Example construction workers dissertation topic 2:

A record of which to be proud – safe-work man hours and the road building industry: A comparative study.

With due justification and pride the construction firms employed to rebuild the A1 between Wetherby and Leeming Bar (and in so doing upgrading the road from a dual carriageway to motorway status) announced, at the end of the construction project that some 3 million safe-work man hours had been achieved. This dissertation comprises three distinct parts in a sector that has received relatively little academic attention. First it charts the rise and improvement in health and safety in road-building projects from 1970-2012 within the United Kingdom. Secondly, it compares the UK’s growing safety record with that enjoyed in France. Thirdly, it offers, through a study of the best practices employed on the both sides of the channel, a series of proposals through which safe-man hours could be even more enhanced. This is a construction-based dissertation that would particularly suit a candidate interested in working within the Health and Safety sector that is attached and integral to the safe working environment of the industry.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Chan, E. (2011). ‘Total safety culture by behavior-based safety approach’, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Information Technologies in Safety Management of Large Scale Infrastructure Projects, Wuhan, China: Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
• Knox, H. and Harvey, P. (2011). ‘Anticipating harm: Regulation and irregularity on a road construction project in the Peruvian Andes’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 28(6), pp. 142-163.
• Lingard, H., Cooke, T. and Blismas, H. (2011). ‘Coworkers’ response to occupational health and safety: An overlooked dimension of group-level safety climate in the construction industry?’, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 18(2), pp.159 – 175.