Transactions Template


 

  

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1, MARCH 2015 

 

  

65  

Strategies for safety and productivity improvement  
Lina Ahmed AbuHamra¹ and Adnan Ali Enshassi² 

 
  ¹Researcher in MSc of Construction Management, Department of Civil Engineering, Islamic University, Gaza, Palestine. E-mail:lina.a.abuhamra@gmail.com 

²Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. E-mail: enshassi@iugaza.edu.ps  

 

Abstract— the aim of this paper is to study the connection between occupational health and safety (OHS) and 
increasing employee productivity in construction industry from the point view of contractors in Gaza strip. This 
has been done by identifying strategies that effectively promote both safety and productivity during a 
construction task. In this study,  a quantitative research was adopted as the main statistical component. The 
survey approach (descriptive and analytical survey) has been chosen and has been conducted through some face-
to-face interviews and a written closed and semi closed questionnaire for a chosen sample with a size of forty 
three people from the construction population. After making validity test, relia-bility test, and descriptive 
analysis, the test of the relative importance index (RII) has been conducted to determine the relative importance 
of various factors. Strategies that can be followed to effectively affect safety and productivity were resulted from 
the survey feedback. These strategies fall under five major groups; planning, training, monitoring, 
communication skills, and inspection. Results indicated that “Training workers to carry out works properly, 
especially in the new types of work"  factor has been ranked in the 1st position with regard to its importance in 
sustaining safety and productivity of project. This factor belongs to the “training group”. The research is only 
confined to the safety and productivity relationship in the public construction environment in Gaza strip, but not 
the west bank. The small sample size of the survey would probably not be indicative of the general population of 
contactors in Gaza strip, although the most of the results were reasonably accepted and were related to the 
literature review.  More research is needed to understand the topic since literature on safety and productivity in 
Palestine and surrounding region is very limited. Construction companies need to substantially improve OHS as 
well as improving construction productivity and reducing costs. Contractors need to plan for a strategy to 
achieve that, and need to move from strategies to implementation. In other words, contractors are recommended 
to act strategically to protect workers by continuously identifying hazardous conditions and by training and 
monitoring. 

Index Terms— Construction,  Safety,  Productivity,  Strategy,  Safety plans.  

 

I INTRODUCTION

To successfully complete a modern construction project, 

managers must ensure that the facility is delivered on time 

and under budget while meeting specified quality require-

ments and acceptable safety standards [1]. Productivity is 

one of the most important factors affecting the overall per-

formance of any organization, large or small [2]. At the same 

time it can be said that productivity of various trades in con-

struction is the basis of arriving at estimates for time and 

cost required to complete a construction process [3]. Siri-

wardana and Ruwanpura [4] said that improving labor 

productivity is an effective approach to improve the overall 

productivity of the industry. For example, it is vital for con-

struction managers and engineers to understand how safety 

and productivity are interrelated [1]. A manager in Turkey, 

who has a long and extensive international experience, ex-

pressed the view that workers in Mediterranean countries are 

especially unlikely to take the required safety measures, 

even if management insists that they do so.  

 

In contrast, a site manager of a company that has a joint ven-

ture with an American firm stated that their site engineers do 

successfully control the safety situation by random stops and 

checks of work operations throughout the day [2].   

 

It must be known that construction accidents are the major 

element of many human tragedies, demotivate workers, dis-

rupt site activities, delay project progress and adversely affect 

the overall cost, productivity and reputation of the construc-

tion industry [5]. The relationship between safety and produc-

tivity is clear [6]. If the workplace is poor in health and safety, 

it will affect the individual, the workplace and the community. 

It will reduce productivity [7]. 

 

Therefore it is important to develop working cultures in a di-

rection which supports health and safety at work, which pro-

motes a positive social climate and smooth operation, and 

enhance the productivity [8]. The objective of this paper is to 

identify strategies that effectively promote both safety and 

productivity during a construction task. 

 

II LITERATURE REVIEW 

Project objectives are:  to get a production in high quality, on 

time, on budget and with zero accidents. These objectives 

mailto:lina.a.abuhamra@gmail.com
mailto:enshassi@iugaza.edu.ps


 Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (2015) 
 

  

66  

are not easy as construction sites are busy places where time 

pressures are always present and the work environment ever 

changing [9]. Hallowell [1] said that: cost, schedule, quality 

and safety are in conflict in the most of time. Leaders around 

the world increasingly recognize that a well-managed safety 

system provides an operational strategy to improve overall 

management. In recent years a significant number of major 

organizations have discovered that applying the tools and 

techniques of good safety management gives them not only 

reduced injuries and illnesses but also measurable improve-

ments in efficiency, quality, and productivity [10]. 

Roberts [11] argued that there is must be a strategy makes 

significant increases in productivity and efficiency whilst 

reducing accidents and creating strong awareness of safety 

in the workplace. It drives also to cost reduction and overall 

greater profitability. Some factors such as distractions in the 

work environment and human error have a negative impact 

on safety and productivity while other factors, such as plan-

ning, communication and teamwork, have a positive impact 

on both safety and productivity [1]. Chapman and Butry [12] 

said that management practices affect productivity over the 

life cycle of a construction project in a number of ways, 

which are including: planning; resource supply and control; 

and supply of information and feedback.  

Human resources practices are important to project and safe-

ty management. These include: giving out incentives based 

on an individual's safety performance; meting out punish-

ment; providing safety training; maintaining close commu-

nication and feedback; allowing workers to participate in 

safety matters; management commitment; evaluating work-

ers based on their safety performance; and providing welfare 

benefits [13]. AlTabtabai studied the general concept of 

safety culture, and indicated that the most important factors 

in construction site accidents were management policies 

(such as safety meetings, training, and supervisory attitudes 

and messages) and risk acceptance by workers [14]. The 

weekly work plan meeting promotes two-way communica-

tion and team planning to share information on a project in 

an efficient and accurate way. It can improve safety, quality, 

the work flow, material flow, productivity, and the relation-

ship among team members [15]. HSE [7] insisted that 

Health and safety should be treated as an integral part of 

productivity, competitiveness and profitability. Hammad et 

al. [16] concluded that the most effective ways to improve 

productivity and safety are analyzing the entire construction 

process in detail; providing better planning to mitigate the 

impact of work changes and to eliminate the loss of time that 

results from imprecise planning; training for supervisors and 

the crew; regular meetings; and safety planning. Each con-

struction project has unique problems and challenges, so that 

planning should lead to improved safety performance to 

ensure high production. To achieve that, managers should 

identify in advance any special equipment, tools, or safety 

devices to do job efficiently and safely should be taken in 

mind. In addition to that, detailed planning help to reduce 

accidents by eliminating crisis situations which can occur 

when a crew is suddenly confronted with an unplanned for 

situation [17]. 

 

III METHODOLOGY 

Forty three questionnaires were distributed to randomly se-

lected contractors to get their opinion, on a five point Likert 

scale, about the strategy that should be taken to improve 

safety and productivity in Gaza strip. All questionnaires 

were returned and completed for quantitative analysis. A 

well-designed questionnaire was developed for the study 

with mainly closed ended questions and some open ques-

tions. The questionnaire was built on three sections that cov-

er the main questions of the study. The first section is related 

to the demographic information about respondents and com-

pany profile. Second section is related to extent of im-

portance of safety topic in the company and it also includes 

some questions about labor productivity. Third section is 

related to strategies that can be followed to effectively affect 

both of occupational safety and increasing productivity. It 

includes 5 main groups with 26 factors. The five groups are 

planning, training, monitoring, communication skills and 

inspection. These have been developed from the interviews 

and the factors that have been mentioned by (Hallowell [1]; 

Volkman [18]; Chapman and Butry [12]; Lai et al. [13]; 

Whiting and Bennett [10]; Walshl and Sawhneyz [14]; Sa-

lem et al. [15]; Levitt and Samelson [17]; HSE [7]; Roberts 

[11]; Hammad et al. [16]; National Business Group on 

Health [19]; Peng et al. [20]). 

Before the distribution of the questionnaire, a face validity 

of the questionnaire was conducted by discussing a draft of 

the questionnaire with a group of professors and experts as 

well as a statistician. After that a pre-test for the question-

naire was conducted with five respondents of colleagues and 

key decision-makers (site engineers and project managers). 

At its core, pretesting was conducted to make sure that peo-

ple can understand the questions, and to verify the com-

pleteness of questionnaire. Many improvement changes 

were implemented on the questionnaire after the feedback 

from the pre-test. The respondents have recommended to 

change the answer options in the questions of section two 

beside modifying some wordings of some questions in sec-

tions two and three to clarify some confusion and ambiguity 

which were reported by them. After the pre-test, a pilot 

study was conducted with fifteen respondents. It was done to 

discard questions that are not providing useful data and to 

make final revisions of the questionnaire. The results of the 

pilot study were reliable. Accordingly, the pilot study sample  

were included  under the full main sample. 

Research population includes contractors in the public con-

struction sector as a target group. They have a valid registra-

tion by the Palestinians contractors unions (PCU) in Gaza 

strip. They classified in the first class. Contractors were se-

lected from the first class because they usually work in large 



Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (201 5) 
  

67  

projects and thus supposed that occupational safety is part of 

their work plan. Sample was selected randomly. Sample size 

was chosen to provide adequate information on reliability 

and a certain degree of validity.  Forty three respondents as a 

sample were included in this study.  Although the sample 

size of the survey would probably not be indicative of the 

general population of construction industry in Gaza strip, but 

the most of the results were reasonably accepted and were 

related to the literature review as will be shown.  

The relative importance index (RII) test was adopted for 

similar studies to determine the relative importance of vari-

ous factors. The RII test adopted for this study to determine 

the relative importance of the factors in part three by de-

pending on responses from contractors. The five point scale 

ranged from 1 (very low important) to 5 (very high im-

portant) was adopted and transformed to relative importance 

index. The RII was used to rank the strategies that will im-

prove both productivity and occupational safety in construc-

tion from the point view of contractors in Gaza strip. 

IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

A. Respondent’s general information 

The respondent’s general information is shown on table (1). 

 

B. Occupational safety practice in construction sites 

 

1. Occupational safety and company's policy 

 

Figure 1: Occupational safety and the company's policy 

Table 1: Profile of the respondent and the company 

Profile of the respondent 

and the company 

Frequency Percentage 
% 

The Title position 
Executive Director 3 6.9 

Project manager 11 25.6 

Site engineer 22 51.2 

office engineer 1 2.3 

Supervisor engineer 1 2.3 

Safety engineer 1 2.3 

Foreman 3 6.9 

procurement engineer 1 2.3 

Years of experience in the field of construction? 
less than 1 year 6 14.0 

Profile of the respondent 

and the company 

Frequency Percentage 
% 

1 to 3 years 14 32.6 

4 to 6 years 2 4.7 

7 to 11 years 6 14.0 

11 to 11 years 4 9.3 

More than 15 years 11 25.6 

What is the number of projects implemented over the 

past three? 
Less than 10 22 51.2 

10 – 20 19 44.2 

21 – 30 2 4.6 

More than 30 - - 

What is the value   of   the   projects   implemented   dur-

ing   the   last three years ($)? 
Less than 40000 2 4.7 

40000 – 100000 4 9.3 

More than 250000 - - 

1 to 3 million 3 7.0 

4 to 6 million 8 18.6 

More than 6 million 26 60.5 

 

Figure (1) shows that majority of respondents (93%) of the 

sample mentioned that occupational safety forms a part of 

company policies, while the rest of the study sample  (7%) 

believed otherwise, and expressed that occupational safety 

does not form a part of company policy. The result is a good 

sign for construction companies that classified as first class 

in Gaza strip, as this evidence of increased awareness of the 

importance of occupational safety in construction. Even 

though that many companies which safety forms a part of its 

policies do not apply such safety policy. A written health and 

safety policy helps to promote an effective occupational 

safety and health (OSH) program. Such a policy should re-

flect the special needs of the company in terms of safety and 

should be regularly reviewed and updated. 

2. Safety program 

 

As shown in figure (2), on a question about if the company 

has a safety program for each project or not, (62.8 %) of 

respondents stated that their companies designed a safety 

program for each project.  On the other hand, (37.2 %) re-

plied negatively with respect to this question. 

 

Safety program should be written in a manner that takes into 

account both the safety and productivity. Companies that do 

not have a safety program said that the availability of the 

safety program for each project depends on the request of 

supervision or owner (financier of the project), and there are 

those who said that each project manager is responsible for 

the safety of the site and therefore no need for a special safe-

ty program. There was also a saying that all construction 

projects are similar, and therefore would not require each 

project to a special safety program. Furthermore, they have 

considered that safety program is useless and costly in view 

of worker compensation and injury treatment. Results 

showed that most of companies are realizing that safety pro-

93 % 

7 % 

Yes

No



 Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (2015) 
 

  

68  

55.8% 

4.7% 

32.6% 

7% 

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Yes No Sometimes Depends on
donor

gram is not only beneficial for the employees. It is also a 

way to gain a competitive edge over the competition level. 

 

Figure 2: Safety program for each project 

 

The reason of why many companies in Gaza strip started to 

consider safety programs is that most of projects are funded 

by international or regional donors. The international donors 

come from regions where construction safety occupies top 

priorities of construction industry. In developed countries, it 

is usual and obligatory to provide safety programs by con-

tracting companies according to project and company size. 

Thus, when donors started to fund construction projects in 

Palestine, they required that contractors should provide safe-

ty program for the projects. 

3. Safety training 

 

Figure (3) shows whether company provides employees in 

each project a safety training courses or not. (60.5 %) re-

plied positively while (39.5 %) mentioned that project em-

ployees didn't join any kind of safety training. This result 

shows that companies which provide safety training to the 

project employees are more than those who don't provide. 

 

It reflects that companies appreciate the important role of 

safety training in construction. All employees are required to 

attend safety training from manager to worker. 
 

 

Figure 3: Companies safety training 

Safety training gives employees opportunity to identify haz-

ards and the best practices to avoid such hazards at work-

place. Safety training programs should be offered to meet 

the current demand of the construction industry. There was a 

clarification from the companies that do not provide a safety 

training program for staff  by saying that most projects do 

not pose a threat to the lives of workers. In addition to that, 

they think that safety training is costly and takes from the 

time of the project. 

4. Planning activities in accordance with the standards 

 of occupational safety 

 
Figure (4) describes respondents' responses when they have 

been asked whether project is planned and implemented 

according to safety measures. It is shown that (55.8 %) of 

respondents replied with yes, while only (4.7 %) replied 

with no. (32.6%) of respondents said that projects, in some-

times, are planned and implemented according to safety 

measures and (7%) said that it depends on the request of 

donors. Projects that are planned by taking into account 

safety are projects that cost less and are performed well. In 

other words, when safety is included into project planning, 

compensation will reduce, productivity will increase and 

quality will increase too. Compensation will reduce because  

planning for safety means that project employees and work-

ers will be less exposed to expected hazards and thus acci-

dents and its inherent compensations will decrease.  

Thus, as found through the literature review, Hammad et al. 

[16] said that safety planning is an important element for 

increasing the productivity at construction sites. Also, Saurin 

et al. said that effective planning for health and safety is 

essential if projects are to be delivered on time, without cost 

overrun, and without experiencing accidents or damaging 

the health of site personnel [9]. Respondents who said that 

project sometimes is planned and implemented according to 

safety measures may don't have enough experience to know 

the meaning of safety planning.  

The word "sometimes" could have different meanings in this 

questionnaire; respondents may refer to some projects that 

planned by taking into consideration safety measures in ac-

cordance with the conditions of the contract, while some of 

them may have thought that all projects are planned with 

regard to safety measures, but not 100%.  

They might also have thought that company applies safety 

62.8 % 

37.2 % 

Yes

No

60.5 % 
39.5 % 

Yes

No

Figure 4: Planning activities in accordance with the  

standards 



Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (201 5) 
  

69  

measures while planning in different levels of importance according to the size, cost, and importance of the project. 

5. Safety meetings between owner and contractor 

 

Figure 5: Safety meetings between owner and contractor 

 

Figure (5) shows that (9.3%) of the study sample holds safe-

ty meetings with owner of the project every week, and 

(18.6%) holds safety meetings with the owner every month. 

The majority of respondents (58.1%) holds safety meetings 

with the owner only when they need to that, and (7%) of the 

respondents said that holding safety meetings with owner 

depends on the occurrence of serious accidents. Also, figure 

(5) shows that (7%) of the respondents never hold meetings 

with the owner.   

Safety engineer is responsible for conducting safety meet-

ings periodically with the owner to discuss different topics 

such safety rules, expected hazards, corrective actions, acci-

dent prevention, and reviews of accidents that have occurred 

recently. Such meetings should be held at least once month-

ly. 

6. Inspection on occupational safety by the Ministry of 

Labor 

 

Figure (6) shows that (7%) of the study sample mentioned 

that there is always an inspection on the sites by the ministry 

of labor. In contrast, there is (25.6 %) of respondents said 

that the construction sites never be inspected by the ministry 

of labor. While there was a saying by (39.5%) that on-site 

inspection was not fully disconnected, but occurred only in 

case the need to write a report about a particular accident. 

Also, there was (27.9%) of respondents said that the inspec-

tion visits occur intermittently. 

 

 

 

Hassouna [9] explained in the analysis of the results of his 

questionnaire that (83%) of the respondents said that there 

was no governmental institution that follows up safety in 

constructions, enlightenment of the construction employees, 

in applying safety legislation, or help in improving safety 

performance in construction sites in Gaza strip. 

 

 

Figure 6: Inspection on occupational safety by the ministry 

of Labor 

 

The other (17%) of his respondents noted a representative of 

the ministry of labor visits their sites, but in a much separat-

ed periods and without serious actions. The role of govern-

ment towards construction safety in Gaza strip seems bad. 

There is an inherent need to activate the role of the govern-

ment to enforce safety in our local construction industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

9.3 % 
18.6 % 

0 

58.1 % 

7 % 7 % 

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70

Weekly Monthly Yearly Time of need
to that

Upon the
occurrence of

serious
accidents

Never hold
meetings

7% 

27.9 % 

39.5% 

25.6% 

0

10

20

30

40

50

Yes always Yes, in
intermittent

times

Only in the
case of an
accident
reporting

Never be
inspected



 Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (2015) 
 

  

70  

7. Actions against the contractor in the case of non-

compliance with health and safety procedures 

 

 

Figure 7: Actions against the contractor in the case of non-

compliance with health and safety procedures 

 

Figure (7) shows that (62.8%) of the study sample stated that 

there are strict actions against their companies in the case of 

non-compliance with health and safety procedures during 

project implementation, such as receiving a warning mes-
sage, or the imposition of a penalty, and punishment may 

reach to suspension of work at the site until the contracting 

company is committed to the standards of safety. In the other 

hand, there are (37.2%) of respondents said that there are no 

actions against them if they don’t work according to safety 

standards. There may be a great need to follow the style of 

imposing sanctions in case it is not commitment to safety 

standards, especially if the  concept of the need to commit-

ment to safety standards does not represent an essential part 

in the company's vision. 

 

8. Accidents rate 

 

 

Figure 8: Accidents rate in the projects of company 

 

Figure (8) shows that (53.5%) of the study sample believed 

that the accidents rate is decreasing in the projects of their 

company, but there were (46.5%) of respondents did not 

notice if the accident rate has increased or decreased. The 

second result gives a serious indicator of occupational safety 

at construction sites, where non observation of the accidents 

rate in the workplace means that the issue of the safety of 

the workers does not have any importance and does not be 

taken seriously. Although it has been reviewed previously 

among the literature review that incidents which lead to ac-

cidents and disasters require time and resources to be over-

come, but even near-miss incidents will usually hurt produc-

tivity. Moreover, occupational injuries can harm the reputa-

tion of a company, decrease productivity, and result in huge 

costs [2]. 

 

9. Measures are taken to avoid the recurrence of inci-

dents 

 

 

Figure 9: Measures are taken to avoid the recurrence of inci-

dents 

Figure (9) shows that there are (90.7%) of the respondents 

say that their companies have taken measures to avoid a 

repetition of the incidents that occurred at construction sites, 

such as searching for gaps regarding to measures of occupa-

tional safety and trying to treat the problem, in addition to 

raising awareness of the workers regarding safety standards, 

and ensuring the availability of all the necessary safety tools, 

as well as following-up and monitoring of workers and im-

posing sanctions on those who do not adhere to safety stand-

ards. In the other hand, there are (9.3%) of the respondents 

said that there are not any procedures to be followed by their 

companies to prevent the repetition of the incidents which 

occurred at construction sites. They say that there is no need 

for that because the number of injuries is too small and it is 

not affect the workflow. 

 

C. Strategies that can be followed to effectively affect 

safety and productivity 

 

Table (2) demonstrates the results from the survey feedback 

in the RII according to overall respondents. It is about strat-

egies that can be followed to effectively affect safety and 

productivity. These strategies fall under five major groups; 

planning, training, monitoring, communication skills, and 

inspection. Results indicated that “training workers to carry 

out works properly, especially in the new types of work" fac-

tor with (RII = 88.15) has been ranked in the 1st position 

with regard to its importance in sustaining safety and 

productivity of project. This factor belongs to training group. 

62.8 % 

37.2 % 

Yes

No

0 % 

53.5 % 

0 % 

46.5 % 

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Increasing Decreasing Always the
same rate

No note

90.7 % 

9 .3 % 

Yes

No



Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (201 5) 
  

71  

In terms of productivity, skillful worker is a productive one 

because he performs his tasks on time and with quality. Re-

sults of research prove that orientation of either newly hired 

workers or regular workers is essential especially for irregu-

lar job tasks. It helps avoiding discrepancies with safety reg-

ulations.  

 

 

Table 2: Relative importance index (RII) and ranking for each item of the field: “strategies that can be followed to effective-

ly affect safety and productivity” 

Strategies that can be followed to effectively affect safety and  

productivity 

RII % Ranking Group 

Training workers to carry out works properly, especially in the new types of 

work 

88.15 1 Training 

Supervisor should be firm with the contractor in safety conditions because it 

will positively affect productivity 
86.80 2 Inspection 

Foreman should put daily and weekly work plans and define tools that should 

be used. This will increase productivity and ensure safety 

86.53 3 Monitoring 

Drug test for workers 85.60 4 Monitoring 

Scheduling adequate number of workers to complete the heavy tasks, which 

helps to decrease injuries, as well as to foster a spirit of teamwork and in-

crease productivity 

85.20 5 Monitoring 

Workers should be trained about dealing with changes in working conditions, 

such as extreme heat, rain and slippery surfaces to prevent injuries and to get 

excellent productivity 

83.87 6 Monitoring 

Necessity of coordination between the contractor and the ministry of Labor to 

apply occupational safety standards 

82.27 7 Inspection 

Workplace safety signs maintain facility and keep workers safe, healthy, and 

productive 
81.48 8 Communication 

skills 

Giving workers breaks time, and urges workers to take a rest when feel tired 

and fatigue, as well as not deprive of holidays 

81.07 9 Monitoring 

First aid training 80.20 10 Training 

A safety engineer at site is necessary to prevent accidents and increase 

productivity 

80.13 11 Planning 

Managers, engineers and supervisors must be a good example for workers in 

compliance with the   safety standards, such as wearing safety shoes, hats and 

etc., as this is considered an indirect message to workers to abide safety 

standards 

79.73 12 Communication 

skills 

 

Owners have to assess contractors before awarding the tender on the basis of 

the commitment to safety standards, where it affects the productivity and 

profit later 

78.93 13 Planning 

It is necessary to allocate a portion of project budget for the application of 

health and safety standards perfectly 
78.93 14 Planning 

Housekeeping is important in the workplace to get effective results with zero 

accidents 

78.23 15 Planning 

Planning each stage of work will help to adhere to the schedule with ensuring 

safety and productivity 

77.87 16 Planning 

It is important to assess workers in terms of commitment to safety standards 

and doing work properly, in addition to give incentives 
77.87 17 Communication 

skills 

Define any special equipment, tools, and safety devices to perform work effi-

ciently and safely 

77.87 18 Planning 

Foreman or supervisor should have communication skills with workers to 

manage safety and to obtain higher productivity 

77.60 19 Communication 

skills 

Detailed planning for facing crisis situations that can occur helps to increase 

safety and productivity 

77.47 20 Planning 

Periodically safety meetings for managers, engineers and workers for discuss-

ing risks of activities to avoid accidents and to increase productivity 

77.20 21 Communication 

skills 



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72  

Strategies that can be followed to effectively affect safety and  

productivity 

RII % Ranking Group 

A safety program must be written to include all safety matters such as ex-

pected hazards and techniques to avoid hazards, training, equipment, tools 

and recording of injuries 

76.40 22 Planning 

Workers should not use broken tools or equipment, in addition to the need for 

tools maintenance 

76.00 23 Monitoring 

Workers should be trained to select and use of appropriate tools 75.12 24 Training 

Training of managers and supervisors to define responsibilities and to cover 

any shortfall in awareness for occupational safety, and illustrate how im-

portant to be a good example for workers 

70.80 25 Training 

Workers should be trained on occupational safety techniques and wear appro-

priate clothing 

69.47 26 Training 

 

Results have also indicated that “supervisor should be firm 

with the contractor in safety conditions because it will posi-

tively affect productivity” factor has been ranked in the 2
nd

 

position with (RII = 86.80 %). This factor belongs to inspec-

tion group. This is due to the culture in Gaza strip.  Also, 

results show that “foreman should put daily and weekly work 

plans and define tools that should be used. This will increase 

productivity and ensure safety” factor has been ranked in the 

3rd position with (RII = 86.53 %). This factor belongs to 

monitoring group. This indicates that a worker and task allo-

cation is major component of good safety and productivity 

management. “drug test for workers” is an important strate-

gy which has been ranked in the 4th position with (RII = 

85.60 %). It belongs to monitoring group. Substance abuse 

program is defined as a program that includes both pre and 

post-hiring testing for illicit drugs use. CII report on zero 

accident techniques research program pointed out that the 

studies showed that when random tests for drugs are con-

ducted, better safety performance results are gained [21]. 

Also, results showed that “scheduling adequate number of 

workers to complete the heavy tasks, which helps to de-

crease injuries, as well as to foster a spirit of teamwork and 

increase productivity” factor has been ranked in the 5th posi-

tion with (RII = 85.20 %). This factor belongs to monitoring 

group. When there are enough workers to help each other 

with heavy tasks, chances of exposing crew members to 

injuries will be reduced. “workers should be trained on oc-

cupational safety techniques and wear appropriate clothing” 

factor has been ranked in the 26th position with (RII = 69.47 

%). This factor belongs to training group. This result is con-

sistent with results obtained from a previous study which 

showed that engineers in Arab region almost receive no 

training.  

 

In general it can be seen that the first five strategies, that 

have been selected based on the experiences of respondents, 

are already reflect the culture of the people to the im-

portance of increasing productivity and ensuring occupa-

tional safety at the same time. Although the topic of the safe-

ty and productivity improvement is not embedded deeply in 

the mind of who works in the construction world in Gaza 

strip, but there are good things reflect this aspect. 

 

Furthermore, after visiting several construction sites, and 

interviewing a number of experts, as well as referring to 

some previous studies that related to the same subject in 

Gaza strip, it was observed that the application of occupa-

tional safety only comes from fears of punishment and fears 

from the supervisor, especially if the project is huge and is 

funded by a foreign donor. Only then, there will be com-

mitment to safety standards because of accurate monitoring 

and strict supervision, otherwise the punishment will be on 

the contractor according to the condition in the contract of 

the project. It may seem unacceptable when it is noted that 

the company that had committed to the standards of occupa-

tional safety in a project, which was funded by a foreign 

donor, has not committed to the same standards of occupa-

tional safety in another project. This is due to the presence of 

a clause in the contract about safety and the punishment if 

the company has not committed to that, and the lack of that 

clause in the contract of the other project. This confirms that 

the occupational safety standards do not represent an essen-

tial part of the culture of workers in the construction indus-

try in Gaza strip.  

 

This was matched with what Abo Mustafa found in his the-

sis research that safety is a new topic in the construction 

sector in Gaza strip, so contracting companies have a little 

awareness about the impact of safety factors on labor 

productivity. This was in the line with the study results of 

Kazaz and Ulubey [2], where they found that workers in 

mediterranean countries are especially unlikely to take the 

required safety measures. While when the company has a 

joint venture with an American firm, it was stated that the 

site engineers had successfully controlled the safety situation 

by random stops and check of work operations throughout 

the day. 

 

Thus, training and then monitoring strategies are acceptable 

to be taken firstly to instill the concept of safety culture and 

its importance to increase productivity. It will be done 

through strict supervision, accurate monitoring and the use 

of incentives and sanctions with adopting respect in dealing 



Lina Ahmed AbuHamra, and Adnan Ali Enshassi / Strategies for safety and productivity improvement (201 5) 
  

73  

all the time with workers. On the contrary, It has been ob-
served from HSE [7]; Roberts [11]; Hammad et al. [16]; 

Levitt and Samelson [17] that planning is the first strategy 

that can be followed in the United States and European 

countries and other developed nations in the construction 

industry, so as to increase productivity and ensure safety at 

the same time, where planners and managers put a plan for 

that and then individuals can easily be committed to that 

plan. 

V  CONCLUSION 

This research studies the connection between OHS and in-

creasing employee productivity in construction industry 

from the point view of contractors in Gaza strip. To achieve 

this aim, one main objective has been outlined which is 

identifying strategies that effectively promote both safety 

and productivity during a construction task. The study con-

cluded that integration of safety management and produc-

tivity improvement are very important for achieving the 

strategies that developed by the company in the con-

struction work. 

 

After studying the literature review about the topic of re-

search and by using the questionnaire survey approach, 

many important results were found from the respondents of 

the target group, which were the contractors from the first 

class in Gaza strip. For example, the strategies that can be 

followed to effectively affect safety and productivity fall 

under five major groups, which are; planning, training, mon-

itoring, communication skills, and inspection. The strategies, 

in the descending order from the top to the lowest, are; train-

ing workers to carry out works properly, especially in the 

new types of work (under training group), supervisor should 

be firm with the contractor in safety conditions (under in-

spection group), foreman should put daily and weekly work 

plans and define tools that should be used (under monitoring 

group), drug test for workers (under monitoring group), and 

scheduling adequate number of workers to complete the 

heavy tasks, which helps to decrease injuries, as well as to 

foster a spirit of teamwork and increase productivity (under 

monitoring group).  

 

Training and monitoring strategies are acceptable to be first-

ly taken for instilling the concept of safety culture and its 

importance to increase productivity. This is due to that the 

occupational safety standards do not represent as an essen-

tial part of the culture of  workers in the construction indus-

try in Gaza strip. It can be done through: training of new 

workers on company's safety policies and procedures before 

they start work; encouraging the buddy system by having 

new workers learn from experienced workers; training of 

workers to select and use the right tool for the job and cor-

rect them when necessary; and alerting workers about  the 

changed working conditions such as extreme heat, rain, or 

slippery surfaces. 

In addition to that, there is a real need for a strict supervi-

sion, an accurate monitoring and a use of incentives and 

sanctions with adopting respect in dealing all the time with 

workers. Beside some necessary elements required, such as 

a good level of cooperation between the management and 

employees, to ensure the success of an OHS in-tervention 

and the subsequent increases in productivity. On the contra-

ry, planning was the first strategy that can be followed in the 

United States and European countries and other developed 

nations in the construction industry, so as to increase 

productivity and ensure safety at the same time, where plan-

ners and managers put a plan for that and then individuals 

can easily be committed to that plan. 

 

VI  RECOMMENDATION 

Safety and productivity are interdependent. To achieve good 

safety is also important to achieve good productivity. All 

stakeholders for the project, including contractor, should 

come together to look into ways to enhance safety and 

productivity together. According to that, the study recom-

mended companies to plan for a strategy to achieve that. It is 

important to develop working cultures in a direction which 

supports health and safety at work, and promotes a positive 

social climate and smooth operation, and thus  enhance the 

productivity.  After that, companies need to move from the 

planning phase to the implementation phase for the strate-

gies. In other words, contractors are recommended to act 

strategically to protect workers by continuously identifying, 

evaluating, and mitigating hazardous conditions, as activi-

ties, work locations, and other conditions change in work-

place. They should talk about safety in the same manner as 

about cost and schedule, use incentives with caution, and 

conduct regular safety meetings to discuss the safety issues 

in the construction sites.  

Also, pre-planning and organizing each phase of a job can 

help in meeting schedules while making work safer and 

smoother. A detailed work plan will give an opportunity to 

deliver all materials and equipment which are necessary to 

perform each task safely. The plan also identifies all the 

danger tasks which help to take all the safety procedures 

during performing these tasks. In addition to that, contrac-

tors should prepare safety training programs which help per-

sonnel to carry out various preventive activities effectively. 

They should concern in training of the workers and teaching 

them the significance of using safety equipment, the good 

use of construction equipment, and the cooperation to identi-

fy hazards, the costs and results of injuries. As a foreman, or 

a site engineer, or any employee works in a key position in 

the workplace should help to increase company‘s work pro-

duction while reducing injuries. To achieve that, training and 

orientation must be applied by an accurate monitoring with 

maintaining on respect in the dealing with the workers. Fur-

thermore, contractors should utilize a self-inspection pro-

gram even if the ministry of labor does not inspect construc-

tion sites periodically. 



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74  

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Unpublished thesis (MSc) submitted to the university of 

Texas. 

 
Lina Ahmed AbuHamra is an Architect Engineer and a research-

er in MSc of Construction Management, Department of Civil Engi-

neering, Islamic University, Gaza, Palestine. 

 

Adnan Ali Enshassi is a distinguished professor at the Civil Engi-

neering Department at the Islamic University of Gaza. He has re-

search and teaching experience over 20 years. He has published 

several papers in refereed journals and conferences. He is a mem-

ber in several professional international organizations and a mem-

ber of editorial board in refereed international journals. 
 
 
 

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