Workers’ behaviour towards noise pollution control on construction sites

Abstract

Noise pollution is a noticeable hazard in construction sites, which can cause severe damage to the health and safety of workers and the neighbouring community. Number of studies have investigated control measures for noise pollution, majority proposing regulatory and engineering control, which are expensive and mostly ineffective. While behavioural changes of workers could contribute to effective noise control, very few past studies have dealt with behaviour of construction workers. To fill this knowledge gap, this study used a questionnaire survey and analysed the responses using structural equation modelling by testing several hypotheses developed using the Norm Activation Model that investigates the relationship between attitudes and behaviour of construction workers. The sample belonged to a wide range of worker categories of major construction firms in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Results revealed that a positive relationship exists between personal norms and environmental behaviour. Furthermore, these personal norms are significantly informed by the awareness of consequences and a sense of responsibility to act to mitigate noise pollution in their sites. Thus, while workers are aware of the negative consequences of noise pollution and are responsible to act, an increase in environmental behaviour will occur via the activation of personal norms. Hence, workers tend to alter their behaviour when having altruistic moral norms. As a practical implication arising out of this research, these worker attributes could be strategically used by construction companies to create a conducive work environment where workers themselves take initiatives to deal with environmental destruction caused by construction activities.