Study On Hidden Safety Costs Management Efficiency For Construction Enterprises

Hidden safety costs of construction enterprises include all the indirect investment and indirect loss, and the hidden safety cost can be a relative concept of the explicit safety cost. A large part of the loss in a construction accident isn’t directly reflected, but it takes effect in the form of hidden safety costs. Chinese construction enterprises frequently neglect hidden safety costs in safety management. Thus, studying the influence of construction enterprises’ hidden safety costs has important significance to improve the safety management level and control hidden safety costs with pertinence.In this paper, the qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to study hidden safety costs management efficiency for construction enterprises. Firstly, the concept and boundary of hidden safety costs of construction enterprises are clearly defined, and the items of hidden safety costs are listed and analyzed by literature reviewing and experts consulting, these contents are the basis of the study. Then, the factors of hidden safety costs are studied, and the factor analysis method is used to reduce the dimensionality of 25 pre and post factors affecting construction enterprises’ hidden safety costs, the 8 public factors are got as the key factors of hidden safety costs. At last, to study the hidden safety costs management efficiency for construction enterprises, the investment and output index system is built and 12 construction enterprises are investigated, the main hidden safety costs are estimated. The DEA model is used to evaluate those 12 enterprises’ safety investment management efficiency on preventing the hidden safety costs, the strategies of controlling hidden safety costs for construction enterprises are put forward, and this paper draws the following main conclusions:① Hidden safety costs can affect the individual and family in accidents, construction enterprises, society and environment and so on, but the items of hidden safety costs about construction enterprises can be the most. Construction enterprises’ hidden safety costs are closely related with the accident rate, and hidden safety costs are mainly reflected in the accident’s indirect loss.② The main pre factors of construction enterprises’ hidden safety costs include the strength and experience of the enterprise, the enterprise’ safety investment and the organization and management. The main post factors include the future profit loss caused by reputation loss, the opportunity loss and the work efficiency loss, the key point of preventing hidden safety costs should be the pre factors.③ For construction enterprises, hidden safety costs are mainly found in those enterprises where death accidents have happened, and the loss caused by hidden safety costs can be more than a few times the loss directly caused by the accident. The influence of hidden safety costs can be long-term, and hidden safety costs have more influence on large scale enterprises.④ The management efficiency on preventing the construction enterprises’ hidden safety costs is affected by the enterprise scale, death accidents, safety investment and so on. the management efficiency of enterprises where death accidents have happened is higher than the enterprises where on death accidents have happened.⑤ Construction enterprises can control hidden safety costs by the measures such as improving safety technology and management level, improving the structure of safety investment, preventing accidents with pertinence and building the long-term tracking feedback mechanism.