Professor Emmanuel Adinyira has urged policymakers and contractors to integrate health, safety, and environment (HSE) education into project delivery. He made this call in his professorial inaugural lecture on the theme “Beyond the Fence: Transferring Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) Knowledge from Construction Sites to Host Communities.”
The construction project management expert called on the Public Procurement Authority to make community knowledge transfer a contractual requirement, and pressed Parliament to pass the long-delayed Occupational Safety and Health Bill.
He highlighted what he described as a paradox in Ghana’s construction sector: while contractors comply with world-class safety standards within project boundaries, residents living nearby remain vulnerable to hazards.
“Construction projects with high-class HSE compliance often leave people in the project’s geographical area unsafe and unaware. We build bridges but fail to connect with the people. We enforce protective equipment for workers, but we fail to raise awareness among families living near the site,” he said.
He noted that infrastructure projects should go beyond physical structures to serve as platforms for empowering host communities with life-saving knowledge.
Professor Adinyira’s research identified 26 hazards commonly managed on construction sites including slips, burns, electrical accidents, poor ventilation and chemical exposure, which he said are also prevalent in homes and communities. While workers are protected by rules and equipment, residents often lack the knowledge to prevent similar risks.
He argued that transferring HSE behaviours, rather than only managerial processes or technology, is both feasible and necessary. He proposed community safety demonstrations, wider use of media, and partnerships with schools, churches and traditional councils as ways of extending knowledge beyond project sites.
“We need a new mindset, a change in our attitudes towards health, safety and the environment. Safety is not a gadget but a mindset,” he concluded.