The effectiveness of incorporating health and safety criterion in construction tender evaluation

Abstract

The South African construction industry is faced with challenges that impede the safe delivery of construction projects. While there have been systems, procedures, rules, and regulations enforced to improve the outlook of health and safety on construction projects, the South African construction industry has not fully exploited various routes of tender evaluation practices aligned with H&S to enhance safe project delivery of construction projects. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effective incorporation of H&S criterion in tender evaluation to help improve the safe delivery of construction projects. This study adopted both the inductive and deductive approaches, whereby the inductive method was used to formulate the hypotheses. The deductive process was used to test the study's hypothesis. The theory of relative importance was engaged to establish the vitality of H&S as a criterion for tender evaluation, together with its essential elements that can be assessed during tender evaluation. Upon determining the importance of the H&S criteria, the inclusion criteria theory was engaged to incorporate H&S criteria and its important elements in tender evaluation. In the early stages of the study, an exploratory study was conducted to gain insight into the effective incorporation of H&S criterion in construction tender evaluation. Content analysis was engaged to find patterns in the qualitative data. A web survey was adopted for the empirical data gathering using questionnaires. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for construction clients and construction practitioners in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Data analysis was done by means of ranking, paired sample test, ANOVA test, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The reliability test was done using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of reliability. In total, 41 construction clients and 105 construction practitioners participated in the survey. The results emanating from the study, inter-alia, indicate that factors of identifying the extent to which H&S criterion is incorporated in tender evaluation can be classified as: technical competence and experience of the contractor, management capability, project efficiency and management capability, quality and insurance policy, financial stability and experience, and technical capacity. The results also indicate that there is ambiguity in the design of tender documentation, H&S is expensive to implement, preference of other criteria, lack of H&S knowledge, lack of client commitment and corrupt activities. Furthermore, the results outlined that there is poor implementation of safety law and regulation, lack of expertise, and insufficient resources are factors that hinder the effective incorporation of H&S criterion in tender evaluation. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean ranking on the motives of including H&S criterion in tender evaluation. There was no statistically significant difference between the public and private sectors on the motives (time, quality, and cost) of including H&S criterion in tender evaluation. There was no statistically significant difference between public and private sector clients' perception regarding the extent to which H&S is incorporated in tender evaluation. There was no statistically significant difference in the level of importance of H&S aspects incorporated in tender evaluation and the sector (public and private sector) of construction practitioners. There was no statistically significant difference in the public and private sector's agreement on the hindrances against incorporating H&S criterion in tender evaluation. Further study should focus on weighting and combining quantitative H&S and qualitative H&S for effective incorporation in tender evaluation. Further study should focus on integrating H&S culture in evaluating H&S criterion to ensure effective delivery of construction project in a safe environment.