Competency is one`s ability to achieve and complete a task successfully. In the construction industry, the parameter for competency of worker are the knowledge, skill and behaviour to manage safety, during the construction work. These competencies will affect their performance on construction site. If the workers are lack of the knowledge and skill of their current post, they will not be able to accomplish their task efficiency and might make mistake that will cause accident and fatalities. With regards to Building Technology, School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universitiy Sains Malaysia, Dr Mohd Zailan Sulieman stated that some of the authorities demanded their construction worker without providing health and safety induction courses. He also stated that many of the accident investigation showed that the carelessness of incompetent handlers are the causes of the accident. Thus, to improve the construction safety and the efficiency in the construction, right person has to be assigned to a right task. The physically and mentally capable person that can use the right knowledge, experience and skills to complete the assigned tasks . Competence plays a main part to control the number of accidents on construction site. To check the competence of a worker, a competency assessment is provided for every worker by human resources before hiring them.
Construction work is known as one of the economy-leading sectors of the national economy but it also the most dangerous and high-risk industry in the world. According to the statistics based on construction workers in Malaysia, the rate of fatalities is increasing with alarming rate. In every 100,000 workers in 2014, the rate of fatalities was 7.26. It increases to 10.74 in 2015 and further increase to 12.78 in 2016. In 2017, the rate of fatalities has reach 14.94. These statistics, shows that construction workers have the highest possibilities for accident occur compare to the other industry. To decrease the rate of fatalities in construction industry, a competency assessment must be applied.
2. Problem statement
Safety performance for construction site can cause by many reason such as due to lack of knowledge or training, a lack of means to carry out the task safely, or due to an error of judgment, carelessness, apathy or downright reckless.
Low level of safety awareness in construction site for the unskilled workers is one of the main cause of the construction site accidents. According to recent research, they state that the main factor cause the accident is `unsafe behaviour’, which such as not responsible, not awareness and less of communication. This research further shows that most of the construction site accidents are mainly caused by the ignorance of the workers. They intent not to wear the required PPE for their safety purpose, when the accidents occur, yet the responsibilities being counted to the construction developer or contractor.
The certification being provided for the workers based on their attendance of the safety training is very important for anyone who working in the construction site. From the statics required inspection items (RII), Non-certified skill of worker ranked 6 in 25 elements, with a RII of 0.84. In construction, some of the activities needed high standard skill, such as tower crane and gantry operations, and framework and scaffold erection. Form the statistical data, we can found that certified training is very important towards machinery operating in a high-risked construction site. Any single mistakes being made by the workers which do not know how to operate the machine such as tower crane, will eventually lead to a catastrophic disaster.
