Idenitfying Barriers & Enablers to Improve WHS Outcomes in Australian Small Construction Businesses

Despite its important socio-economic contributions, the Australian construction industry has a poor WHS record. Efforts to improve WHS tend to focus on and be led by, large organisations due to the resources that they have and their ability to capitalise on the economies of scale in their operation. However, it is important to realise that 97% of construction organisations are small businesses, employing fewer than 20 people and their WHS outcomes are worse than the WHS outcomes in large organisations. They are also hard to reach through conventional communication strategies. This indicates that current WHS best practice initiatives are not being well translated and followed by small construction businesses, and subsequently that they need further pathways to develop their capability to improve WHS. This research reveals the barriers to improving the WHS in small construction businesses and presents a critical literature analysis emphasising the development of a WHS maturity framework specifically for Australian small construction businesses. This paper is part of a broader research project that, following this integrative review, will create a maturity model via primary data collected from practitioners, WHS representatives, workers, and owners of small businesses. This model will then be trialled with five micro and small businesses, and an industry toolkit will be developed to promote a step-by-step process to improve safety practices.