Towards the development of an integrated safety, health and environmental management capability maturity model (SHEM-CMM) for uptake by construction companies in Ghana

With construction activities and processes accounting for several types of work-related fatalities and negative environmental impacts, it has become imperative for construction companies to effectively implement management tools that will address these problems. Whilst safety, health and environmental (SHE) management systems offer a useful framework for SHE management and have been adopted by companies, especially in developed countries, the situation is different in many developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa such as Ghana. A critique of the literature on the subject reveals that whilst the low level of adoption of international SHE management systems by construction companies in developing countries is attributable to a myriad of challenges, the high cost of adoption of these systems as stand-alone management functions remains a major inhibitor. Therefore, it is argued that integrated management of SHE through a single system could be less costly and onerous, and yet effective in delivering desired SHE outcomes that could be useful in stimulating greater adoption in developing countries. Drawing on this, as well as literature on continuous process improvement, the need for the development of an integrated SHE management capability maturity model (SHEM-CMM) is explored in this chapter for use by Ghanaian contractors to help improve their SHE management processes. The key knowledge gaps and research questions that need to be addressed in order to enable the development of a SHEM-CMM are also highlighted in this chapter.