THE CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER: FROM "DESKTOP MANAGER" TO COMPETENT PRACTITIONER OF HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT WORK

Every year fatal accidents occur in the Norwegian construction industry. To avoid the occurrence of such unfortunate incidents, an increased focus on health, safety and environment (HSE) is necessary on all levels in the industry - included on the educational level. Newly educated construction engineers quickly enter into management positions that include responsibility for HSE. Thus, it is important to examine how the education of construction engineers can provide students with the required competence on HSE. Regional safety representatives are important HSE actors in the Norwegian construction industry. This paper examines 1) the experiences of the regional safety representatives when interacting with construction engineers on HSE issues, and 2) their inputs and opinions concerning what competence on HSE construction engineers need in order to become more capable professionals able to contribute to a safer and healthier industry. The study, based on information gathered by using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 regional safety representatives from all parts of Norway, shows that a common view held by the regional safety representatives is that construction engineers are poorly prepared for HSE responsibility due to their lack of practical work experience from construction sites. Hence, the regional safety representatives tend to regard engineers mainly as "desktop managers" with limited knowledge and understanding of practical HSE work. The regional safety representatives suggest that the gap between theoretical knowledge and working life practice can be reduced by strengthening the collaboration between the educational institutions and the industry. This can prove to be an important strategy both to improve HSE performance in the industry and to increase the employability of newly educated engineers.