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Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334

Creative Construction Conference 2017, CCC 2017, 19-22 June 2017, Primosten, Croatia

HSE in civil engineering programs and industry expectations

Daniel André Danielsena*, Olav Torpa, Jardar Lohnea
a
Norwegian University of Science and technology, Department of civil and environmental engineering, Høgskoleringen 7A
N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Abstract

This paper evaluates the expected knowledge, skills and general competence for graduated civil engineers regarding health, safety
and environmental (hereafter HSE) in Norway. The research aims at uncovering whether it is a gap between the expectations from
the industry and the learning outcomes for the civil engineering program at the university. The research questions are;
1. What level of knowledge, skill and competence do the industry expect from graduated civil engineers regarding HSE?
2. What level of knowledge, skill and competence do the civil engineers actually possess after graduating?
To get an overview of the field of research, the research was initiated by a thorough literature review. The first question is addressed
with a survey and analysis of documents related to the contractors own HSE training programs. There were eight respondents to
the survey and the documents are gathered from three of the largest contractors in the Norwegian construction industry. The second
research question is addressed through an analysis of university study plans and other documents describing learning outcome from
the civil engineering program. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (hereafter NTNU) which is responsible for
over 80% of all civil engineers at masters level graduated in Norway was chosen as study object. The findings show that there is a
gap between industry expectations regarding HSE knowledge, skill and general competence and the learning outcomes for the civil
engineering program at the university. Still, this do not necessarily mean that the graduated civil engineers are not knowledgeable
regarding HSE. This paper addresses a topic with little previous research and this study will therefore be a valuable contribution
within the field of safety research.
© 2017
© 2017 The Authors.
The Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. ThisLtd.
is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2017.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2017
Keywords: Civil engineering; Construction industry; Expectations; Knowledge, skill and genreal competance; Health, safety and environment
(HSE); HSE education.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +47 938 49 298

E-mail address: daniel.a.danielsen@ntnu.no

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2017
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.207
328 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334

1. Introduction

Construction projects have been associated with a high risk of injury and fatal accidents from ancient times.
However, even though both worker rights- and conditions as well as technology have developed, accidents still happen
on construction sites. The construction industry is seen worldwide as one of the most dangerous industries to work
within because of the high rate of fatal injuries and accidents [1, 2]. Safety work on the construction site is challenging,
in particular due to the complexity of the site and the activities involved [2]. Another reason for its complexity is the
use of a multidisciplinary workforce and the challenge of managing the interfaces between the disciplines.
Although the construction industry experiences a high rate of fatal injuries, great improvements have been
witnessed over an extended period of time [3]. Nevertheless, the need for improvement regarding safety are identified
by both the industry and the academia. A prominent concept emphasized in the health, safety and environmental
(hereafter HSE) literature is “the zero accident vision (ZAV)”. The vision is based on an assumption that all serious
accidents are preventable [4]. Approximately, the construction industry employs 7% of the workforce worldwide, but
is responsible for 30-40% of all fatal injuries [5]. This means that – despite the positive trends over the last period –
there is still significant work to do regarding the safety on construction sites, especially for the industry to be anywhere
close to achieving the zero accident vision.
A project organisation is usually organized hierarchically, typically with a project manager in one of the highest
positions on a project level. This means that the construction project manager is a key person with regards to the
success or eventually failure of the project – and his/her attention to safety is crucial. Project managers prioritizing
safety has been shown to arrange for safety leadership and potential improvements in safety performance [5].
The literature identifies different factors that may contribute to construction site safety, including policy, process,
personnel and incentives [2]. The personnel factor concerns the human condition of the work and activities at the
construction site. Controlling this factor is challenging, since people often make mistakes due to a lack of
understanding and competence when it comes to understanding safety procedures and how to implement safety
measures [6]. To deal with the personnel factor, safety training is of high importance [2]. Thus, the prioritizing carried
out by the project manager could have crucial impact on the safety management on the construction site. Furthermore,
it is of high importance that the project manager possesses the correct competence in order to understand the concepts
of safety and accident prevention.
Graduated civil engineers often quickly fill roles as project managers or closely related roles. It is therefore decisive
that the graduated civil engineers possess a satisfying level of knowledge skill and general competence concerning
understanding and performing safety work. This study seeks to investigate whether the graduated civil engineers
actually possess the necessary level of knowledge, skill and general competence. It addresses the following research
questions:

1. What level of knowledge, skill and competence do the industry expect from graduated civil engineers
regarding HSE?
2. What level of knowledge, skill and competence do the civil engineers actually possess after graduating?

The subject examined in this study seems little addressed in previous research. It is therefore the ambition of the
authors of this paper that the study presented provides a contribution to the research on safety in the construction
industry. The study is limited to an investigation of the Norwegian construction industry and The Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (hereafter NTNU). The scope is limited to the largest contractors in the
Norwegian industry.
The next section provides an overview of the theoretical framework underlying the analysis. Then, a presentation
of the research method is presented, followed by the research results from the investigation. The final part consist of
a discussion of the findings and the consequence of the gap that was found. The discussion sets the premises for the
presented a conclusion and recommendation to further research on this subject.

2. Theoretical framework

The laws and regulations in the most countries maintain that it is every workers’ right to feel and be safe at the
work place and also get home safe and sound. HSE is meant to take care of the workers health and safety and ensure
that environmental impact is kept at a minimum. In this paper it has been chosen to use the definition of Huges and
 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334 329

Ferret [7] on HSE:

x Health – The protection of the bodies and minds of people from illness resulting from the materials, processes
or procedures used in the workplace.
x Safety – The protection of people from physical injury. The borderlines between health and safety is ill
defined and the two words are normally used together to indicate concern for the physical and mental
wellbeing of the individual at the place of work.
x Environmental protection – These are the arrangements to cover those activities in the workplace which
affect the environment and, possibly, the health and safety of employees and others.

HSE are in most countries regulated by laws and regulations. These are developed to ensure the health and the
safety for every worker. An accident could be seen as an event that causes loss of value. This could be that workers
are injured or some kind of pollution that has unfortunate impact on the environment. HSE is thus implemented to
prevent accidents that can harm the workers at the project or the environment. A poor safety environment is a factor
leading to accidents and injuries [8]. A safety program is identified in the literature as a key to control and prevent
accidents and injuries at the workplace [9].
To enhance the safety situation in the construction industry today, different measures have been implemented to
ensure the safety for every worker at the construction site. The typical example of this is new laws and regulations
implemented to assure the workers safety. Before the effect of legislation can be felt, there is a need for more safety
training and education [10]. Both the introduction of new technology and the application of safety management
systems have contributed to the improvement of safety performance [11].
Today, the construction industry is generally considered as one of the most dangerous industries to work within
[1].The construction industry is the industry that loses most human lives relative to the employment rate [5]. A
characteristic of a construction site is that many activities are happening at the same time and that many different
actors are involved [12]. Consequently, the safety work on site is challenging. Other challenges with the construction
site as a workplace is the mobility of the site, employees are separated on construction projects, and they often move
between different employers [13]. Whiteout proficient management and overview, it is difficult to ensure the safety
for the workers conducting these activities. Furthermore, construction workers are exposed to a work place that
continuously changes and a work environment that typically contains heavy equipment, they work at height, with
noise and other potential serious hazards [3].
Even though a high focus on safety exist within the industry, serious accidents still occur at construction sites [14].
Accidents often come as a result of a lack of knowledge or training, a lack of supervision, a lack of means to carry out
the task safely or due to errors of judgment [15]. These factors could in many cases be managed by an expedient
prioritizing regarding safety. This needs being carried out, both on an organization level from the top leaders in the
organization and on a project level from the project manager on the construction site. It is important that also the top
leaders in the organisation reflect on how the organisation is going to manage safety [16]. Previous research has
indicated that accident can be identified and prevented by adopting best safety practices [14]. An effective safety
practice requires management strategies and actions to be aligned with the organisational culture [17]. An earlier study
shows that there are many factors contributing to determining the success of a safety management system. Among
influencing factors are resources, management, personnel, incentive and relationship. Ismail et al. [18] concluded that
the personnel factor was the most influential factor for the success for a safety management system.
The development of the academic interest in HSE has resulted in a much published research concerning the safety
situation in the construction industry. This, together with, new regulations and laws concerning HSE for the workers
have contributed to a positive change. Equally, there has also been a higher focus on the safety from the industry itself.
The focus on improving the safety situation is important for several reasons; one of them is to keep the industry
attractive for newly graduated engineers.
Many of the accidents are caused by lack of competence or that the designed solution is difficult to execute for the
worker without compromising safety. This type of accidents is typically of a nature that can be avoided with better
HSE training. For the industry to be able to achieve the zero accident vision, there probably need to be continuous
improvement concerning all the levels in the construction industry. This means that universities also have to focus on
teaching the students theoretical foundations of HSE and how to apply the theory to practice.
Effective leadership plays an important role in ensuring the success of temporary endeavours like construction
projects, due to the high degree of uncertainty typically involved [19]. The project manager holds the highest ranking
330 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334

position at the construction site, and thus usually plays a key role when it comes to the project success or failure.
Concerning safety, project managers are typically responsible for implementing the companies safety policy [5].
Graduated civil engineers often goes straight into roles like project managers or closely related roles and it commonly
become responsible for HSE related tasks. Therefore, it is crucial that they have achieved the expected level of
knowledge, skill and general competence regarding safety to be able to maintain the safety at the construction site.

3. Research methodology

The research reported in this paper was initiated by a literature review, followed by a survey and document study,
with the aim to gather the necessary empirical data to properly address the research questions.
The literature review was conducted with the purpose of identifying key research concerning the safety situation
within the construction industry, which factors affect the safety work, the important of HSE knowledge, understanding
of safety and the importance of the project managers’ role regarding HSE. The literature review thus formed the
theoretical framework for the study here presented. The literature review was carried out according to the prescriptions
of Arksey and O’Malley [20].
The first research question was addressed with a survey and document analyses of the training programs from
some of the largest contractors in Norway according to the prescription Weber [21]. There were eight respondents to
the survey and three contractors were chosen regarding the analysis of their training programs respectively. The
contractors were chosen on basis of their size and position in the Norwegian construction industry. The documents
were gathered by contacting HSE personnel from each of the contractors that was a part of the study, and were analysed
with the aim to work out a set of expectations of knowledge, skill and general competence that the industry expects
from the graduated civil engineers. The analyses resulted in a table that outline the industry’s expectations to
knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE.
The second research question was addressed through the analysis of documents concerning the curriculum (and
corresponding learning outcome) of civil engineers program made available by NTNU on their website. The
documents were analysed with the aim to detect whether or to what extent the learning goals for the civil engineering
program holds a description of expected achieved knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE. The
Norwegian University of Science and Technology was chosen on the background of that the university graduating
every year over 80% of the civil engineers at master’s level with a specialisation in construction in Norway.

4. Findings

The following chapter provides an overview of the findings from the research. Firstly, the results from the
investigation concerning the expectations from the Norwegian construction industry is described and presented in a
table. Secondly, the results from the investigation of the learning outcome for the civil engineering program is
described and are summed up in a table.

4.1. The industry expectations regarding HSE

The survey shows that contractors in the Norwegian construction industry expect that graduated civil engineers
have knowledge, skill and competence regarding HSE. The result from the survey show that the contractors has some
common and some own expectations that not are common for all the contractors. This is presented in table 1. The
table gives an overview of ten aspects of expectations from the industry and a short description of each of the
expectations. On basis of the content of the training programs, we see that the contractors see a need for training
graduated civil engineers on the subject of HSE.

Table 1. The expectations from the construction industry

Expectations Description
Knowledge about how HSE is affected by the design phase and construction Understand how decisions and choses taken both in the
phase design phase and in the construction phase is going to affect
the worker on the construction site and the environmental
impact. See the link between the theory and practice.
 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334 331

Overview of basic terms General knowledge of the common terms that are in use on
a construction site and when and why these are necessary to
use.

Understand the main challenged regarding HSE in the construction industry - High accident rate
- The complexity of a construction site
- Challenges regarding managing and
communication
- Foreign language

Knowledge about laws and regulations regarding HSE Overview of relevant laws and regulations that are current
for the tasks that they are executing. Use the laws and
regulation in context to the design phase and construction
phase.

Understand the difference between the actors and their responsibility Knowledge about the different responsibility that the client,
designers and contractors have in a construction project.
Connect the actors responsibility against the relevant laws
and regulations.

Knowledge about methods for carrying out risk assessment Have the skill to carry out a job safety analysis in practice

Learn from accidents Have the skill to analysis deviations reports, accidents and
nearby accidents to learn from these situations.

Practical understanding of HSE Understand how the health, safety and environmental works
on the construction site.

Understanding of risk, probability and consequence Knowledge about what risk are and how to consider related
probability and consequence.

Understand the consequence of bad choses in the design phase Knowledge about how bad choses or mistakes done in the
design phase will affect the workers or the project.

4.2. The learning outcome from the civil engineering program

The document describing the learning outcome from the civil engineering program does not specify neither HSE,
health or safety as goals for knowledge, skill or general competence. There are specified some skill and general
competence regarding the environment. The reading of the document describing the learning goals for the different
specialization profiles for the civil engineering program revealed that only one out of fifteen specializations profiles
that mention HSE as a goal for knowledge. In addition, one specializations profile also mentions safety as a goal for
knowledge, skill and general competence.
Table 2 provides a short summary from the investigation of the lectures contents regarding HSE.

Table 2. Overview of HSE content in courses from the civil engineering program
332 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334

Total available subjects >100 subjects

HSE subjects 1 subject (elective)
Subjects with contents of HSE < 7 subjects
Civil engineering program 36 subjects + master thesis
Mandatory subjects at the program 21 subjects

The table illustrates that somesubjects contain some kind of introduction associated to HSE. In the civil engineering
program at NTNU, over 100 different courses are offered. The program requires that the students complete 36 courses
as well as a final master thesis to graduate. All the subjects in the first and the second year are mandatory. Today, only
two of sixteen courses that have any content of HSE of the subject that are mandatory through the first and the second
year. In addition to the first and the second year, five additional subjects that are mandatory. This means that there are
a total on 21 subjects out of 36 subjects. From these 21 subjects, there seems to be a little focus on HSE. From the
selection of over 100 subjects that are available, only one of the subjects has contents that could ensure that the students
achieve a satisfying level of knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE. The subject is an elective and
approx. one third of the students participate. This subject was presented in 2016 as a measure to ensure that the
graduated civil engineers possess a satisfying level of knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE.

5. Discussion

This study has investigated whether the graduated civil engineers possess the expected level of knowledge, skill
and general competence regarding HSE and what level of knowledge, skill and competence the civil engineers actually
possess after graduating.
Ten aspects of HSE-learning outcomes expected by the industry have been outlined. The aspects includes basic
terms, planning and implementing of a project, laws and regulations, understanding of risk and learning from
accidents. The aspects presented in this paper is seen as leading of what that the Norwegian construction industry
expects of knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE.
The investigation of the civil engineering program reveal that there is little actual teaching carried out to ensure
that the students achieve the expected level of HSE knowledge, skill and general competence that correlating with the
industries expectations. The description of the civil engineering program do not specify expectations including HSE-
knowledge, -skill or -general competence that the student should have achieved within graduating. Because of the
unsatisfying structure regarding HSE, this could unfortunately mean that some of the graduated civil engineers do not
has a satisfying level of knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE.
The civil engineering program provides one subject that could fulfil some of the expectations that the industry has
to knowledge, skill and general competence. This subject is today an elective subject and only a third of the students
participate in it at the present time. Still, there is an impression from the industry that a share of the graduated civil
engineers have knowledge of HSE despite that the civil engineers program not specify this as a learning outcome from
the program. To ensure that all civil engineers that graduate from the program have achieved the expected level of
knowledge, skill and general competence, it is recommended to prioritise HSE as a mandatory subject. In this manner,
every civil engineers that graduate from the program can understand the risks within the construction industry, thereby
contributing to rendering the industry safer and prevent accidents at the construction site.
The safety work within the construction industry and especially on the construction site is challenging due to there
being many workers from different firms with different safety programs and routines [12]. This is also an impression
from the analyses done in this study, that there are no common standards of expectations. An increased focus on
ensuring that the graduated civil engineers possess a satisfying level of knowledge, skill and general competence can
contribute to a common understanding of what factors are important to maintain safety at construction sites. This
ought to have has a positive effect on the safety performance.
Many of the graduated civil engineers directly enter roles as project managers or closely related roles. The project
manager is a key person when it comes to success or failure for the project. Furthermore, there has also been pointed
out that the prioritising done by the project manager could be crucial for the safety performance on the construction
site [5]. The graduated civil engineers are often assigned significant responsibility almost from the beginning of their
career as civil engineers. Therefore, the need for knowledge, skill and competence regarding HSE on a satisfactory
 Daniel André Danielsen et al. / Procedia Engineering 196 (2017) 327 – 334 333

level is important to ensure that graduated civil engineers are fully aware of their responsibility and the importance of
the safety work at a construction site.
The prioritising of the project managers and workers’ attitudes are two key factors to ensure that safety is
maintained at the construction site. A positive safety attitude is important, and the workers’ safety attitude could be
one factor for improving safety at the construction site. A positive attitude regarding HSE can be created through
introducing the students that HSE plays at the construction site.
As the construction industry continues its journey towards achieving the zero accident vision, is it important that
the human factor is controlled, since this is a factor that should be possible to control. Studies also show that human
error or the human factor often are the reason for accidents [18]. Therefore, correct competence from the beginning
of the civil engineers carrier is important.

6. Conclusion

The research presented in this paper has investigated 1) if the Norwegian construction industry have expectations
to the graduated civil engineers knowledge, skill and general competence regarding HSE and 2) compared the
expectations to the learning outcome from the civil engineering program. The study have included the largest
contractors in the Norwegian construction industry. The result from the investigation shows that the contractors do
have expectations to the level of knowledge, skill and general competence. The research has identified 10 aspects of
expectations from the industry.
From the study of the learning outcome for the civil engineering program, the conclusion is that learning goals
regarding HSE knowledge, skill and general competence is not specially specified as learning outcome. The
investigation shows that the university do have lectures regarding HSE. The course that include HSE is not, however,
mandatory and that, consequently, not all the students participate.
This may lead to that not all the graduated civil engineers have a satisfying level of knowledge, skill and general
competence regarding HSE. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that those taking the HSE-oriented subject
probably do have knowledge, skill and competence covering some of the expectations from the industry.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgements goes to the contractors in the Norwegian construction industry that has participated in the
survey and shared their training program.

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