International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 12, Issue 8, August-2021 376

ISSN 2229-5518

Evaluation and Comparison of Construction

Safety Regulations in Kuwait Government
Sectors
Hamad Abdullah Alhamad , Jassim Mohammad Alobaidan

Civil Engineer, Civil Engineering Department, construction training institute,Public Authority of Applied Education and Training, Kuwait
Civil Engineer, Civil Engineering Department, construction training institute, Public Authority of Applied Education and Training, Kuwait

Abstract - Occupational safety in the construction field is an essential part of project management and must be at each phase of the project. This paper
aims to evaluate construction safety regulations in Kuwait government sectors through a comparative study method covering the three most essential
government sectors: Kuwait Municipality (KM), The Ministry of Public Works (MPW), and The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW). The study
indicates that MPW’s construction field safety regulations follow the international safety standards more than the two other sectors. This study discusses
the necessity for a national body that provides a preventive safety measure towards construction projects’ health and safety. The governmental
organizations are held accountable for developing, unifying, and implement safety measures legislation, regulation, and guidelines systems nationwide to
comply with international safety standards. Contractors should present legal documents that support the health and safety of the project’s workers and

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users.

Keywords: Occupational, safety, project, regulations, construction , Kuwait

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1. INTRODUCTION This paper provides a comparison between the safety
regulations of three governmental sectors: the Kuwait
A construction site is a high-hazard location. According to Municipality (KM), the Ministry of Public Works (MPW), and
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), more the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) to study the
than 20 percent of all worker-related fatalities in the United spots of shortage in each sector’s regulations and to clarify the
States happen in the construction industry (BigRentz, Inc effectiveness of applying these regulations.
2021), According to the UN’s ILO, the top causes of deaths on
construction sites as of April 2019 is: (Falls, Electrocution, 2. OBJECTIVES
Crush injuries, Caught-between injuries, Crane collapse, Fires,
Asbestos, ionizing radiation, and cancer-causing chemicals, a. Identify the best construction safety system and
Slips, Exhaustion, Heat strokes) (Ranju Warrier 2019). regulations.
b. Classify safety systems and regulation terms
Several workers suffered from job injuries in construction sites, according to the range of seriousness over
and some of these injuries are fatal; site injuries are a high-cost workers’ and citizens’ lives.
incident on the project budget. Construction site reports and
analysis conclude that most accidents cause falls from c. Evaluation of construction occupational in
elevations, motor vehicle crashes, electrocution, and machine different government sectors according to the
accidents. These accident expenses are attributed to medical OSHA standards.
costs, compensation benefits, liability property loss, overdue d. Study the possibility to unify safety systems and
schedule penalty, and supervisory time loss. regulations in the government sectors.
e. Propose construction safety automation for
application and field control.

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 Hamad Abdullah Alhamad ,Civil Engineer, Civil Engineering Department, 3. Methodology:
Research discussion and conclusion achieved through the
construction training institute,Public Authority of Applied Education and
following methodology steps:
Training, Kuwait A. Collect and specify systems, laws, and regulations in
 Jassim Mohammad Alobaidan ,Civil Engineer, Civil Engineering construction safety fields, especially in the
Department, construction training institute, Public Authority of Applied
governmental sector.
Education and Training, Kuwait

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 12, Issue 8, August-2021 377
ISSN 2229-5518

B. Collect and categorize safety terms in the three productivity and performance, and governmental bodies should
governmental sectors (Kuwait KM, MPW, and PAHW carry it out. Governmental public contract bodies generally
in one comparative table according to specified items. qualify contractors through criteria based on technical
C. Classify safety terms in respect of five severity levels qualifications, experience, and bidding price. They need to add
according to the worker’s and citizen’s safety in the contractor’s safety records in the requirements to achieve safety
three governmental sectors. and health goal.
D. Classify safety terms in respect of adequacy degree to
the OSHA standards, and perform a comparative study 5. JOB SITE SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
between governmental sectors in specified issues
Following the conducted survey and constructions sites visits
4. JOB SITE-SAFETY of Kuwait projects, several procedures are proposed to achieve
the best site safety and health:
Safety is an essential part of project management planning. It
should show a respectful concern at all project phases and
levels. The economic costs and regulatory requirements show Safety Responsibility
the importance of project safety procedures. Basic principles Accident Reporting/Record Keeping
and approaches should apply to safety procedures; they must be Posting Requirements
designated to the project and monitored as scope. Construction Job Site Inspections
projects consist of many potential hazards, such as: o Weekly inspections to identify hazards
 Working at height o Prompt correction.
 Moving Slips, trips, and falls objects  Injury and incident investigations
 Hand-arm vibration syndrome  Provide medical Facilities

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 Collapsing trenches 6. JOB SAFETY ANALYSIS
 Electricity
 Airborne fibers and materials. Job Safety Analysis is a crucial prevention tool. It helps prevent
accidents at a worksite by finding hazards and minimize the
Delivering the project is the responsibility of the project cause before workers perform the job. It should be performed
manager individually; however, it is a well-established regularly to determine how far safety rules are implemented and
principle that the project management and all parties involved, to spread awareness through the workers. Safety Analysis
including the contractor. The project manager must work includes a set of duties as follow:
closely with his team members to include safety philosophy in
all project phases; it is wise to start a safety procedure at the top  Job Site Inspection
organization, infuse by words and actions to all job-site levels.  Identifying Site Hazards
As a construction site considered a high hazard area, safety  Multi Security Points Inspection
requires everyone’s full attention. Teamwork effort is needed to  Developing a written plan for Job-Site Safety and Loss
implement safety procedures to prevent accidents, which costs Control
a lot when neglected. In recent years, costs escalated due to
work stoppage, loss of supervisory, and employee injury time.
Thorough Review of the Job Site identifying the action
Retaining an ergonomics systems approach can shape the
necessary to make the worksite as safe as humanly
circumstances of a workplace environment; researchers have
possible through the following safety areas:
shown that safer job-site managers are the better producers.
Personal Protective Equipment: gloves, respirators,
This study proposes a model to indicate an organization’s
hearing protection, eye coverings, chemical resistant
manner regarding the safety of a construction site, in which
clothing, protective footwear, fall protection, and any
project managers are better at keeping costs down and job on
other necessary personal safety equipment.
schedule.
Environmental Hazards: airborne particles, heat stress,
The concept of a safe environment is relatively new; project confined ventilation, hot/cold surfaces, restricted lighting,
managers tend to concentrate on getting the job done and noise, restricted access/egress, and any other
tolerate poor safety standards. It is a false strategic idea; that environmental concerns.
safety procedures can push up the project’s budget. The Body Hazards: fall potential, pinch points, slip/trip
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) potential, electric shock, and other body hazards.
released a guideline for Safety and Health practices programs; Hazard Communication: provides and discusses
it recommends a step-by-step approach to successfully physical and health hazards by specifying training to
implement the seven core elements program
“osha.gov/shpguidelines – OSHA 3885 – October 2016”.
OSHA refers that job-site safety management levels up

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 12, Issue 8, August-2021 378
ISSN 2229-5518

cover potential risks related to the job site. It includes Government sector
labeling, the safety data sheet, and hazard information. Topic
KM PAHW MPW
The safety officer must present a written safety plan and Citizens’ safety Good Good Good
communicate it to all employees. They should receive safety Workers’ safety Poor Good Excellent
instruction, training, and signed acknowledgment to understand
and agree to follow and comply with safety rules. Property and
Moderate Moderate Moderate
Facilities safety
Excavation safety V. good V. good V. good
Emergency Safety
7. JOB SITE ORIENTATION Poor Poor V. good
Plan ESP
Job site orientations can provide valuable information that will Before work
Good V. good V. good
help reduce injuries and accidents. To accomplish this, it should commencement
mandate and last long enough to better understand what the site Road works safety Moderate Good Good
expects. Employers should provide training to their employees
whenever exposed to occupational hazards. For instance: if you Environment
Poor Poor Poor
require employees to work from scaffolding, you must provide preservation
them with training on scaffolds. This training is to familiarize
employees with the dangers of this job to help prevent accidents
The results show that the KM regulations care less about the
and injuries. The Job Site Orientation should contain at a
workers’ safety regulations while MPW offers excellent care.
minimum the following:

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Also, the table indicates the lack of ESP in KM and PAHW
1. Site-Specific Emergency Action Procedures: regulations, while it appears in MPW regulations. Moreover
less consideration of environmental issues in the three sectors.
 Publish the emergency action plan to prevent
confusion in an emergency. This study covers how often contractors break the safety
regulations and what penalty level is applied to them. It is
 Conduct Emergency Evacuation Procedure. necessary to include the penalty level and amount in the
2. Site-Specific rules and regulations: contravention report. KM and PAHW contravention report did
 Publish site-specific rules and regulations not include the penalty level and amount. On the other hand,
and any updates that may be different from MPW had this information.
other job sites.
In general, MPW safety regulations have a good approach to
 Mandate any additional safety rules, even if
OSHA standards, while KM safety regulations have an
it an optional requirement in the general
inadequate safety system. One hundred and twelve (112) terms
safety regulation.
have been considered; these regulations were classified
3. Expectations of danger: according to the severity level related to workers and citizens
 Risks expectations should be shared and safety as follows:
explain due to any job hazard.
 Level 5: Fetal or permanent disability (classified for
22 regulation terms).
 Level 4: Temporary disability (classified for 10
An overview of Government Sectors Safety Regulations in
regulation terms).
Kuwait:
 Level 3: Injury needs hospital medication (classified
Safety terms in regulations of three government sectors: (KM), for 11 regulation terms).
(MPW), and (PAHW) collected along 112 items representing  Level 2: Properties damage or minor injury (classified
eight main safety outline issues (attached). The results are for 28 regulation terms).
classified according to (OSHA) standards in table (1).  Level 1: Accident Leads to project delay (classified for
41 regulation terms).

A mathematical percentage equation indicates how often safety

Table (1) degree of adequacy of government sectors regulations terms are used for each severity level. The high percentage
to standards reflects the sector’s concentrating area in respect of severity
level. Table (2) shows the rate for each sector.

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 International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 12, Issue 8, August-2021 379
ISSN 2229-5518

Percentage of Safety Terms Vs. Severity Level 7. Most of the safety terms in government sectors concentrated
in Government Sector on severity level (1) and level (5), respectively.
8. MPW regulation terms have a balanced distribution of
S. severity levels.
Level 5 4 3 2 1
Sector
KM 33% 0 0 17% 50% 9. Recommendations:
1. Activate KM safety committee inspection on
PAHW 28% 6% 4% 9% 53% construction sites.
MPW 21% 9% 12% 25% 33% 2. Unified safety regulations in the government sectors
compile with international safety standards.
Table (2) percentage of safety terms for severity level in three 3. Consider contractor’s safety record as part of
governmental sectors evaluating construction bids.
4. Demand Qualified Safety Engineers for each project.
5. Establish an independent team to implement safety
The results show that most safety terms in government sectors philosophy on construction job-site. However, the
are classified under severity level (1), while severity level (5) current practice places final responsibility on the
came second in order. The remaining severity levels have low contractor.
importance in regulations, indicating that government sector 6. Conduct a job site safety orientation to reduce
regulation concentrates on class levels (1) and (2). Except for accidents, injuries, and reduce confusion in
the MPW sector, that fairly distribute focus on all five severity emergencies.
levels. 7. A written safety plan is essential to Job Safety, and it

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is not complete until communicated to all employees.
8. Leadership commitments have a tremendous effect on
safety programs; it is critical to implement and activate
8. Conclusions:
them. With clear management objectives, individual
Health and safety in construction projects are essential; it is part quality is the key to implantation safety policy and
of the project’s management representing several regulations achieve successful safety.
that apply to construction projects. These construction 9. Establish a governmental organization; its main
regulations aim to provide health and safety practice guidance concern is construction site safety to minimize
and a framework in construction projects. accidents by providing a safe environment. Its primary
The study focused on the local government bodies involved in mission is to legislate safety regulations and apply
big construction projects, and it aims to reduce hazards in them.
construction sites in Kuwait. Based on documents and the
survey reviewing and information analysis, the current state 10. References
discloses a lack of safety procedures at certain severity levels.
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inadequate approach to standards.
2. The KM does not mention the workers’ safety regulations, CFR).
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3. The penalty amount does not appear In KM and PAHW fatalities, and how to avoid site risks, available at:
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shows in the MPW system.
4. Poor presence of Emergency safety plan in KM and PAHW /training/255830-top-10-causes-of-construction-
regulations while it presented fairly in MPW regulations. deaths-and-how-to-prevent-site-accidents
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property, and facilities safety regulation. [4] Kuwait KM Occupational Safety regulations.
6. Although the KM, MPW, and PAHW represent one [5] Kuwait Ministry of Public Works (MPW)
government, each authority has an independent safety
regulations book, and they act as three different bodies. Occupational Safety regulations .

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ISSN 2229-5518

[6] Kuwait Public Authority for Housing Welfare

(PAHW) Occupational Safety egulations.
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[8] Hakkinen, 1995. A learning by doing strategy to
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[10] Peyton, 1991. Construction Safety Practices and
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[11] Telford,1992. Total Project Management of
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