Obstacles in Implementing Safety Management System in Nepalese Construction Projects

Abstract

The rapid growth of construction activities in Nepal has led to an increase in accidents and fatalities. Construction projects are inherently risky due to the use of heavy equipment, power tools, and involvement of workers from various backgrounds. Safety management systems (SMS) help to mitigate these risks and hazards, which are in early stages in Nepal. The main purpose of the study is to find out the major obstacles in implementing SMS in construction projects. A total of 368 completely filled responses were collected and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used for analysis. Twenty-two obstacles were identified through an extensive review of the literature which were divided into five components using PCA. It was found that poor safety culture explained the most variation, accounting for 38.890% of the overall variance, with an Eigen value of 8.556. This study concludes that SMS are an essential tool in managing safety in construction projects, but their implementation requires careful planning, training and resources which will further help to improve SMS practices in similar projects.