Evaluating a safety programme on construction sites

What is shaping construction

Construction materials are chosen by a chain of people: engineers, contractors, masons and individual homebuilders. Site conditions, credit and word-of-mouth all matter.

• Masons and contractors strongly influence material brands
• Individual homebuilders rely on trusted advice
• Site safety and quality standards are rising

An infrastructure construction company, working in Highway and metro projects in Saudi Arabia & the UAE. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

An infrastructure construction company

Sector

Construction

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Quantitative research, Offline data collection, Reporting & insights

The company had introduced a safety training programme and wanted independent evidence of whether practices on site had changed.

• Deliver on the brief: evaluating a safety programme on construction sites.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of workers.
• Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.

The work focused on 900 workers.

• workers900

Audiences we typically reach in construction

Contractors and masonsCivil engineers and architectsIndividual homebuildersMaterial dealersSite workers

Coverage: Highway and metro projects in Saudi Arabia & the UAE. Markets: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. 20 sites covered.

• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates

A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Site safety observations
3. 3Worker interviews
4. 4Insight

Trained observers recorded safety practices against a checklist at different times of day, and interviewers spoke privately with workers, including migrant workers in Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog and Nepali.

Quantitative researchOffline data collectionReporting & insights

workers

900

• Respondents were selected across Highway and metro projects in Saudi Arabia & the UAE using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
• Auditors and mystery shoppers followed a standard checklist, recording evidence at each visit.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Photo or document evidence for audit points
• Second-reviewer checks on scores
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping

• Helmet use was high, but fall protection and safe access practices varied widely.

Observations at different times revealed patterns a single visit would miss.

• Build on the core insight: observations at different times revealed patterns a single visit would miss.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: helmet use was high, but fall protection and safe access practices varied widely.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The company focused supervision on working-at-height activities.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: how safe are site practices?