THESIS ABSTRACT
AUTHOR: MOHAMED AU SALEH BU-KHAMSIN
TITLE OF THESIS: SAFETY PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS: A
PC-BASED EVALUATION TOOL FOR INDUSTRIAL CONTRACTORS
IN SAUDI ARABIA
DATE OF DEGREE: FEBRUARY 1999
This thesis presents a structured and systematic approach that will help
the industrial construction contractor in Saudi Arabia to monitor and
measure his construction safety performance. The research began with an
analysis of the factors which influence the process of safety performance
measurement as it is currently practiced in general by the construction
industry. This analysis is based on a review of the literature and formal
interviews with the contractors’ officials responsible for construction safety.
In the second phase, a survey was distributed to 25 Industrial Contractors
in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The intent of the survey was to
gather data on those significant factors which influence the safety
performance measurement process. The survey consisted of 20 main factors
and 85 sub-factors. Quantitative statistical analyses of these data were
performed. Then, the main factors and sub-factors were ranked by their level
of importance based on the survey results and analysis.
In the third phase, a PC-based evaluation tool for determining the safety
performance of construction contractor was developed. Data arrived at
during the second phase was utilized to build the evaluation tool. The tool
uses a dimensional weighting approach for measuring safety performance.
When applied m practice, this PC-based tool can provide industrial
construction contractors in Saudi Arabia with a valuable device for safety
performance measurement and monitoring.
Finally, in order to improve the measurements of the construction safety
performance, a set of recommendations was made and topics for future
research were suggested.