Awareness and compliance of construction employers with the National Occupational Safety and Health (osh) regulation of Rwanda

Abstract

The construction industry is an important sector of every economy as it contributes to the continual growth of developing and developed countries. It is however challenged by many issues that lead to poor project performance. One of such challenges is the perennial occurrence of accidents and fatalities on construction sites due to lack of awareness and compliance with relevant OSH regulations. This study investigates the level of awareness and compliance of construction employers with the national OSH regulation of Rwanda. The quantitative survey research design was adopted for the study. The study’s questionnaire was distributed to 178 construction employers using the random sampling technique. The result indicated that construction employers are aware of the OSH regulation but are only compliant to nine of the nineteen items in the OSH regulation. There is also no significant difference in the level of awareness of the respondents of OSH regulation. However, there is a significant difference in the level of compliance of the consulting and contracting organisations with the OSH regulation. Also, there is a significant relationship between the awareness and compliance of construction organisations with the OSH regulation. It was recommended that the government should introduce stricter laws to enforce compliance with the OSH regulation and other construction stakeholders should prioritise health and safety practices on construction site.