Behaviour-Based Safety, Human Error, and Mens Rea: A Socio-Legal and Behavioural Analysis of Liability for Workplace Accidents in Ghana's Construction Industry

This paper offers a socio-legal analysis of liability based on Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) evidence and the legal principle of mens rea in workplace accidents in Ghana‘s construction sector. Using a doctrinalqualitative research design, the study combines a doctrinal analysis of Ghanaian statutes and case law with a thematic synthesis of peer-reviewed safety research and official investigation reports (2021–2024). This interdisciplinary approach develops a structured framework for systematically aligning BBS-derived behavioural data with Ghanaian legal standards of foreseeability, negligence, and recklessness. The findings indicate that organisational and cultural factors, of which informal labour relations, weak supervision, and production pressure are the most important, are associated with unsafe acts in Ghanaian construction. Moreover, the study also reveals that persistent unsafe practices, supervisory omission, and the normalisation of deviance have legal significance, allowing courts to infer foreseeability and constructive knowledge for liability attribution. The contribution presents a practical mechanism for integrating BBS evidence into legal proceedings under Ghanaian law. It offers a pathway for more consistent, transparent, and evidence-based mens rea attribution in workplace accident cases.