Study on Validation of Wholesaler Selection of Personal Protective Equipment to Improve Safety Performance in a Construction Organization in India

Most of the construction organizations in India rely on personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce /avoid accidents at workplace instead of adopting engineering and administrative controls, and selecting a wholesaler is an important decision making process, as quality of PPE is of paramount importance in avoiding accidents. The wholesaler selection is crucial particularly for construction organizations involved in execution of works in remote areas like construction of thermal electric plants, highways, buildings etc. It is difficult to find wholesalers in the vicinity of workplace. As construction organizations are more dependent on wholesalers, the direct and indirect consequences of poor decision making is more severe, as non standard/poor quality PPE results into injuries and sometimes fatal accidents also occur. In the present study, a wholesaler selection model using Integer linear programming (ILP) for multi product and multi wholesalers has been proposed, and the model is validated in a construction organization in which the process of purchasing is centralized. The construction organization was involved in execution of various construction activities at four different sites in northern region of India.