Construction projects encounter significant risks and uncertainties in term of safety, cost, time, and quality. These risks threaten the successful completion of these projects, slow down the pace of development, and could impact the society. At the same time, the construction industry is recognized as the one of the most dangerous industries. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average in this category for all industries. Therefore, health and safety are very important consideration in construction sites. The purpose of this study is to investigate workers’ compliance to health and safety regulations on construction site in Malaysia. The objectives of the research are to identify the main health and safety regulations used on construction site based on Act 514 Occupational Health and safety Act (OSHA) 1994 and to prioritize the sections in the regulation according to frequency of violation. A survey methodology is used. The survey is focus on the consultants in Malaysia to get the information on their experiences on the construction site. The result of this research is the identification of health and safety regulations that are being violated frequently and the prioritization of the sections according to the frequency of violation in construction site. Keywords—Compliance; health and safety, regulation construction site
I. INTRODUCTION
HE construction industry acts as the main industry in national economies. Construction projects encounter significant risks and uncertainties in term of safety, cost, time, and quality. These risks threaten the successful completion of the projects, slow down the pace of development, and could impact the society [1].
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However, the construction industry is recognized as the one of the most dangerous industries. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average in this category for all industries. Therefore, health and safety are very important on construction site. Construction safety aims to ensure that a construction site or the industry is not the cause of immediate danger to the public around a construction site, or the workers at a construction site, as well as making sure that the finished product of construction meets required safety standards. In the construction site, normally most of the workers are unskilled workers. Construction workers are at risk of exposure to various hazards and risks that can result in injury, illness, permanent disability, or even death. Nevertheless, industrial health and safety hazards are common in many economic sectors particularly construction. Construction workers are subjected to hazardous physical, chemical, or biological exposures. Therefore, they need to follow the safety regulations in place, but there are always some workers who violate it. This problem may cause serious
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injury or even death on site. Therefore, the project management team needs make sure that their workers follow the rules to avoid the health and safety hazards. Research on compliance of workers to health and safety regulations on siteis lacking and this has motivated this research.The aim of this research is to investigate construction workers' compliance to health and safety regulations on construction sites in Malaysia. “Workers” in this research referto the contractor’s workers, which includes not only the blue-collar workers but also their (white collar) project
management staff on site. From the literature review, most construction sites in Malaysia adopt the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) Act 514, 1994 [2][3] as the governing regulation for health and safety. This Act, however, contains 15 Parts and 67 Regulations [4]. The objectives of this study are firstly to shortlist the main or important parts and sections of the health and regulations used on construction site and secondly to prioritize the sections in the regulation according to frequency of violation.
II.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research is conducted using a mixed methodology. A mixed method design utilizes both qualitative and quantitative collection methods such as interviews and questionnaires, observations and performance test, and questionnaires and follow-up focus groups [5]. The rational to use a mixed-method design is when both qualitative and quantitative data are used together, it provides a better understanding of the research problem. For this research, the methodology consists of a face-to-face interview and a questionnaire survey. Face to- face interviews were conducted among several well experienced
consulting engineers to select which sections of the OSHA is significant to the health and safety of workers
on-site and likely to be violated by them.
Based on the results of the interviews, the format for the questionnaire survey is then designed. The format is divided into 4 parts. In Part I, the respondent need to fill up the background information of their firm. This Part also has a question to ascertain which health and safety regulation is being used at the site to support the finding of the literature review.

 Part II consists of the sections of the health and safety regulations where their frequencies of violation are investigated. Here, respondents are required to rate the
frequency according to a 5-point Likert scale (with 1 = Never Violated, 2 = Less Frequent, 3 = Frequent, 4 = Very Frequent and 5 = Always Violated). In Part III, general opinions of the respondents on other matters related to the research are sought including comments on other sections of the regulation that are frequently violated but not listed Part II. The last part asks the respondents whether they agree to be contacted to provide
further details regarding the research.
Workers’ Compliance to Health and Safety Regulations on Construction Site in Malaysia Selective sampling was used to select the sample for the
questionnaire survey. Altogether 300 questionnaires form were distributed by post to engineering firms around the Klang Valley (Greater Kuala Lumpur) area. Prior to this, 4 sets of questionnaires were sent to 2 academic staff and 2 sets to local consulting firms nearby to act as a pilot survey. Out of the 300 sets of questionnaires distributed, 42 sets were returned, representing 14 % of the total distributed.
 In this research, data that have been collected from the
respondents were analyzed using the Average Index analysis
[6] in order to prioritize the sections according frequency of
violation.
Average index analysis was performed to determine the level
of the variables. Classes of Average Indexed were determined
to correspond to the Likert Scale level as shown in Table I
below.
TABLE I
CLASSES OF AVERAGE INDEX
No
.
Classes of
Average
Index
Level
1 1.0 – 1.4 Never Violated
2 1.5 – 2.4 Less Frequent
3 2.5 – 3.4 Frequent
4 3.5 – 4.4 Very Frequent
5 4.5 – 5.0 Always Violated
III. RESULTS
A. Sections of OSHA Regulation Relevant to Study
The interview identifies 3 important Parts and 5
important Sections of the OSHA regulation which directly
or indirectly relate to the workers on site and relevant to be
used in the study. These are incorporated in the
questionnaire format developed for the study and are listed
in Table II below.
TABLE II
OSHA REGULATIONS RELATED TO WORKERS ON SITE
Part Sectio
n
Description
VI 24 (a)Take responsible care for the health
and safety of himself or others
(b)Co-operate with employer in the
discharge of any duty imposed by the
Act
(c)Wear/use Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) at all times
25 Duty not to interfere with or misuse
things provided pursuant to certain
provision
VII 29 Appointment of Health and safety
officer on site
30 Establishment of health and safety
committee
VII 32 Notification of accidents, dangerous
occurrences, occupational diseases, etc.
B. Respondents Background Information
Background Information of the respondents in the
questionnaire survey is summarized in Figure1, Figure 2 and
Table II.
As shown in Figure 1, the respondents locations consist of
56.7% Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KL), 19% Taman
Melawati, 14.3% Setapak, 4.8% Gombak, 4.8% Cheras, 4.8%
Bangsar and 11.9% Ampang.
Fig. 1 Location of the respondents
For the respondents working experience on site, Figure 2,
9.5% of the respondents have experience less than 2 years,
19% having experience 2 to 5 years, 47.6% having experience
6-10 years and 23.8% respondent experience more than 10
years.
Fig. 2
Respondents experience
Table III shows percentage distribution of the type of
projects involved by the respondents. Buildings represent
26.2 % of the project types involved by the respondents
followed by Infrastructure (23.8%), Roads and Highways
(23.8 %), Drainage and Irrigation (16.7%) and finally Water
Works (9.5%).
TABLE III
TYPE OF PROJECTS INVOLVED BY THE RESPONDENTS
Types of Projects Frequenc
y
Percentage
(%)
Buildings 11 26.2
Infrastructure 10 23.8
Roads and highways 10 23.8
Drainage and irrigation 7 16.7
Water works 4 9.5
C. Violation of OSHA rules on Site
From the distribution of the questionnaires that were sent
and received from the respondents, it confirms that most
construction sites in Malaysia adopt the OSHA regulations for
health and safety standard. For the analysis of data on the
violation of OSHA rules on construction site, Table IV shows
KL; 48.75%
Taman
Melawati;
16.34%
Setapak;
12.30%
Gombak;
4.13%
Cheras;
4.13%
Bangsar;
4.13% Ampang;
10.23%
< 2 years
2 - 5 years
6 - 10 years
> 10 years
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
9.5
19
47.6
23.8
Percentage %
Experience
the average index for every sections of the health and safety
regulations in the questionnaire.
TABLE IV
AVERAGE INDEX FOR SELECTED SECTIONS OF THE HEALTH
AND SAFETY REGULATION
OSHA Regulation Level of Violation
Average Index
Result
Never
Less Frequent
Frequent
Very Frequent
Always
PART VI
Section 24:
Take responsible
care of himself or
others
0 9 14 10 9 3.5 Frequent
Co-operate with
employer in the
discharge of any
duty imposed by the
Act
1 6 15 13 7 3.5 Frequent
Wear PPE-helmet 2 4 9 15 12 3.7 Very
Frequent
Wear PPE-goggles 3 5 13 12 9 3.5 Frequent
Wear PPE- gloves 2 6 14 13 7 3.4 Frequent
Wear PPE-boots 2 5 10 16 9 3.6
Very
Frequent
Wear PPE: earmuffs 2 4 15 9 12 3.6 Very
Frequent
SECTION 25:
Duty not to interfere
with or misuse
things provided in
the interests of
health and safety
5 6 20 7 4 3.0 Frequent
PART VII
SECTION 29:
Appointment of
Health and safety
officer
42 0 0 0 0 1.0
Never
Violated
SECTION 30 :
Establishment of
health and safety
committee
42 0 0 0 0 1.0
Never
Violated
PART VIII
SECTION 32:
Notification of
accidents, dangerous
occurrences,
occupational
diseases, etc.
6 5 17 7 7 3.1 Frequent
Note: N=42
From the Table, it can be seen that “Wearing of PPEhelmet”
has the highest average index, followed by “Wearing
of PPE-boots” and “Wearing of PPE-earmuffs”. The OSHA
Sections are then ranked according to the frequency of the
violation as shown in Table V. From the Table, it can be seen
that the most frequently violated section is Section 24,
corresponding to the “Very Frequent” category. This is
followed by Section 32 and Section 25 at the “Frequent”
category. It is interesting to note that SECTION 29
(Appointment of Health and safety officer) and SECTION 30
(Establishment of health and safety committee) have never
been violated according to the survey.
TABLE V
RANKING BY SECTIONS OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY
REULATION ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY OF VIOLATION
Rank
No.
Section of the OSHA Regulation Average
Index
Frequency of
Violation
1 Section
24
General duties
of employees at
work
3.5 Very
Frequent
2 Section
32
Notification of
accidents,
dangerous
occurrence
occupational
poisoning and
occupational
diseases, and
inquiry
3.1 Frequent
3 Section
25
Duty not to
interfere with or
misuse things
provided in the
interest of
health and
saffety
3.0 Frequent
4 Section
29
Appointment of
health and
safety officer
1.00 Never
Violated
5 Section
30
Establishment
of health and
safety
committee at
place of work
1.00 Never
Violated
IV. CONCLUSION
From the research conducted, the following conclusions can
be made:
1) The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) Act 514, 1994 regulation is the prevalent health and safety standard being used by construction sites in Malaysia.
2) Important health and safety parts and sections of the OSHA Act which are considered relevant to workers on construction sites have been identified. These are Part VI (Section 24 and Section 25), Part VII (Section 29 and Section 30) and Part VIII (Section 32).
3) A ranking of the health and safety sections according to the frequency of violations by workers at construction sites has been produced. The most frequently violated section of the regulation is Section 24 of Part VI: General Duties of Employees, followed by Section 32 of Part
VIII: Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences, and Section 25: Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided pursuant to certain provisions.
4) For Section 24 of Part VI violation, the very frequently violated rules are wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on-site, with helmets being the most frequent followed by boots and earmuffs. This should draw the serious attention of the relevant authorities in Malaysia.
5) There is not any violation with regard to the appointment of a health and safety officer on-site nor the establishment of a health and safety committee on site

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