A review of the reasons of non-compliance to personal protective equipment regulations within the construction industry

Abstract

This study was entailed to give a perspective of personal protective equipment usage and adherence to regulations in the construction industry. The introduction and the literature review were an insight to the Maltese construction industry situation compared to that in the United Kingdom. The literature review was intended to give a general over view of the functions of the Occupational Health Safety Authority and the evolvement of the legal regulations regulating the construction sector and the relative code of practices. In the literature review, the various uses and the intended wearer protection from personal protective equipment, for the identified hazards in the construction sector were discussed. Questionnaires were adopted to undertake this study. The author, through a convenience sample method, analysed six construction sectors: labourers, stonemasons, tile layers, plasterers, heavy machinery operators and electricians. The total number of distributed questionnaires was ninety and all were answered as the researcher distributed them one at a time and assisted the majority of participants in the filling out of the questionnaires. From this study it was concluded that there is high PPE usage, but the researcher observed that in various occasions, participants responded dishonestly. Results showed that the workers are highly aware about the fact that PPE prevents injuries and ill health. It was also concluded that the workers have poor knowledge of the legal regulations regulating PPE and the main reasons for not wearing PPE were attributed to uncomfortable fit, limited movement and heat stress. Recommendations from this study entailed that the OHSA increases enforcement, building regulation promotion, intended to target the client and make him fully aware of his responsibilities. This study showed a lack of worker training; hence training would need to be a requirement for any working licence renewal.