Fingerprinting of environment, health and safety culture models initiated in construction sector: Indian perspective

The construction industry is recognized as a high-risk sector involving diverse activities, such as construction, alteration, and repair. Workers in this field often face significant hazards, including falls from heights, inadequate maintenance of construction equipment, unguarded machinery, incidents involving heavy equipment, electrocutions, exposure to silica dust, and poor housekeeping practices. This study primarily emphasizes the strategies implemented within the construction industry to ensure worker safety and highlights the critical need to reduce construction-related accidents in building projects. Implementing occupational health and safety management systems like ISO 45001 can foster a positive safety culture, effectively reducing or eliminating construction accidents and contributing to faster project completion. In India, there is a noticeable lack of research aimed at identifying the factors influencing the creation of a safe workplace for construction workers. This research seeks to pinpoint the key elements impacting management’s ability to ensure worker safety and to identify essential parameters for developing a robust safety culture within the industry, ultimately aiming to minimize accidents in building projects. The Indian construction sector urgently needs to adopt ISO 45001 as an Occupational Health and Safety Management System to enhance the implementation and oversight of workplace health and safety measures. This article presents a theoretical framework for examining and evaluating various safety culture models applicable to the construction industry