Construction health and safety research in Nigeria: towards a sustainable future

This paper presents a systematic review of Construction Health and Safety (CH&S) research in Nigeria, identifying and analysing the current trend, dissemination and implications including its alignment to addressing CH&S problems. Of the 6241 papers published in conference proceedings and found after systematic literature searches of journals and databases over a 36-year period, 49 relate to CH&S in Nigeria. There is evidence of growing interest in CH&S research, but it mainly centres on creating awareness on site safety and the causes of accidents (14 of the 49 studies); regulation and standards, and safety performance are six studies respectively; but none on design for safety and advanced technology. Twenty-two papers are in peer-reviewed international conference proceedings, eight are in highly rated journals, the rest are published in low-ranking (including non-referred) journals. Quantitative strategies remain dominant, 30 of the 49 papers, qualitative strategies are only three, and mixed methods account for 13. By implication, CH&S knowledge and improvement measures are lagging behind compared to other countries. There are indications that the direction of CH&S research may not be aligned to addressing the problems in the society. Hence, there is need for a shift in research focus and attitudes.