Safety concerns and issues at construction sites during the pandemic

The COVID-19 epidemic has created unprecedented problems for the construction sector, affecting safety regulations and practices on building sites across the world. This research concerns challenges of pandemic safety, concentrating on their multidimensional character and the implications for workers and project management. The study dives into the concerns that construction sites confront, such as worker management, crew rotation, and compliance with public health laws. Shift work and crew rotation, previously normal procedures, have become complex difficulties as construction projects attempt to maintain productivity while protecting worker health. This research is aimed to provide a safe working environment in the construction industry during a pandemic, both on the job site and in the office. The three objectives of the research are (1) to identify the challenges of pandemic related safety and health; (2) to investigate the safety element effect during pandemic in the construction sites; and (3) to determine the best ways to improve the safety and health in construction sites. The quantitative method was used for this research where the questionnaires were distributed to Grade G7 contractor firms in Selangor. The findings indicated that most contractors strongly agree of the challenge of pandemic related safety and health such as emergency response, maintaining social distancing, and compliance with evolving regulation. They strongly agree of the safety element effect during pandemic in the construction sites such as education and training, hazard prevention and control, and hazard identification and assessment. In conclusion, continuous monitoring and compliance is one of the steps to improve safety and health at construction sites.