A comparison of health and safety practices of small, medium and big building contractors: the case of Contractors in Tanzania

Construction industry is among the fastest growing and expanding economic sectors in Tanzania and among the most hazardous industries. Accidents in construction projects pose an enormous burden on all the members involved in the project. The aspect of health and safety has always been a major concern in the construction industry. The objective of this research was to compare the current health and safety management practices of big, medium and small building contractors in Tanzania with the view of improving the health and safety management of small and medium contractors in Tanzania. To achieve the objectives, data collection tools used were questionnaires and interviews. Sampling method used for the study was judgement sampling, where building contractors were selected based on availability, known address and known contacts. Analysis of data was done by pie charts, bar charts, mean score, relative importance and relative ranking. Based on the analysis and results, big contractors were found to have a health and safety and health training. The small and medium contractors however, were found to mainly depend on personal protective gears as their main safety practise. It was concluded that small and medium building contractors have poor health and safety practises in comparison to big contractors, as they fail to meet established OHS standards. It was recommended to use pay for safety scheme, OHS to be incorporated from tendering stage of a project and respective boards and authorities to be stricter regarding occupational health and safety in the construction industry.