Construction Safety in Media: An Overview of its Interpretation and Strategic Use

The construction industry is regarded as one of the most unsafe industries at present. Existing research on construction safety management mainly focuses on the safety of construction personnel within the construction site, however, what the world perceives as safety failure in the construction industry is broader. This paper seeks to understand whose safety concerns are currently ignored and aims to explore the different strategic uses of safety in the construction industry. To address these objectives, this study uses naturally occurring news article data regarding construction safety in India. The paper discusses the safety of construction personnel, the safety of the project, and the safety of externalities. It was seen that safety was used strategically for branding, for political motives, as well as for awakening the community of the importance of construction safety. This study makes a case that safety management in construction is not just the prevention of accidents, but also impression management. Thus, this article argues that safety is not a neutral and easily measurable concept, but a sociocultural concept laden with meaning.