SAFETY PRACTICES AND WORKERS PERFORMANCE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

Safety practices in construction project have received several attention of the researchers over the years but how safety practices impact workers’ productivity and operation requires some attention on construction projects. The aim of this study is to determine the level of compliance with the use of safety wears and other safety control systems with a view to enhancing safety performance and workers’ productivity on construction projects. A total of one hundred and twenty eight (128) copies of questionnaire were administered to participants with years of experience on construction management in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data obtained based on snowball and random sampling technique were analysed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 using Mean Scores, Relative Importance Index (RII). The significance of each of the associated variables as impacted on construction workers safety practices on buildings project were determined using Independent Samples Test, Mann-Whitney U Test. Descriptive outcome of the statistical analyses showed a high prevalence need of safety practices. The findings of the study established dissatisfaction with effective use of safety wears and its implementation among site operatives because workers find it difficult to adapt to as it was against their traditional practices (RII=0.776), unethical practice of workers due to human attitudinal peculiarities (RII=0.766), inadequate engagement of safety managers on sites (RII=0.764), inadequate engagement of safety managers and ineffective supervision on site (RII=0.762) as well as poor communication between site managers and site operatives (RII=0.750) as factors preventing effective use of safety wears among the categories of respondents sampled. The study concluded based on Mann-Whitney U Test result on safety improvement measures and control systems available for safety practices and workers performance on construction sites this include: the use of safety audio, video and visual displaying gadgets on site, daily check of scaffold and ladder etc., inclusion of safety matters from the planning stage, setting safety guidelines into conditions of contract, reward workers that exhibit excellent safety performance, conduct in-house safety training were found to be statistically significant with medium effect. The study recommend minimum of one safety managers on every construction sites.