Safe Working Cycle: Is It a Panacea to Combat Construction Site Safety Accidents in Hong Kong?

Daniel W. M. Chan and Douglas O. Aghimien
Additional contact information
Daniel W. M. Chan: Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Douglas O. Aghimien: cidb Centre of Excellence, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2094, South Africa

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: In Hong Kong, the accident statistics of the construction industry is still comparatively higher than other industries. However, accident rates within the industry have significantly decreased, starting from the implementation of diverse safety initiatives, including the Safe Working Cycle (SWC). In this study, a post-positivist philosophical stance was adopted, and a questionnaire survey was launched to gather empirical data on the application of SWC in construction projects, the effectiveness of the safety initiative, and the benefits thereof. The data gathered from 197 construction participants were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean score, Mann–Whitney U-Test, Kendall’s concordance analysis, Chi-square value, Spearman rank-order correlation test and exploratory factor analysis. The findings revealed significant adoption of SWC in the Hong Kong construction industry. Furthermore, daily, weekly, and monthly inspections and supervisions and safety committee meetings are effective items of this safety initiative. The benefits of adopting SWC can be grouped into the safety of frontline workers and increase in the organisation’s safety commitment and reputation. This study has created an excellent theoretical platform for future research work on the usefulness of the SWC in the construction industry at large.

Keywords: Safe Working Cycle (SWC); safety initiatives; safety measures; site safety performance; construction industry; Hong Kong (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/894/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/894/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:894-:d:724017

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().