IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i11p2045-d238484.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mind the Gap: Professionalization is the Key to Strengthening Safety and Leadership in the Construction Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Álvaro Romero

    (Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28007 Madrid, Spain)

  • María de las Nieves González

    (Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28007 Madrid, Spain)

  • María Segarra

    (Department of Civil Engineering & Construction, University of Castile-La Mancha, 16071 Cuenca, Spain)

  • Blasa María Villena

    (Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28007 Madrid, Spain)

  • Ángel Rodríguez

    (Department of Architectural Constructions & Construction Engineering and Land, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the reality of risk prevention in construction sector companies in Spain, from the perspective of training, management, and risk prevention, as well as the amount of resources that are allocated to those budget headings. An in-depth comparative review has been conducted, using the data obtained from two focus groups that were expressly created for the study, in conjunction with the Second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emergent Risks (ESENER-2) and its Spanish counterpart (ESENER-2 Spain). The focus groups were formed with agents and entrepreneurs involved in the construction sector, from both the public and the private sector, in order to provide greater impartiality to the resulting data. The principal strategic indicators that served as a guideline for the moderators of the different focus groups were analyzed. The results obtained show great similarity between the data from the focus groups and the data from ESENER-2 and ESENER-2 Spain; which demonstrates the idiosyncrasies that surround this productive sector in the European setting, so badly treated by the economic crisis. All of these points highlight the imperative need to professionalize the construction sector, implementing a “ risk prevention culture ” among all of the agents involved in the constructive-preventive processes that surround construction activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Álvaro Romero & María de las Nieves González & María Segarra & Blasa María Villena & Ángel Rodríguez, 2019. "Mind the Gap: Professionalization is the Key to Strengthening Safety and Leadership in the Construction Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:2045-:d:238484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/2045/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/2045/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gonzalez-Diaz, Manuel & Arrunada, Benito & Fernandez, Alberto, 2000. "Causes of subcontracting: evidence from panel data on construction firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 167-187, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Álvaro Romero-Barriuso & Blasa MaríaVillena-Escribano & María de las Nieves González-García & María Segarra-Cañamares & Ángel Rodríguez-Sáiz, 2019. "The Registry of Accredited Companies in the Construction Sector in Spain: An Administrative Instrument for Risk-Prevention Control," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erol Taymaz & Yilmaz Kilicaslan, 2005. "Determinants of subcontracting and regional development: An empirical study on Turkish textile and engineering industries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(5), pages 633-645.
    2. Ivona Ivić & Anita Cerić, 2024. "Mitigation Measures for Information Asymmetry between Participants in Construction Projects: The Impact of Trust," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-27, August.
    3. H. Møllgaard & Jochen Lorentzen, 2004. "Exclusive Safeguards and Technology Transfer: Subcontracting Agreements in Eastern Europe's Car Component Industry," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 41-71, January.
    4. Andrabi, Tahir & Ghatak, Maitreesh & Khwaja, Asim Ijaz, 2006. "Subcontractors for tractors: Theory and evidence on flexible specialization, supplier selection, and contracting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 273-302, April.
    5. Alger Ingela & Ma Ching-to Albert & Renault Regis, 2012. "Experience Benefits and Firm Organization," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-35, September.
    6. Álvaro Romero-Barriuso & Blasa MaríaVillena-Escribano & María de las Nieves González-García & María Segarra-Cañamares & Ángel Rodríguez-Sáiz, 2019. "The Registry of Accredited Companies in the Construction Sector in Spain: An Administrative Instrument for Risk-Prevention Control," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Leoncini, Riccardo & Montresor, Sandro & Rentocchini, Francesco, 2016. "CO2-reducing innovations and outsourcing: Evidence from photovoltaics and green construction in North-East Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1649-1659.
    8. Joan Ramon Rosés, 2005. "Subcontracting and vertical integration in the Spanish cotton industry," Economics Working Papers 816, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    9. Roberto Antonietti & Maria Rosaria Ferrante & Riccardo Leoncini, 2016. "Local market size, social capital and outsourcing: evidence from Emilia Romagna," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 243-260, June.
    10. Chiara Franco & Francesco Rentocchini & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2008. "Why do firms invest abroad? An analysis of the motives underlying Foreign Direct Investments," Department of Economics Working Papers 0817, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    11. Brahm, Francisco & Tarziján, Jorge, 2012. "The impact of complexity and managerial diseconomies on hierarchical governance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 586-599.
    12. Ivan Dufeu, 2008. "Déterminants du choix d’intégration et de désintégration verticale des entreprises," Post-Print hal-02815119, HAL.
    13. Felippe Cauê Serigati & Paulo Furquim De Azevedo, 2016. "How To Indirectly Measure Market Transaction Costs," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 192, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    14. Erol Taymaz & Yilmaz Kilicaslan, 2001. "Subcontracting dynamics and economic development: A study on textile and engineering industries," ERC Working Papers 0108, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Aug 2001.
    15. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    16. Roberto Antonietti & Maria Rosaria Ferrante & Riccardo Leoncini, 2009. "Local spillovers, production technology and the choice to make and/or buy. Empirical evidence from Emilia Romagna," Openloc Working Papers 0902, Public policies and local development.
    17. Ulrike Muehlberger, 2005. "Hierarchies, relational contracts and new forms of outsourcing," ICER Working Papers 22-2005, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    18. Bigelow, Lyda S. & Argyres, Nicholas, 2008. "Transaction costs, industry experience and make-or-buy decisions in the population of early U.S. auto firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 791-807, June.
    19. Luigi Pascali, 2009. "Contract Incompleteness, Globalization and Vertical Structure: an Empirical Analysis," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 727, Boston College Department of Economics.
    20. Arrighetti, Alessandro & Landini, Fabio & Lasagni, Andrea, 2014. "Intangible assets and firm heterogeneity: Evidence from Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 202-213.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:2045-:d:238484. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.