Development and validation of disability management indicators for the construction industry

Abstract

Purpose

Support at the organizational and managerial levels defines the degree to which construction workplaces can accommodate disabled and injured workers. There is little empirical evidence about the indicators and practices that can be used by construction organizations to evaluate disability management (DM). This paper aims to develop and validate key indicators and practices of disability/injury management within construction.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this, the research used a two-phase sequential exploratory review of literature, followed by a quantitative phase, using analytic hierarchy process. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) involved recruiting eight health and safety and DM experts to conduct pairwise comparisons of these indicators.

Findings

The results found return-to-work and disability and injury management practices to be the most important indicators and physical accessibility and claims management practices to be the least important.

Practical implications

The development of these indicators should help construction organizations develop DM programs that better meet their needs, and benchmark and improve related performance.

Social implications

The results could also be useful for all stakeholders in general and decision makers in particular involved within construction.

Originality/value

Such prioritization helps organizations to prioritize their DM practices thereby optimizing performance.

Citation

Quaigrain, R.A. and Issa, M.H. (2018), "Development and validation of disability management indicators for the construction industry", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 81-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-04-2017-0032