The Cyclical Nature of Safety Failure: A Multi-Level Grounded Theory Framework for Construction Safety Management in Ghana

Construction safety continues to be a significant concern in developing countries, like Ghana, which is characterised by elevated accident rates, inadequate enforcement, fragmented regulatory supervision, and constrained institutional capacity. The current construction safety frameworks are mostly descriptive, organisation-focused, and static, providing little understanding of the cyclical interactions among regulatory, organisational, and worker-level processes that perpetuate safety failures over time. This study establishes a multi-level, grounded theory framework to elucidate the cyclical nature of safety failures in the Ghanaian construction sector by including macro- (regulatory), meso- (organisational), and micro- (site/worker) dynamics. A qualitative grounded theory study was performed using a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm on semi-structured interviews with 41 participants from construction firms, site management, safety workers, craftsmen, and regulatory agencies. The findings indicate that safety problems are systemic rather than local, stemming from antiquated laws, persistent regulatory shortcomings, and selective enforcement influenced by political and economic disparities. The concept illustrates feedback loops, in which micro-level actions contribute to organisational deficiencies and regulatory disunity. It serves as both a diagnostic and strategic instrument, emphasising the need for legislative change, enhanced institutional capacity, and comprehensive safety management systems while providing relevant insights for other emerging nations.