Safety at the frontline: The social negotiation of work and safety at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface

The research investigated the influence of the social context on work practices and safety at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface. Previous research has acknowledged that the social interactions among supervisors and workers shape safety implementation on worksites. However a detailed examination of the nature and impact of these social interactions has been missing. An ethnographic method was deployed in which a researcher spent approximately 100 hours attending four construction sites over a six month period. This deep embedded research method enabled the nature and impact of social interactions to be explored. Organised safety walks and informal ‘walkarounds’ were attended, during which interactions were observed and conversations were held with project participants, including foremen, professional health and safety advisors, supervisors and workers. Field notes and comments were subjected to thematic content analysis. Different understandings of safety were apparent, with key differences emerging in relation to the role attributed to the principal contractors’ site safety rules. The social ecosystem at the four sites was also embedded within broader construction industry practices, in particular competitive tendering and price-based selection. The results reveal limitations inherent in traditional technical approaches to understanding safety in the construction site environment, as these approaches tend to ignore the social and power relations at play. The results reveal that safety at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface is better understood as an emergent property of a complex ecosystem of social relationships and interactions.