Ethnographic Reflections on Construction Safety Culture in Urban Ghana

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_23How to use a DOI?

Keywords

construction safety; urban Ghana; informal practices; ethnography; risk perception; site culture; labour dynamics

Abstract

This study explores how construction workers, site managers, and regulatory actors in urban Ghana understand, negotiate, and enact safety within the everyday realities of fast-growing cities. It aims to uncover the cultural norms, experiences, and informal practices that shape safety outcomes on construction sites, often beyond what formal policy dictates. Using an ethnographic approach, the study draws on 30 in-depth interviews, participant observation across four urban construction sites in Accra and Kasoa, and informal dialogues with artisans, foremen, contractors, and local inspectors. A grounded thematic analysis was conducted to identify embedded patterns of risk perception, compliance behaviour, and peer influence. Safety culture in urban Ghana’s construction sector is driven less by institutional enforcement and more by relational trust, informal mentorship, and situational improvisation. While workers generally acknowledge safety as important, compliance often depends on the perceived presence of supervisors, peer pressure, and daily economic pressures. Workers navigate a tension between productivity demands and personal risk, often prioritising speed over standard precautions. Despite formal safety protocols, informal norms frequently override documented procedures. Findings are site-specific and may not generalise across all regions. Further comparative studies across rural-urban divides would be useful. Efforts to improve construction safety must go beyond training modules to engage with on-site social dynamics and lived risk perceptions. Enhancing safety culture requires not just policy reform but worker empowerment, collective responsibility, and culturally grounded engagement strategies.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - G. S. Kportufe
AU  - K. Amoa-Abban
AU  - M. B. Arthur-Aidoo
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Ethnographic Reflections on Construction Safety Culture in Urban Ghana
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering, Science, and Urban Sustainability (ICESUS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 363
EP  - 378
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_23
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_23
ID  - Kportufe2025
ER  -