Construction of buildings is one of the flourishing industries which helps in accommodating employment opportunities to thousands of people and thereafter, contributes to the social and economic development of Nepal. Nevertheless, the growth of this industry has resulted in rise of accidents, predominantly the reason being lack of consciousness and knowledge about safety culture among employers and workers. In spite of the evidences from earlier studies emphasizing the importance of safety culture and its performance, there is significant lack on the research on Safety Culture in construction industry in Nepal. To address the gap, this research aims to investigate internal factors, specifically safety culture, in building construction within Kathmandu Valley. The study focuses on the safety culture practices in selected government buildings. The main objective is to assess the perception of safety culture practices among workers, identify factors affecting these practices, and recommend improvements. Seven selected government building projects in various construction phases are selected for this study. Primary data are collected through field observations, checklists, questionnaire surveys, and Key Informant Interviews (KII) with four safety experts. The data are analyzed using MS Excel for the Relative Importance Index (RII) and Bloom's cutoff, and SPSS for Spearman’s Rho Correlation and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Thematic analysis is conducted for KII to suggest remedial measures. The study found that the status of safety culture practices among workers is at a low level 46.51%, while among employees it is moderate 46.15%, as determined by Bloom's cutoff analysis. The RII revealed that workers' perceptions are influenced by personal factors, while employees' perceptions are shaped by behavioral factors. The Supreme Court building construction project demonstrated comparatively higher adherence to safety practices than other selected government buildings. Six factors (Appraisal of Work hazards, Communication and Feedback, Management Commitment, Personal Appreciation of work, Supervisory Environment, Supportive Environment) are identified as having a significant and positive relationship with safety culture practices, while four factors (Safety Rule and Procedure, Training and Competence Level, Work Pressure, Worker Involvement) are positive but non-significant according to SEM analysis. Experts recommended from KII strategic safety education starting from the vi basic level, strict implementation of safety regulations by authorized agencies, a reward and punishment system such as a one-strike-out policy, and a mandatory Permit to Work system. In conclusion, this thesis explores the safety culture practices of workers in selected government buildings within Kathmandu Valley. The findings indicate that while workers' perceptions of safety culture are low, employees' perceptions are at a moderate level. The study highlights the need for addressing personal and behavioral factors to improve safety culture practices in government building construction projects.

Keywords

Bloom’s cutoff, Construction Projects, Employees, Perception of Workers, Safety Culture, Safety Practices, Structural Equation Model

Back to list