Enhancing Construction Health and Safety Through Effective Weather Warning

Construction makes a noticeable contribution to the economic output of any country. For example, UK construction industry contributes to 6.1% GDP in 2016 (Office for National Statistics, 2017) and UAE (Ministry of Economy, 2015)9% GDP in 2014. However, compare to other industries the rate of accidents in the construction industry is relatively high (Esmaelli and Hallowell, 2013; Sacks et al., 2015). Construction accidents results loss of life and serious and deliberating injuries, which affect future lives of entire families (Alacon et al, 2016). According to Pellicer (2014), accidents also result high economic losses. Therefore, any contribution to reduce accidents and ill health in construction industry is worthy. Among the other health and safety risks on construction sites, whether plays a significant role in increasing the chances of occurring accidents. For example, people working at heights are affected by strong wind as they can be blown to side increasing the chance of falling. Furthermore, wind, lightening etc. place tower cranes, scaffoldings etc. at risks (OHSA, 2016). Exposure to heat and cold can also results fatal or nonfatal injuries (Gavey, 2017). Therefore, regular following up of any weather notifications and warnings from concerned authorities and issuing alerts for all employees is significant (OSHAD, 2017). There is however lack of research done on this area. Even though there are some procedures set up to issue weather warnings and notifications by concerned authorities to construction sites, the and effectiveness of such communication is not researched. Ganah, and John (2015), claim that most current health and safety communication on construction sites tends to be one-directional without feedback from the operatives or recording of them carrying out their activities. Therefore, this study investigates any procedures set up in issuing weather warnings and notifications to constructions sites and how to enhance the effectiveness of such communication through adopting a transactional approach to communication via Information and Communication Technologies/Digital Communication tools as an innovative solution.

Students who are successful in being awarded this scholarship are expected to be based at our Heriot-Watt Dubai campus.

Informal enquiries should be directed to the primary supervisor, Dr Krisanthie Seneviratne.

Applicants should have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent). Scholarships will be awarded by competitive merit, taking into account the academic ability of the applicant.

Please complete our online application form and select PhD programme Construction within the application and include the project reference, title and supervisor on your application. Applicants who do not include these details on their application may not be considered.

Please also provide a written proposal, at least one side of A4, outlining how you would approach the research project. You will also be required to upload a CV, a copy of your degree certificate and relevant transcripts and one academic reference. You must also provide proof of your ability in the English language (if English is not your mother tongue or if you have not already studied for a degree that was taught in English). We require an IELTS certificate showing an overall score of at least 6.5 with no component scoring less than 6.0 or a TOEFL certificate with a minimum score of 90 points.

Applicants MUST be available to start the course of study in October 2019.