Constructing Excellence and ARCOM kicked off its collaboration with a deep dive into safety culture, showcasing the work of Dr Emmanuel Aboagye-Nimo of Birmingham City University. The key question: how do we create a stronger safety culture when the people delivering the work are too often the least heard? The session highlighted the need to connect formal systems with the realities of site delivery, and to make more space for frontline experience, practical insight and shared learning.
The collaboration between Constructing Excellence and ARCOM aims to bring academic research to a wider industry audience. The session prompted a practical and thought-provoking conversation about how safety is shaped in real life: through behaviours, relationships, judgment and experience, as much as through process, policy and compliance.
Safety is not only written down – it is worked out on site
The gap between formal safety systems and the realities of work on site was a core theme. Policies, risk assessments and compliance frameworks remain essential, but they are only one part of the picture. Construction is dynamic and conditions shift quickly, so people often rely on practical experience, informal communication and shared awareness to manage risk in the moment.
That is why tacit knowledge matters. Much of what keeps people safe is not always written down in a procedure; it sits in habits, judgment, housekeeping, peer-to-peer correction and the experience built up over time. What is often called “common sense” is rarely simple. In practice, it is learned knowledge shaped by context, repetition and trust.
The industry’s biggest safety blind spot
The people most affected by safety systems often have the least influence over how those systems are designed. Microfirms, small businesses and specialist trades make up most of the sector, yet their perspectives are too often missing from policy conversations, procurement models and formal industry dialogue.
This matters because when safety frameworks are shaped at a distance from delivery, they can become harder to translate into day-to-day practice. People may see compliance as something done to them rather than something built with them. That weakens trust, limits feedback and makes it less likely that concerns, challenges or better ways of working will be surfaced early.
“The people who will actually be doing the work are often not present in conversations like this.” – Emmanuel Aboagye-Nimo
From compliance to culture
The discussion reinforced the shift from compliance alone towards culture, leadership and conversation. Several contributions pointed to the value of regular, authentic engagement on site, where clients, contractors and managers speak directly with frontline teams and listen to what they are hearing. In those environments, safety becomes something that is actively shaped and improved, not simply monitored.
That has clear implications for clients, procurement and project set-up. The session highlighted how unrealistic programmes, squeezed margins and competitive tendering can push pressure down the supply chain. If the sector wants better safety outcomes, it also needs to address the commercial and behavioural conditions that shape delivery. Safety culture cannot be separated from the way work is procured, planned and led.
“Safety culture cannot be separated from the way work is procured, planned and led.” – Emmanuel Aboagye-Nimo
Wellbeing, inclusion and the next research questions
The conversation widened beyond traditional definitions of safety to include wellbeing, mental health and inclusion. Participants pointed to emerging areas for further exploration, including neurodiversity in construction, the links between mental health and industry culture, and the impact of factors such as fatigue and nutrition on performance. Together, these themes reinforced an important point: safer outcomes depend on a more joined-up view of health, safety and wellbeing across the sector.
If the sector is serious about improving safety culture, it must create more opportunities for practical wisdom, honest dialogue and shared learning to inform what happens next.
“If we want safer construction, we must stop designing systems for the sites we wish existed and start learning from the sites that actually do.” – Emmanuel Aboagye-Nimo
Turning insight into action
This was the first collaborative session with ARCOM and what made the session particularly valuable was not only the strength of the research, but the quality of the discussion it sparked. There was clear appetite to provide space where industry and academia can work together to test ideas, challenge assumptions and turn insight into practical improvement.
As Constructing Excellence and ARCOM take this collaboration forward, the opportunity is clear: to connect research more directly with practice. ARCOM’s September conference will be an important opportunity in that conversation. Get in touch if you have any themes, ideas, questions to inform the work being carried out across ARCOM.
