Safety Issues on Global Projects

Abstract

Global construction projects that involve collaboration between participants from multiple countries can often lead to conflicts and delays due to different cultural perceptions of acceptable levels of safety among the different project participants. The current literature has not explored the origins, extent and costs of these delays, as well as ways to remedy them on global projects. Detailed case studies of four comparable global infrastructure projects indicate that legal rules, cultural values and the prevailing economic situation in their countries of origin, influenced project participants’ perception of safety. Differing mindsets on these projects clashed, leading to project delays and costs. Project participants unsuccessfully attempted to use a strategy of education to improve safety levels, and then resorted to more successful coercive strategies such as the imposition of fines. This research contributes to: practice, by identifying challenges that international contractors face when attempting to transfer safety techniques to developing countries on short-term global projects; and to theory by shedding light on cultural challenges faced on global projects.