in 
the construction sector.  It has few multi-craft highly 
skilled journey-level workers who are satisfied because 
they are highly paid. They are better trained and are not 
under pressure of job insecurity and they feel that they 
are valued by the organization/company.  Workers under 
Tier II approach are therefore well placed to avoid 
accidents during construction. 
 
 

CONCLUSION 
 
This paper reviewed accident situation and HRM 
literatures in construction industry. It also examined how 
HRM can be used to mitigate construction accidents. 
Proactive HRM is the way to go for construction industry 
for efficiency, effectiveness and safety. The impact of 
Proactive HRM has already been felt and contributing 
towards making British Construction more effective and 
efficient (Kilby and McCabe, 2008). The concept of hiring 
to fire promotes unsafe behaviours and should be fought 
in the construction industry. Prioritization of employee 
retention will help in fighting accidents. Employees should 
only be recruited in a formal process under the HRM 
Department after passing all selection procedures and 
requirements of which safety concern should be highly 
weighted. Project managers shouldn‘t be allowed to 
employ without the consent of the HRM. 



Munu et al.       337 
 
 
 
 
There is a strong need for policies on continuous Human 
Resource Development (HRD) programmes to be put in 
place by construction companies and also ensured 
through government policies. On-the-job trainings should 
be discouraged as it is a form of experimentation on 
human beings with possible dire consequences. 
Appointment of safety managers and participatory 
involvement of supervisors is consistent with lower injury 
rates. Enhancement of people‘s importance is central to 
lowering injuries in the construction industry. The factors 
discussed point out that Tier II Workforce Management 
Strategy is a good model that can significantly reduce 
construction accidents if widely implemented. More work 

should be done to find out how Tier II Workforce 
Management Strategy can be affordably and easily 
adapted by construction companies especially in 
developing countries where unskilled labour force seems 
to be the only cheap available human resource at the 
moment and for the near future.  
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
 
The authors would like to thank Alfred Ahumuza for all 
the insights he gave during this research.  
 

 
 
 
 
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