Evaluating the factors contributing to unsafe working conditions in the construction industry within conflict-affected Afghanistan

Workplace safety is one of the persistent challenges in the construction industry. When an international contractor performs construction in a war-affected region, this challenge becomes manifold in its magnitude. The international contractors follow standard operating procedures for safety on construction sites, however, the execution largely remains with the local workforce. Poor skills, lack of professionalism, and paucity of ethical behavior among the workforce bring challenges to the international contractors to keep the construction sites safe in war-affected regions. This is associated with frequent accidents and injuries at sites which hamper the credibility and image of the international contractors to obtain future contracts. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors affecting safe working conditions in war-affected regions. A total of twenty-four safety attributes were identified through a literature review. The identified attributes were ranked using the response of 114 Afghan construction experts through a questionnaire survey approach. Subsequently, factor analysis was used to categorize the identified attributes into four factors. Through the use of factor analysis, the result identified four factors responsible for poor safety of Afghanistan construction sites: (i) poor safety culture; (ii) resource shortages; (iii) poor stakeholder management; and (iv) unfavorable project conditions. The results of this study will be helpful to governments and international contractors in formulating strategies for providing a safe working environment at construction sites in war affected regions. In addition, the results will also help in reducing the fatalities of the war affected workforce on construction sites.