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Construction Safety Risk Mitigation
Abstract
Construction safety and health management has improved significantly following the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. In response to this legislation, contractors began implementing safety programs to reduce occupational safety and health hazards on construction sites. Researchers recently found that the current process of selecting specific elements for a safety program is informal. This paper describes the results of a recent study designed to determine the relative effectiveness of safety program elements by quantifying their individual ability to mitigate construction safety and health risks. In order to determine the effectiveness of individual safety program elements, the following research activities were performed: (1) an appropriate safety risk classification system was created using an aggregation of relevant literature; (2) highly effective safety program elements were identified in literature; and (3) the ability of each safety program element to mitigate a portion of each of the safety risk classes was quantified using the Delphi method. The results of the research indicate that the most effective safety program elements are upper management support and commitment and strategic subcontractor selection and management and the least effective elements are recordkeeping and accident analyses and emergency response planning. It is expected that the data presented in this paper can be used to strategically select elements for a safety program, target specific safety and health risks, and influence resource allocation when funds are limited.
... To this end, a myriad of research has been conducted in different countries and various project types. Among them, the involvement of different stakeholders (i.e., managers and workers) in the safety management programs is a prominent factor [4][5][6][7]. Different stakeholders can have different perceptions when it comes to safety [8]. Although diverse perspectives offer benefits, different perceptions with huge gaps can create challenges in construction safety. ...
... Multiple approaches have been examined to enhance construction safety, and their impacts have been shown in the research focused on safety improvement practices in construction projects. Some of the major studied tools include worker's training [25,[27][28][29][30][31], effective communication [32][33][34], continuous documentation [4,35], proper use of equipment [36,37], close supervision [38], and advanced technologies [39] or combination of them [40]. Table 2 shows the main approaches studied in the research to improve safety (data from [41,42]). ...
... On the other hand, facilitating safety communication helps workers to express their safety needs and concerns to be addressed by managers. Different technologies and methods such as toolbox talks [33] and pre-task safety planning [4] have been shown to positively impact job site safety through fostering safety support and communication. Safety managers and practitioners must clearly communicate their safety expectations and involve workers in the safety decision-making process [74,84]. ...
Persisting high rates of worksite accidents and injuries in construction projects indicate
the urge to investigate the root causes and revisit safety practices in this industry. Consonance in perceptions and safety approaches has been identified as a fundamental factor in boosting projects’ safety. Discrepancies between how different elements of construction safety are perceived and handled by the key stakeholders, namely managers and workers, could be detrimental to worksite safety. This research studied how, if at all, the perception of four key construction safety components, including 33 sets of pairwise questions, is different in the lens of managers from workers. To explore safety perceptions, 133 construction professionals in the United States participated in the study and expressed their perceptions toward their own and counterparts’ (1) safety knowledge, (2) safety culture and commitment, (3) safety performance, and (4) safety support and communication. The results indicated that massive gaps in safety perceptions do exist between the construction managers and workers (26 out of 33 areas), and the magnitude varies for different safety elements. In all four categories, both managers and workers perceived a superior safety position for themselves and inferior for their counterparts. Further investigations revealed that the common ground between managers and workers is their consensus on proper communication and safety training as the key solutions to address such discrepancies. Construction safety professionals and practitioners can benefit from the results of this study to establish and implement strategies to foster communication and provide more effective safety training to bridge the existing gaps in the perception of safety by managers and workers.
... An organisation's safety management system entails the execution of safety practices under one roof [30]. Despite endeavours to enhance and promote safety performance, construction industry accident rates remain unacceptably high worldwide [31], [32]. The construction industry's hazardous conditions necessitate intensified efforts to improve safety performance and minimise accident rates [33]. ...
... Contractors' attitudes towards safety range from non-compliance to full compliance, and during the bidding process and after contract awarding, the respective owners must consider the contractors' past safety performance [75]- [78]. Once a contract is awarded, the subcontractor must comply with the minimum standards of the general contractor's safety and health program [31]. ...
... Developing Safety Programs: A robust safety management program is required for the smooth implementation of activities and regular operation of resources [63]. Senior management support, dedication and strategic sub-contractor selection and management are amongst the most crucial parts of a safety program; if they are considered mutually, the negative effects of such a mutualistic relationship can be reduced [31], [82]. According to Chen and Jin [69], successful safety programs require managerial commitment and worker participation. ...
Safety performance in construction workplaces continues to decrease to unacceptable levels every year. An efficient safety performance in the construction sector can be achieved by implementing improvement practices, which make up a promising field. The primary objective of this review is to identify and categorise recommended safety improvement practices that enhance safety performance in the construction sector. Content analysis methodology was used to examine safety improvement practices, and these practices were categorised into clients, engineers, contractors, subcontractors and governments levels. More than 60 recommended practices, including allocating safety budgets, assigning safety personnel, building safety culture, conducting accident inspections, conducting safety committee meetings, developing safety programs, establishing training programs, maintaining a safety record system and stipulating safety equipment, were identified. The findings of this review illustrate how these practices influence safety performance and the maintenance of high safety performance outcomes in the construction sector. Recommendations were also proposed for construction stakeholders
... The capability is not only technical, such as identifying and controlling hazards (Albert et al., 2017), but also "soft" in the sense that employees' care about each other's safety and recognize their own competence or incompetence in risky situations (Wen Lim et al., 2018). In addition, firm-specific orientations provide opportunities for increasing operatives' understanding of the company's safety initiatives and programs so that they can better comply with policies and engage with safety activities (Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009;Liu et al., 2019). The frequency of training and percentage of employees trained reflect the organization's investment in safety. ...
... Furthermore, design documents and plans facilitate the practice of identifying and controlling hazards during execution Lingard et al., 2017). They can be used to create formal inspection plans, stressing high-risk areas, for instance, and guide the method for controlling identified hazards (Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009;Liu et al., 2019;Mahmoudi et al., 2014). Apart from regular inspections, continuous monitoring of work environment and taking remedial actions help to measure the safety level on site (Mahmoudi et al., 2014;Teo et al., 2005). ...
... The effectiveness of identifying and controlling hazards, prioritizing and reporting incidents, and investigating and learning from incidents, however, relies on the knowledge and experience of operatives who assume the responsibility (Saurin et al., 2015). Site communication, such as inductions, on-the-job training and toolbox meetings provide opportunities to enrich task-specific skills to prevent accidents (Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009;Hinze et al., 2013). Rewarding mechanisms are measures that sustain safe operations as they motivate the workforce to continuously comply with safety rules and actively participate in safety improvement (Mohamed, 2003). ...
Safety leading indicators have been investigated as an emergent area in the construction industry. Yet the fundamental concepts of leading indicators, including definitions, viability and effectiveness, have not been commonly agreed. Despite this, various indicators have been proposed in construction management research. However, the findings are sporadic, and the relationships between proposed leading indicators and accident attributors remain unclear. This knowledge gap can hamper the implementation of safety leading indicators and proactive safety management in the construction industry. Based on a systematic literature review, the present study aims to: develop a common working definition of safety leading indicator for a better understanding of the current research in the construction sector; identify construction safety leading indicators; and create an integrated framework that fits in the complex and fragment structure of the construction industry for proactive safety management. The findings revealed sixteen indicators that were categorized into two dimensions to: 1) measure the safety performance of firms, projects or groups and individuals; and 2) identify potential incidents and injuries caused by organizational, operational or cognitive and behavioral issues. The findings call for researchers and practitioners to take an ecosystem perspective, consider the temporal effects, and combine qualitative and quantitative measurements in future research and implementing safety leading indicators in the construction industry.
... Compliance with HSE requirements (C 4−6 ) is how well an SC follows health and safety policy and makes provisions for it in their proposal [20], [50]. This can be deduced according to the current project of an SC and a visit to the SC's facilities [49], [68], [69], [70]. 5) Enterprise Performance (C 5 ): Past performances (C 5−1 ) depict how well an SC has performed on previously assigned contracts. ...
... 5) Obtain the crisp value based on the center of the area, using (68). ...
This article addresses the problem of subcontractor selection in an uncertain decision-making environment by proposing a new hybrid method and improving a classical multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) method. First, the proposed hybrid method combines subjective and objective weighting methods to estimate the weights of criteria that are represented as grey numbers. The subjective weighting method is the PA weighting method. The objective weighting method is the rank order centroid with slacks (ROCS) weighting method used to compensate for the limitation of the rank order centroid weighting method. Second, grey relational analysis (GRA) is improved by introducing both positive and negative reference (PNR) alternatives instead of a single reference alternative as in the classical GRA. Subsequently, the proposed hybrid grey-point allocation-ROCS weighting method and the GRA-PNR evaluation method are applied to select the most suitable subcontractor for the supply of heliostats for photothermal power station construction. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to verify the robustness of the results. Finally, the technique for order preferences by similarity to an ideal solution with grey values, simple additive weighting with grey relations, and additive ratio assessment with grey criteria scores is applied to validate the participation of the selected subcontractor in the project.
... The concept of safety culture implies an organization's common values and beliefs regarding safety, as well as a control structure that produces a specific behavioral norm. As a result, everyone in the workplace must recognize the importance of safety and health and constantly remind one another of safe practices [31,46]. Morals and values are also important components of a safety culture. ...
... Occupational safety and health management is a component of an organization's overall management system that is used to manage occupational safety and health risks [47]. An established safety policy will serve as a stimulus for both the organization's management and its employees to carry out work activities in a safe and healthy manner [46]. The formulation of safety policy in an organization is an expression of the organization's management's commitment to supporting the vision of zero accidents, and it must be established in accordance with the organization's safety planning [48]. ...
The zero-accident vision has sparked debate in the fields of occupational safety and health. While many organizations and policymakers have successfully implemented the zero-accident vision, numerous notable occupational safety and health scholars from various backgrounds argue against its use and success in theory and practice. This article aimed to analyze the existing literature on the variables impacting an organization’s zero-accident vision. A systematic review of the Scopus and Web of Science databases revealed 25 related studies using the PRISMA statement (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) review method. Following a thorough review of these articles, seven main themes emerged: the occupational safety and health management system, organizational leadership, safety culture, training, communication, risk, and legislation. These seven themes resulted in a total of 28 sub-themes. Several recommendations are emphasized, including the use of a specific and standard systematic review method to guide research synthesis in the frame of reference of variables impacting the organization’s zero-accident vision and to practice complementary searching techniques, such as citation tracking, reference searching, snowballing, and contacting experts.
... The results show that promoting voluntary safety measures is more effective than investments in primary safety measures [50]. The authors also demonstrate that safety culture and hazard level of building projects are related to safety investments in accident prevention [50,52,24]. ...
... This information may indicate that this phase influence in a significant manner in building projects. For example, in the design phase, the factors named Constructability concepts/program (FC2.2) [4], Actors' integration (FS 4.6) [52,63], and Knowledge sharing (FC3.5) [32] represent a strong relationship between safety and constructability improvements. ...
This paper aims to a better understanding of constructability and occupational safety issues through a systematic literature review. Therefore, the article provides a general overview of the literature by presenting a network analysis and a descriptive quantitative one. We extract definitions of buildability and constructability, main topics, categories, and factors that improve constructability and occupational safety through an in-depth analysis of the papers. We identified 27 improvement factors of constructability and 72 of occupational safety regarding project life cycle phases. A visual representation was done, including those that improve both constructability and occupational safety (46 factors). These factors represent a standard guideline among safety and constructability categories. The paper also presents research opportunities for future studies regarding project lifecycle phases, research method, constructability, and safety field, and needs for future work situations. We expect to contribute to architectural, engineering, and construction industry development concerning occupational safety and constructability improvements.
... This article does not argue that some risk mitigations are better than others for users to employ (due to the differing operations conducted) and instead argues that the number of risk mitigations employed is a more important metric because each particular risk mitigation addresses different types of risks. This argument parallels those made in other safety-sensitive operating environments, such as construction, maritime, and research laboratories [31][32][33]. Below, each risk mitigation included in this study is described and its inclusion justified. ...
... The number of pre-flight risk mitigations (i.e., all except for air band radio) was also recorded as a sum of the number of the "yes" categorisations for the options covered in question 9, with 8 being the maximum score. This is because each risk mitigation addresses slightly different risks, so one can argue that the greater the number typically applied, the higher one's risk mitigation, following similar arguments in other safety-sensitive environments [31][32][33]. ...
While the potential risks of unmanned aircraft have received significant attention, there is little in the academic literature that examines how operational risks are mitigated by users. This study examines the prevalence of key operational risk mitigations amongst a sample of 812 unmanned aircraft users in New Zealand, their confidence levels in identifying and complying with airspace requirements, and their ability to read visual navigation charts (VNCs) and use AirShare (a local tool that shows airspace requirements). Significant differences exist between the number and type of mitigations applied, users’ confidence levels in identifying and complying with airspace requirements, and users’ ability to read VNCs and use AirShare based upon user characteristics. Education, practical assessment, membership of a professional body, professional/semi-professional use, and operating for a certificated organisation all improve risk mitigation (greater number and variety of risk mitigations applied). The only risk mitigation employed by almost all users was conducting a pre-flight check of their aircraft, identifying the need for users to view risk mitigation more holistically. The findings support policy directions related to educational requirements, the ability for member-based organisations and professional bodies to self-regulate, and the fitness of the current regulatory system in New Zealand.
... Toolbox discussions are referred to as pre-work meetings and used to raise awareness of safety issues and conditions at the workplace [5]. Top management also plays a vital role in promoting safety initiatives to build a healthy workplace safety culture [7]. Safety initiatives such as conducting a hazard analysis, promoting safety training, and reporting accidents help alleviate exposure to work-related risks [6]. ...
... Otherwise, informal safety communication is a spontaneous conversation and announcement [5]. The goal of informal safety communication could be for a worker to remind another worker about previous accidents that lead to health-related injuries [5][6][7]. ...
Safety at work is a global concern because accidents and injuries are the results of unsafe behaviour. Safety communication at the workplace is, therefore, necessary to improve safety. This study aims to analyse publication trends and thematic evolution in safety communication at the workplace over 45 years from 1975 to 2020. The review uses the Scopus database and various bibliometric indicators such as publication trends, citations, and authors’ keywords. Graphical visualisation of bibliometric indicators using VOSviewer is also presented. SciMAT was used to inspect the thematic evolution of safety communication research at the workplace. Safety communication research has fluctuated with less than 50 publications annually. This review is interested in several themes and dimensions in changes and evolution of safety communication. Essential themes in the first period (2006-2010) were “occupational-accidents”. The “questionnaires”, “safety-behavior”, and “risk-factor” themes became the most significant number of publications and citations during the second period (2011-2015). “Organisational-culture” was the high number of publications in the motor themes during the third period of studies (2016-2020). These five themes may be useful as a benchmark for occupational safety and health researchers and professionals focused on the art of safety communication at the workplace.
... The construction industry is deemed as one of the most dangerous industries due to its complicated construction environment, frequent use of heavy equipment and inevitable hazardous worker interactions [1]. According to prior studies, 22% of occupational fatalities in America, 27.2% in Britain, and 27.6% in Korea occur in the construction industry [2][3][4]. ...
... Simultaneously, according to the analysis in Section 4 and regardless of the static supervision mode or dynamic supervision mode, contractor (2) could nearly choose to make a sufficient safety investment as its optimal strategy and the profit of insufficient safety investment for contractor (2) is much smaller than that for contractor (1). Therefore, the contractor with a small profit associated with an insufficient safety investment is more inclined to choose to obey the rules than the contractor with a large profit associated with an insufficient safety investment, which shows that the contractor with a small illegal return belongs to the risk conservative type in the model and the contractor with a large illegal return belongs to the risk preference type. ...
The construction industry suffers from poor safety performance caused by the joint effect of insufficient safety investment by contractors and inefficient safety supervision by the government because of the information gap between the two sides. The present study aims to put forward a new pathway to improve safety investment supervision efficiency and analyze the decision-making interactions of stakeholders under this new pathway. For this purpose, this study establishes a safety investment information system to eliminate the information gap between the government and contractors for construction projects in China and further develops a dynamic safety investment supervision mechanism based on this. Evolutionary game theory is used to describe the decision-making interactions among stakeholders under the current static supervision mechanism and the dynamic supervision mechanism proposed in this research. Moreover, system dynamics is adopted to simulate the evolutionary game process and analyze the supervision effect and equilibrium state of different supervision mechanisms. The results reveal that the proposed safety investment information system could facilitate the transition of the supervision mode from static to dynamic; the evolutionarily stable strategy does not exist in the current static penalty scenario; and the dynamic supervision mechanism that correlates penalties with contractors’ unlawful behavior probability can restrain the fluctuation of the evolutionary game model effectively and the players’ strategy choices gradually stabilize in the equilibrium state. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic supervision mechanism in improving supervision efficiency. This study not only contributes to the literature on safety supervision policy-making but also helps to improve supervision efficiency in practice.
... A Delphi study can be applied for any purpose when there is a need for committees. Although methods such as questionnaire surveys, interviews, and case studies are common approaches in the construction industry's studies, Delphi is considered a suitable tool to prioritize issues to the extent that several scholars collected experts' viewpoints through Delphi rather than traditional surveys (Hallowell and Gambatese 2009). However, it is best suited in fields where there are data unavailability, complexity, uncertainty, various viewpoints, and insufficient established quantitative documents (Linstone and Turoff 1975;Orndoff 2005;Skulmoski et al. 2007;Lucko and Rojas 2010), such as energy efficiency (Pätäri et al. 2016), public health insurance (Zhao et al. 2015), software development (Nakatsu and Iacovou 2009), and quality assurance (Heiko 2012). ...
Among various project delivery methods, there is a growing tendency to deliver transportation infrastructure projects, particularly highway projects, through public-private partnerships (PPPs). This necessitates further investigations on PPP arrangements. Despite previous research efforts, a question remains unanswered: What are the contributing criteria for selecting projects that fit the PPP method, and of these, which factors play key roles? This study aims to address such a question through a Delphi study approach. To meet this objective, experts at state DOTs participated in interviews and questionnaire surveys during two rounds of a Delphi study. After achieving a consensus among responses, this study identified factors: the PPP project's screening factors and characteristics, requirements for an evaluation panel to assess a potential project, common risks, risks needed to provide appropriate incentives to private parties, requirements for involved staff, special-izations required in PPP units to facilitate project phases, roles of the public sector or federal government or state, associated factors to enabling legislation, economic analysis, and suitable project size. Some of the major findings are that PPPs are suitable for large projects, the value of money should be a mandatory study, an economic analysis must be performed by comparing different delivery methods, and it should be determined whether PPPs are legal (and allowed) in the state. The primary contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is to focus academicians' and industry professionals' attention on PPP highway project selection criteria and the factors that are required to maximize project performance and benefits.
... Methods such as survey questionnaires, interviews, and case studies are common in construction industry studies. Although methods such as questionnaire surveys, interviews, and case studies are common approaches in construction industry's studies, a Delphi study is considered a suitable tool to prioritize issues to the extent that several scholars collect expert viewpoints through Delphi (Hallowell and Gambatese 2009). As a qualitative approach, it brings rich context-based knowledge in the first round (Sourani and Sohail 2015); it can also be used quantitatively in subsequent round(s) to bring consensus (MacCarthy and Atthirawong 2003). ...
A recent growing delivery method used in highway projects is public-private partnerships (PPPs). PPPs are when public agencies collaborate with private parties for private financing at risk or operating services, which makes PPPs significantly different from other delivery methods used by public agencies-for example, design-bid-build, construction management at risk, and design-build. Despite the efforts of previous studies, questions remain unanswered: What are the contributing critical success factors that fit PPP highway projects? What are the risk factors that play key roles in PPP highway projects? This study aimed to address these questions through a Delphi study approach with the help of experienced professionals at state departments of transportation. Participants participated in interviews in the first round and completed a survey questionnaire in the second round of a Delphi study. After achieving an acceptable level of consensus from the first round of responses, the study identified and ranked the top critical success and risk factors for PPP highway projects. The study found that the top three critical success factors were (1) proper risk assessment and allocation to private parties; (2) realistic assessment of project estimates, risks, and revenues; and (3) avoidance of ambiguous language in contracts. In addition, the top risk factors identified were (1) revenue stream projections; (2) construction risks; and (3) design risks. The primary contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is to draw the attention of professionals in both industry and academia to the PPP highway industry, critical factors for PPP success and risks, and the successful completion of future PPP projects.
... Although methods such as questionnaire surveys, interviews, and case studies are common approaches in construction industry's studies, a Delphi study is considered a suitable tool to prioritize issues to the extent that several scholars collect expert viewpoints through Delphi (Hallowell and Gambatese 2009). As a qualitative approach, Delphi studies bring rich context-based knowledge in the first round (Sourani and Sohail 2015), but they also have the potential to act as a quantitative approach in subsequent round(s), to bring consensus (MacCarthy and Atthirawong 2003). ...
Construction projects can be delivered through various approaches; nevertheless, all practitioners and involved parties have a mutual goal, which is completing the project within the original scope, defined budget, and schedule. Reviewing the literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) showed that many efforts have been made to cover different research areas, including policies, risks, roles and responsibilities, and finance. The existing literature lacks studies involving the comprehensive process of preparing and implementing PPP contracts associated with highway projects in the US. This research, therefore, fills this noticeable gap in the body of knowledge on the PPP delivery method. The main objective of this research was to develop a framework for PPP contracts focusing on highway projects. To meet this objective, the authors conducted a Delphi study with highway professionals to identify the major issues that they should carefully deal with during contract document preparation, contract procurement, and contract implementation phases to make PPP highway projects successful. The Delphi study consisted of two rounds, with 25 open-ended interview questions over three phases. The study found that highway agencies must fix the scope of a project before a PPP project starts. They should also choose a lump sum contract type and a design-build-finance-operate-maintenance PPP type with a 35 to 40-year concession period for highway projects. Contracts should consist of incentive and dis-incentive clauses along with availability payments as the mode of compensating concessioners for their work. Before initiating a PPP contract, agencies should make sure that their state legislation allows this type of contract. The study also found that during the contract procurement phase, owners should use the best-value selection method to choose a PPP contractor; the competition should be fair and transparent, and the owner must have expertise in order to successfully procure PPP contracts. The experts recommended setting performance standards for PPP concessioners, performing inspections using independent third parties, and handing over condition data to maintenance personnel at the end of construction. The primary contribution of this research to the body of knowledge was to highlight the fact that each country, with the help of professional expertise and key stakeholders, background, and/or lessons learned, needs to develop a framework that lists the main issues and processes to be considered in implementing PPP highway contracts. This study presents a framework that can work nationwide, something that is missing in previous research studies. This framework can guide professionals in the transportation industry toward effective contract document preparation, procurement, and implementation of PPP highway projects in addition to giving academicians better insights to understand PPP highway projects in the US.
... Most studies investigating measures to minimise and control rework in construction have the ultimate aim of improving labour productivity and time-cost performance (e.g., Chiu et al., 2021;Hwang & Yang, 2014), which aligns with Das' et al. (2008) assertion that safety has been inexplicably overlooked in the operations management literature. Others investigate rework minimisation (e.g., Zhang et al., 2019) and safety management and improvements (e.g., Hallowell & Gambatese, 2009;Pereira et al., 2020) independently, although safety and rework management processes are somewhat comparable. Love et al. (2018b), for example, highlight the lack of a robust theoretical underpinning of the nature and interplay of quality and safety issues in construction projects; while Loushine's et al. (2006) literature search identifies 49 articles relating to construction quality and safety management, only 10% of which investigated quality together with safety aspects -indicating a lack of empirical studies integrating rework and safety management in a project-based construction setting. ...
Previous studies demonstrate that rework can lead to more safety incidents. However, there is an inadequate understanding of how construction rework reduction measures may significantly decrease the likelihood of safety incidents in developing countries. To explore how construction organisations can integrate rework minimisation and safety management in practice, this study examines the effectiveness of the management strategies that can reduce rework and improve safety. Based on a two-stage detailed literature review of both rework- and safety-related studies, 13 managerial measures are recognised that are capable of jointly reducing rework and safety incidents for construction projects. A field survey involving construction professionals in Malaysia was used to analyse and rank these measures according to effectiveness indices for rework, safety and joint rework-safety management. Factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution comprising (1) project management best practices and (2) proactive competency management. It is suggested that the construction industry would benefit from simultaneously ameliorating the quality and safety performance of projects by adopting effective joint measures that are predominantly guided by process (best practices) and people (competency management) components.
... The demographics of the respondents are shown in Table 2. Assessing the respondents' demographics, according to Hallowell and Gambatese (2009), helps offer background information on the study respondents and analyze their competence to lend credibility to the replies and overall conclusions of the research. ...
With a growing priority on resolving environmental issues and managing resources more effectively in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12, this research aims to assess solutions to minimize resource consumption in the Ghanaian construction sector. In the Ghanaian cities of Accra and Kumasi, questionnaires were utilized to solicit responses from construction stakeholders. Mean score ranking was used to rank these techniques. A reliability analysis using Cronbach's alpha coefficient found a high level of internal consistency. A high level of agreement was found after testing using Kendall's concordance. A one-sample t-test was also employed to examine the relative importance of the variables. Properties should be built to be disassembled; sections of existing building structures should be reused; prefabricated components should be utilized for on-site assembly; demolition components should be re-used or recycled, and existing buildings should be renovated to prevent destruction. This research is valuable because it adds to a checklist of measures for minimizing the effect of resource consumption in the Ghanaian construction sector, as well as to the achievement of the SDG goal. Project managers, architects, engineers, subcontractors, and other key stakeholders are encouraged to use innovative approaches to decrease resource consumption.
... H12. Қурилиш майдонлридаги вазифаларнинг вақтинчалиги ва мунтазам ўзгариб туриши жиддий бахтсиз ҳодисаларга сабаб бўлади [5]. ...
Мазкур тадқиқот иши мамлакатимиз қурилиш-пудрат ташкилотларида касбий соғлиқ
ва хавфсизликни таъминлашнинг иқтисодий самарадорлиги эконометрик таҳлил қилинган.
Шунингдек, регрессия тенгламасининг гипотезалар текшируви жумладан, нормал тақсимот,
мультиколлинеарлик, автокоррелация, гетероскедастиклик ва модел барқарорлиги
текширувлари натижасида инсон капиталани ривожлантириш истиқболлари ўрганилган
... In line with the literature and previous empirical evidence, Fig. 2 included the general hypotheses proposed to test in this article. In Model 1, it is proposed that site complexity (Global factor 1, GF1) has a positive relationship with each of the 10 risk variables considered in this study (this is the general hypothesis 1); while resources on site (Global factor 2, GF2) have a negative impact Bavafa et al., 2018*;Dillon et al., 2017*;Grill & Nielsen, 2019*;Gunduz & Laitinen, 2017*;Hinze, Thurman, et al., 2013;López-Alonso et al., 2013;Manu et al., 2013;Swuste et al., 2012;Xia et al., 2020*;Yung, 2009Yung, , 2009Zhang et al., 2018 (Adam et al., 2009;Alruqi & Hallowell, 2019*;Bavafa et al., 2018*;Baxendale & Jones, 2000;Borys, 2012;Conchie et al., 2013;Dillon et al., 2017*;Grill & Nielsen, 2019;Gunduz & Laitinen, 2017;Hallowell & Gambatese, 2009;Hinze, Thurman, et al., 2013;Jarvis & Tint, 2009;Jiang et al., 2015*;Mahmoudi et al., 2014;Manu et al., 2013;Ros et al., 2013;Yung, 2009*) on each risk variable (which is the general hypothesis 2). In the case of Model 2, since it decomposed both global factors (GF1 and GF2) into their two factors considered in Forteza et al.'s (2017) model, the hypotheses of their effects on each risk on site variables are stated accordingly, that is, the two factors related to complexity increase all variables of risk on site, while the two factors reflecting level of resources reduce all variables of risk on site. ...
Introduction:
This study develops an empirical test of two theoretical models using the approach of Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the relationships between specific organizational factors of safety management system (SMS) and specific risk variables.
Method:
Two SEM models with two and four latent variables, respectively, and 10 observed risk variables were used to identify the strongest relationships that may lead to an accident on site. A random sample of 474 construction sites were visited and assessed in Spain from 2003 to 2010. Most of the samples were small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which is the predominant type of company in the Spanish construction industry. To assess the risk on sites and get the measurements of the variables included in the models, the validated method CONSRAT (Construction Sites Risk Assessment Tool) was used. After estimating the proposed models, an adequate fit was obtained for both of them.
Results:
Results provide empirical evidence that: (a) the factor "Resources on site" is more determinant in explaining influences on risk variables because of their influence on all risk variables (Model 1); (b) the factor "Site structure complexity" (which includes structure and organization, and safety resources available on site) has a stronger effect on risk variables than other factors related to intrinsic characteristics of the work, site, or companies (Model 2).
Conclusions:
These results mean that the complexity and resource factors that depend on companies are those that have the greatest impact on risks, which makes it possible for companies to undertake the appropriate risk control measures.
Practical application:
These results can help construction firms obtain earlier information about which organizational elements can affect future safety conditions on site, improve those elements for preventing risks, and consequently, avoid accidents before they occur.
... The safety plan is an activity to identify, analyze, and control hazards before the construction project begins [30]. It was also defined by Hallowell and Gambatese [31] as the document that contains specific project safety goals and objectives, as well as methods to achieve project success. Wardahni, Latief [32] explained a safety plan as a document prepared at the project planning stage which contains risk identification, assessment, and mitigation results. ...
The accidents recorded during university construction projects usually affect the safety performance of the institution. This indicates it is important to recognize the hazards and construction risks at the design stage in order to have an optimal safety plan. Moreover, the university area has several organizations involved in the implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS). Therefore, there is a need to develop the OHSMS information system to accommodate the role of the parties involved and to disseminate information and communication more effectively. This study was conducted to develop a WBS and BIM-based safety plan for the OHSMS information systems to improve the safety performance using the case study method. The result showed that the WBS is the basic constituent of the safety plan integrated with the BIM to visualize the project in real terms in order to ensure easier identification of hazards and risks. The process involved building data security information in BIM to develop web-based information systems and the BIM-based OHSMS information system developed is expected to improve safety performance in the university area.
... For example, The Construction Industry Institute identified key components of an effective safety program [57], including management commitment, staffing for safety, pre-project and pre-task planning, safety education and training, employee involvement, safety recognition and rewards, accident/incident investigations, substance abuse programs, subcontractor management. Hallowell1 and Gambatese [58] quantified the frequency and severity reduction of defined construction safety risk resulting from the independent implementation of each essential safety program element, and concluded upper management support and commitment and subcontractor selection and management are the most effective safety program elements. Pinto et al. [59] indicated that occupational risk assessment on workplace sites is the first and key step to support decision-making in safety programs. ...
The regeneration of abandoned industrial buildings (RAIBs) has received extensive attention in urban renewal efforts to achieve urban sustainable development goals. Meanwhile, the construction safety performance of RAIBs is a major challenge with increasing RAIB projects in China. Safety programs have been considered as one of the proactive methods to effectively reduce accidents and injuries in the construction industry. Various studies have conducted critical success factors (CSFs) that influence the effective implementation of safety programs in new buildings. However, the CSFs affecting the construction safety program implementation of RAIBs were ignored. The aim of this study is to determine CSFs that affect the safety program implementation of RAIB projects. First, sixteen factors were identified combining characteristics of RAIBs with literature reviews and experts’ opinion. Second, the fuzzy set theory and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach are proposed to identify the influencing degree of the factors and categorize these factors into cause-and-effect groups. Then, according to the causal diagram, management support (C1), allocation of authority and responsibility (C3), control of subcontractor (C5), personal attitude (C9), and safety inspections and hazard assessment (C14) are identified as the CSFs for the safety program implementation of RAIBs’ construction. This study guides the managers and stakeholders to especially concentrate on these CSFs in order to improve the efficiency of the safety program implementation of RAIB projects with limited resources. This study also will contribute to the improvement of safety performance and to the sustainable development goal of RAIB projects.
... The survey data were entered into Excel 2016 [64] and transferred to IBM SPSS version 26 [65] for statistical analysis. Preliminary analyses were conducted by computing the variable for the severity score (severity/incident) using the severity scale by Hallowell and Gambatese [66]. The frequency score (incident/worker-hour) was also computed, given that every worker works eight hours a day and five days a week. ...
Construction operations are hazardous, leading to thousands of accidents, injuries, and fatalities annually. Safety risk assessment (SRA) is a key component necessary to respond to hazards effectively. Individuals have different perceptions of the riskiness of construction hazards, and studies have shown that different sociodemographic factors among employees can alter their SRA skills. However, their role in the US construction industry has been understudied, and this analysis investigates this topic further. Following a detailed systematic review of the relevant literature, quantitative data were collected from 181 construction fieldworkers in the United States using images integrated into an interactive questionnaire survey. Responses on the severity and frequency of seven potential accident causes were captured and analyzed. Findings from the literature review revealed six key sociodemographic factors—age, education, training, gender, ethnicity, and work type—that could impact fieldworkers’ SRA. However, a quantitative analysis suggests that only education is a significant influence, and sociodemographic factors had a statistically significant impact on less than five percent of the assessments. Therefore, the present study proposes that future investigation within the SRA domain should complement sociodemographic factors with critical behavioral factors that are rarely discussed, such as cognitive biases, personality traits, and safety behavior. As a foundational study for safety researchers and practitioners, the results provide information on SRA that can help enhance the safety and workforce sustainability of construction companies with a diverse workforce.
... This section measures the level and effectiveness of safety training in terms of developing and sustaining a work environment conducive to incident and injury-free. A study by [11] shows that safety training can change workers' safe behaviour and attitude. Prevention can be carried out successfully when employees understand better about the work's potential hazards and risks. ...
This research focused on five factors; the management commitments towards safety, availability of safety rules and procedures, safety communication and feedback, the effectiveness of safety training, and the acquisition of safety knowledge that contributes to compliance of safety culture in the government-linked companies (GLC), by exploring various dimensions by which converge into achieving organizational safety performance outcomes. The importance of safety performance in the GLC is to ensure the employees have the right safety culture, a safe working environment, and comply with safety rules and procedures. The contribution of the findings of this study may provide knowledge of existing safety management practices in Malaysia’s Government Linked Company (GLC) and facilitate the organizations in evaluating the importance of safety management on their performance. This study also emphasizes the relationship between the five factors mentioned towards the compliance of safety culture in the organization. Besides that, it also provides an empirical review on which components of safety management practices have a better relationship with the organizational safety culture. Based on the results obtained, there is a positive correlation between management commitments towards safety, availability of safety rules and procedures, safety communication and feedback, the effectiveness of safety training, and acquisition of safety knowledge with regards to employees’ safety compliance towards a better safety culture in the organization.
... [24,41] 7 Pre task planning for safety SPCS7 Safety meetings will be held shortly before work begins to ensure that everyone is aware of the hazards and risks involved. [14,42,43] 8 ...
The construction sector is recognized as one of the most dangerous industries in the world. The situation is worsening in Iraq, as a result of a lack of attention to safety in the building industry and the poor implementation of safety programs. This research aims to identify the critical safety factors (CSFs) of safety program implementation in the Iraqi construction industry. The CSFs were first identified from a review of literature before being verified by construction practitioners, using semi-structured interviews. A questionnaire, based on the verified CSFs, was distributed to construction practitioners in Iraq. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to analyze the quantitative data, and the results show that the CSFs can be categorized into four constructs: worker involvement, safety prevention and control system, safety arrangement, and management commitment. Following that, partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was executed to establish the connection between safety program implementation and overall project success. The result confirms that safety program implementation has a significant, positive impact on project success. This article contributes to knowledge and practice by identifying the CSFs for implementing safety programs in the Iraqi construction industry. The successful implementation of a safety program not only improves safety performance, but also helps to meet other project goals.
... This was to ensure valid and reliable responses, thus giving credibility to the results and reflect theoretical reality. This is because the experience and knowledge of participants in a survey are important to the integrity and credence of the judgment and perceptions on a phenomenon or assessment of a variable (Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009). Section B focused on the main objective of the study by eliciting Friendly business environment and government support x x x 4 ...
Purpose
Inefficiencies in public-private partnership (PPP) has been attributed to deficient and poor governance practices and structures. It has been recognized that a veritable way to achieve efficiency in PPP governance is through gaining an understanding of the theoretical, practical and contextual factors that underline governance practices in PPP project delivery. The purpose of this study is to explore the significant governance factors in PPP project performance and delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a questionnaire survey on major players in PPPs in policy, research, consultancy and professionals, the study sought to delineate the significant governance factors that impact PPP project delivery performance.
Findings
A step-wise multiple regression analysis revealed effective communication and openness in sharing project information systems, competent, responsible and effective project leadership, trust-building processes, systems and practices, best practice organizational and team norms, team culture, cohesion practices, effective relationship management practices, robust policy diffusion and transfer processes, friendly business environment and government support and contractual and renegotiation flexibility as the key contractual and non-contractual governance factors that can predict about 79% level of PPP project delivery performance.
Social implications
The findings offer support to improve PPP delivery in governance.
Originality/value
These findings are, thus, useful toward evolving regulatory quality governance mechanisms, flexible supervision and quality decisions that can enhance value for money in PPP projects in PPP project delivery.
... Construction accidents range from falls from heights to being struck by a moving object (e.g., a vehicle) and geo-technical failure (Winge and Albrechtsen, 2018;Siraj and Fayek, 2019;Woolley et al., 2018). In addition, the diversity of construction sites, along with differences in occupations, technology, tools and materials used, make safety and health management very challenging (Haslam et al., 2005;Mitropoulos et al., 2005;Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009). Construction also involves a high degree of subcontracting and outsourcing with multiple locations involving the simultaneous interaction of remote and adverse geographical and environment conditions (Gibb et al., 2006;Hale et al., 2012;Harvey et al. 2018). ...
Construction industry is still one of the most dangerous industries and its fatal work injuries is almost three times higher than the average across all sectors. Previous researchers have attempted to apply more systemic models and methods to improve accident analysis in construction, but few studies have fully encompassed upstream
factors such as decisions and actions at the level of the government and regulator in accident analysis. More importantly, no previous study has evaluated the validity and reliability of systemic accident analysis methods in construction. The present study, therefore, has two main aims: to develop a contributing factor classification framework to support systemic accident investigation in construction and to carry out an assessment of its validity and reliability. The classification framework was developed and assessed in two phases. The phase one involved generating a list of contributing factors from the review of 26 articles and the analysis of 532 construction accident reports. Five federal inspectors with expertise in accident investigation were involved in refining the list into 61 contributing factors and categorizing them into six levels of the Accimap framework. The
phase two involved in assessing the validity and reliability of the framework with five practitioners in construction sector using three real construction accidents. This study contributes to the development of a contributing factors classification system framework for construction with acceptable validity and reliability.
... The management of occupational safety and health in the construction industry faces unique challenges. These challenges result in part from the dynamic work environments of Wearable sensing devices construction, the frequent use of heavy equipment, and the unavoidable worker-hazard interactions (Hallowell and Gambatese, 2009). As part of efforts to improve construction safety performance, researchers have reported that the application of safety technologies within various phases of construction projects will significantly enhance the safety and health of construction workers (Ahuja et al., 2010;Guo et al., 2017;Güttler and Bock, 2017;Nnaji et al., 2019). ...
Purpose
This study aims to examine relationships between several key technology acceptance variables that predict workers’ wearable sensing devices (WSDs) acceptance in the construction industry by using technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model. The study proposes a hybrid conceptual model to measure construction field workers’ intentions to use WSDs and their usage behaviors. The study introduces variables that are instrumental in understanding and improving WSD acceptance in construction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out using a structured literature review, online survey and structural equation modeling. A total of 195 field workers across the USA, with experience in using WSDs, participated in the study.
Findings
Results indicate that all three theories predict WSD acceptance with variables explaining at least 89% of the variance in actual use, with the UTAUT outperforming other models (91%). However, the differences between the predictive power of these models were not statistically significant. A hybrid conceptual model is proposed using findings from the present study.
Practical implications
The study contributes to knowledge and practice by highlighting key variables that influence WSD acceptance. Findings from this study should provide stakeholders with critical insights needed to successfully drive WSD acceptance in the construction industry.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that evaluates the predictive strength of multiple technology acceptance theories and models within the construction worker safety technology domain. Additionally, the study proposes a hybrid conceptual model which could provide practitioners and researchers with information pertinent to enhancing WSD acceptance.
Despite significant efforts taken to reduce hazards on the construction site, statistics across the globe suggest that construction-related fatalities remain high. While prevention through design gains momentum to eliminate latent health & safety hazards at the upfront design stage, designers often lack experience in recognising hazards that occur later on during the construction or operational stage. To fill this gap, this paper develops a conceptual framework to better communicate safety in design (SiD) to designers, thus raising their awareness of SiD and building their capability when considering appropriate design features. The conceptual framework embrace visualization, knowledge sharing, highly engagement and embedded-in questionnaire technologies. This research is part of a doctoral study, and it is hoped to lay a conceptual foundation for ongoing research that aims to enable designers to embrace SiD in their training and practice in the future.
Construction Safety Planning is an element in the CSMS (Construction Safety Management System), which needs to be developed by the Contractor. Irrespective of this condition, the guidelines for preparing a safety program have not been appropriately disseminated by the project owner. This shows that many contractors are yet to appropriately implement the construction safety program. Therefore, this study aims to develop a safety program for Indonesian flat projects, especially architectural work. A qualitative method and secofndary data were used and obtained from a literature review, respectively. This was to determine the breakdown structure of architecture, which was then identified by hazards and operational risks. These processes led to the acquisition of the risk control used in preparing safety program targets, regarding resource analysis. The results showed that the resources needed in this architectural program included safety signs, PPE, warehouse construction, and transportation carts, which should be completed before work inception. In this case, an individual needs to be responsible for all the operational processes, namely the Safety Inspector/Supervisory Officer. These results are expected to be used as a guideline for contractors and project owners, to prepare a safety program and monitor the implementation of CS (construction safety).
Introduction
Carpentry firms face some of the most dangerous working conditions in residential construction. Since these companies are often small, they may not have developed safety policies commonly found in larger companies. The research presented in this paper examines the industry’s current practices and identifies ways to help improve their safety performance.
Methods
A survey was conducted to benchmark practices used by carpenters in residential construction. Interviews were used to develop case studies documenting safety practices and policies. A cross-sectional analysis of the case studies allowed for identifying trends and differences based on company safety performance.
Results
The results indicated that owner and upper-level management’s direct involvement in safety training and hiring practices affect the company’s overall safety performance. Additionally, when a company focuses on and checks worker competence, there are fewer issues related to safety and the benefit of improved quality. Further, the formality of policies and incorporating them into training indicates a better safety culture and improved safety performance. One area in the literature that affected worker safety performance is incentive programs; however, no company involved in the current study utilized incentives. Most expressed a negative view of incentive use.
Conclusion
Some differences between companies with a better safety performance record by Experience Modifier Rate (EMR) and those with a poorer performance record are how the owner or senior-level management is involved in safety and hiring. Additionally, these companies manage risk differently by ensuring that workers are skilled correctly, or they will find someone else to do it, even if it means utilizing an independent contractor.
Practical Applications
This study identified practices that owners could incorporate into company-level management to help improve safety performance. Ultimately, an improved safety culture will reduce the potential for accidents and injuries.
Despite developments in the prevention of fatalities in the construction industry, fatalities resulting from well-known hazards continue at an unacceptable rate. Construction fatality prevention literature describes risk management techniques to provide ‘early warning’ of potential events. In dynamic construction project environments, these ‘early warnings’ are missed resulting in serious and fatal events. Critical Control Risk Management (CCRM) provides an alternative strategy to prevent fatal events in the construction industry. However, no research exists that explores the application of CCRM to actual construction projects. This study aims to design, develop, and validate a construction fatality prevention program using CCRM principles through mixed method research. A six-phase fatality prevention process, the Major Accident Prevention (‘MAP’) program was developed and validated over 18 months on an Australian construction project. The MAP program provided a practical approach to risk management which significantly enhanced frontline risk management practices. Modelling of performance indicators identified first aid injuries and hazard reporting were the most significant measures which correlated with supervisor observations, and personal risk assessments MAP activities. A weak correlation between MAP activities and first aid injuries was identified (0.528p = <0.05) with further statistical analysis limited by the small sample size. A key attribute of the MAP program was the risk profiling planning tool which provided a four week look ahead on the fatal risks, allowing management to focus effort on verifying relevant critical controls in the field. The findings of this study aim to help construction organizations develop and implement fatal risk prevention programs.
Statistics show that novice and experienced construction workers face different risks of construction accidents. However, there is very little work on this topic. This study conducted empirical experiments to quantifying the effectiveness of immersive virtual-reality-based safety training (IVST) across 6 worker specialties in terms of facing 17 hazardous scenarios at real construction sites. An immersive virtual reality–based safety training system (IVSTS) is proposed to measure the effectiveness of IVST programs with regard to six specialties in 2 controlled groups: (1) novice workers (40 college students), and (2) experienced workers (40 randomly selected construction practitioners). The study results indicate that the proposed IVSTS improved the safety performance index of all 80 participants by 14.12% in terms of correct selection of personal protection equipment, and by 28.95% in terms of hazardous scenario identification. The improvement of safety learning performance of the novice workers was better than that of the experienced workers, especially for hazardous scenario identification, with a 15.90% higher improvement index. The improvement suggestions for the existing IVST program were summarized according to the influence of the individual characteristics of the trainees on the learning effect between the novice and the experienced IVST programs.
Despite recent efforts aimed at promoting sustainability, very little has been done to integrate health and safety into the sustainability evaluation of the built environment. This research aimed to develop and validate a sustainable health and safety maturity model for evaluating the maturity of the health and safety practices of sustainable building projects. A detailed literature review was used to develop the model which consist of 22 safety maturity drivers and 251 critical to safety practices, after which it was subjected to an analytical hierarchy process and validation by expert judgement. The results showed that the most important safety maturity drivers were “risk and hazard management” and ‘incident investigation, performance and evaluation,” while the least important were “health and safety in contracts,” and ‘alcohol and drug testing.” Findings point to a potential relationship between the relevance of the safety maturity drivers and their relative importance in sustainable building onsite safety management. Construction organizations can use the model to evaluate and improve the maturity of the health and safety practices implemented on their sustainable building projects.
A resilient safety culture is characterized by the capability of addressing the changing and unforeseen safety risks associated with the increasingly complex nature of sociotechnical systems, and creating an ultrasafe organization. An assessment of the maturation of resilient safety culture helps organizations to evaluate their capabilities of managing safety risks and achieving a consistently high safety performance. This study aims to present a maturity model developed to measure and improve resilient safety culture in the construction environment. The research was conducted in two stages. The first stage consisted of a review of the literature on the concepts of a resilient safety culture and the capability maturity model for the development of a maturity model. In the second stage, the developed model was evaluated using the Delphi technique. The model defines five maturity levels that can be used to measure resilient safety culture of a construction organization. It presents a set of descriptions of 19 aspects of resilient safety culture at each maturity level. The assessment procedure and the way of using the model are further discussed. Theoretically, this study provides insights into the maturity characteristics of a resilient safety culture. In practical terms, it offers guidance for benchmarking and encouraging the enhancement of organizations’ capabilities to manage safety risks.
Small and medium construction firms have high injury rates but lack resources to establish and maintain effective safety programs. General contractors with exemplary safety programs may serve as intermediaries to support development of smaller firm's safety programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the flow-down influence of general contractors' safety programs on the safety climate and safety behaviors among workers employed by small and medium sized subcontractors. This study collected workers' perception of safety climate and safety behaviors while working on projects with general contractors with exemplary safety programs and other general contractors. We also documented the safety program policies and practices of subcontractors, and recorded the changes in safety policies required from general contractors with exemplary programs. We examined differences in safety program changes between small and medium sized subcontractors. Results showed workers perceived general contractors with exemplary safety programs had stronger safety climates than other general contractors. Smaller subcontractors had less robust safety programs with fewer safety elements than larger subcontractors, and therefore, many of the smaller subcontractors had to adopt more safety policies and practices to work for general contractors than large subcontractors. These findings suggest that general contractors with robust safety programs can serve as intermediaries and influence the development of the safety programs of small sized firms. Future work will need to determine if smaller firms eventually adopt safety policies and practices as part of their permanent safety program.
This study conducts a systematic review of safety risk models and theories by summarizing and comparing them to identify the best strategies that can be adopted in a digital ‘conceptual’ safety risk model for highway workers’ safety. A mixed philosophical paradigm was adopted (that used both interpretivism and post-positivism couched within inductive reasoning) for a systematic review and comparative analysis of existing risk models and theories. The underlying research question formulated was: can existing models and theories of safety risk be used to develop this proposed digital risk model? In total, 607 papers (where each constituted a unit of analysis and secondary data source) were retrieved from Scopus and analysed through colour coding, classification and scientometric analysis using VOSViewer and Microsoft Excel software. The reviewed models were built on earlier safety risk models with minor upgrades. However, human elements (human errors, human risky behaviour and untrained staff) remained a constant characteristic, which contributed to safety risk occurrences in current and future trends of safety risk. Therefore, more proactive indicators such as risk perception, safety climate, and safety culture have been included in contemporary safety risk models and theories to address the human contribution to safety risk events. Highway construction safety risk literature is scant, and consequently, comprehensive risk prevention models have not been well examined in this area. Premised upon a rich synthesis of secondary data, a conceptual model was recommended, which proposes infusing machine learning predictive models (augmented with inherent resilient capabilities) to enable models to adapt and recover in an event of inevitable predicted risk incident (referred to as the resilient predictive model). This paper presents a novel resilient predictive safety risk conceptual model that employs machine learning algorithms to enhance the prevention of safety risk in the highway construction industry. Such a digital model contains adaptability and recovery mechanisms to adjust and bounce back when predicted safety risks are unavoidable. This will help prevent unfortunate events in time and control the impact of predicted safety risks that cannot be prevented.
The hazard identification ability of frontline safety supervisors is essential to ensure site safety. As experience can benefit the identification performance, this study investigates the gaps between inexperienced and experienced safety supervisors. Thirty-five experienced safety supervisors and 35 novices were invited to identify hazards in 18 virtual construction sites created by 360-degree panoramas. Their identification results, attention allocation, and adopted scanpaths during the identification process were compared. It is found that the experienced significantly spent more fixation time, had more fixations, and gave a larger proportion of attention to hazardous areas. In contrast, the inexperienced had no idea about where might exist hazards in a scenario. They missed hazards due to ignoring the hazardous areas. Besides, it was hard for the inexperienced to recognize hazards requiring in-depth knowledge of safety regulations. They significantly identified fewer hazards except for the relatively obvious hazards: improper use of PPE and struck-by hazards. The scanpaths were more consistent among the experienced. They observed the scene sequentially, without consciously adopting any specific searching patterns from which the novices could learn. Therefore, it is suggested to train the inexperienced to be aware of hazardous areas in workplaces in addition to educating them on safety norms; and provide them chances to practice hazard identification to retain their learned knowledge. The findings reveal the gaps between inexperienced and experienced safety supervisors, providing insights for training the inexperienced and thus helping ensure the job site safety.
Implementing a safety program is an essential step toward improving safety performance. The research aims to develop OPS model for building projects through investigating the direct and indirect impact of safety critical success factors on OPS mediated by safety program elements. To achieving the research aims, First, Interviews were carried out with experts in the Iraqi construction industry. Second, a questionnaire survey was utilized to obtain feedbacks from construction professionals. The study results revealed that there are 20 elements needed to confirm and improve the effectiveness. The elements categorized into four constructs, management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard and prevention control, and health and safety training. The analysis confirms the relationship between safety critical success factors and OPS are mediated by safety program elements. These findings offer a glimmer of hope for implementing safety program in the Iraqi construction sector, it can also be used to enhance the safety performance.
Construction workers experience a disproportionately high rate of work-related injuries. However, if hazards are properly recognized and addressed, most of these incidents are preventable. Job hazard analysis (JHA) is a method for identifying and mitigating workplace hazards that emphasizes proactive risk control. Despite its importance, the construction industry currently lacks comprehensive guidelines on how to effectively design and implement JHA on a consistent basis. To fill this gap, this case study pursued two objectives: (1) to explore challenges and shortcomings of current practices in developing and implementing JHA in construction and (2) to identify effective practices and interventions employed by contractors to address these challenges. To this end, 30 sample JHA documents were analyzed, and 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted with construction safety professionals representing 17 companies. Findings of this study identified a lack of worker involvement in the process, lack of buy-in, management absence, complacency, and inadequate coordination and communication as major issues. Solutions explored to address these challenges included incorporating visual aids, rotating JHA meeting leaders, and continuously updating JHA information to reflect the current work conditions. The practical implications of these findings and the path forward for further research are discussed.
The construction industry is a dynamic manufacturing sector whose major problem is occupational safety and its management. There are various information and communication technologies or applications that can improve health and safety status. Their use gives every company management a great advantage to become more competitive in the construction trade. The presented article deals with smart phones and related applications as a type of technologies that can be easily used to improve health and safety performance in our conditions. The aim of the article is to present the advantages and benefits of this technology for increasing safety on construction sites. The presented results confirm the trend of efficient processing of the obtained information using ICT technologies. They intensify the safety management process and help staff to handle unpredictable dangerous incidents and contribute to the successful management of the whole construction site.
Labor safety is one of the most fundamental indicators to improve contractors’ sustainability. Safety supervision plays a crucial role in affecting the safety performance of infrastructure projects. However, studies of standards development to enhance safety supervision efficiency are far from complete. Safety standards define safe behaviors for construction workers and hazard control processes in the workplace, and they are usually considered as an important part of safety control. In addition, the systematic reform of construction safety standards in China provides an innovative perspective to enhance safety supervision efficiency by linking standards to supervision. For this purpose, this paper proposes the concept and framework of the “Construction Safety Standard System (CSSS)” through expert interviews. CSSS hierarchically classifies safety standards and integrates similar standards. Its implementation will significantly influence the behavioral decisions of safety supervision stakeholders. Evolutionary game (EG) theory is applied to demonstrate the decision-making procedure in CSSS establishment and application. Furthermore, system dynamics (SD) is utilized to model and analyze equilibrium states under different supervision strategies. Meanwhile, case studies are implemented to assess the CSSS’s effectiveness in reality. The numerical results indicate that through CSSS implementation, the strategy choice fluctuation of supervisors and contractors is suppressed and a more desirable stable equilibrium is reached. The government tends to supervise and contractors tend to obey safety standards consciously. The findings reveal that CSSS can enhance safety supervision efficiency and have meaningful implications for theoretical study on safety supervision and construction safety management practice.
Purpose : Along with advance era and technology, tunnel construction is the alternative infrastructure that can be used as an option, especially in difficult terrain conditions. The tunnel work project is a series of very complex activities. Work activities that are not supervised, causing the risk of these activities neglected. This has become one of the causes of workplace accidents. The risk of work accidents can be prevented by early identification and analysis of potential hazards in each of the activities listed in the project WBS. Therefore, the existence of WBS is needed in presenting a risk assessment, probability and impact arising from the work accidents. The aim of this study is to develop a standardized WBS for safety planning on tunnel construction work based on risk. The standardized WBS will be a main input for identify potential hazard risks and producing risk responses. Methodology : The method that will be used in this research is a qualitative approach with a survey and deep interview to experts. Results : The results of this study are standardized WBS, potential hazard risks and the developed of WBS standard for safety planning, as a step to prevent work accidents in tunneling work projects. Applications/Originality/Value : The implementation of this research is for the contractors who are required to make safety plan, especially in tunneling work projects.
Serious injuries and fatalities (SIF) continue to be an enigmatic problem in the construction industry. Researchers have begun to explore new ways of preventing these incidents by developing and testing leading indicators, precursor analysis, and risk assessment supported by data analytics. These recent themes suggest a new paradigm in safety prediction. Aligned with this trajectory, the objectives of this study were to (1) identify a comprehensive list of potential predictors of SIFs in construction, including business factors, project characteristics, and crew demographics; (2) quantitatively prioritize potential predictors; and (3) develop a rank-ordered list of factors that could be tested for predictive validity and practically deployed on site. An expert panel of 22 industry practitioners generated 254 potential predictors of construction SIFs through structured brainstorming. To prioritize these potential predictors, the expert panel rated the extent to which each is measurable, predictive, simple, and actionable. Finally, a weighted sum method and a maximin approach was used to identify the predictors with the greatest practical potential for predicting SIF events, including brand-new concepts that have not yet been considered in the associated safety literature. Most previous research has focused on one specific form of safety prediction at a time (e.g., leading indicators), whereas this research effort is a first step toward a unified model with high feasibility and practical relevance.
Construction accounts for up to 25% of all occupational fatalities. About half are being struck by and caught-in/between objects or vehicles, resulting from insufficient or delayed detection of pedestrian workers. Research has proposed detecting visibility-related close calls in order to alarm the involved personnel and prevent negative consequences at the earliest possible time. This work has three objectives: First, a comprehensive synthesis on close call reporting processes and individual technologies. Second, a system focusing on (a) autonomous close call data generation from real-time proactive proximity detection and alerting technology and (b) cloud-based data processing and visualization in building information models at run time. Test results demonstrate that the developed system reaches purposes for decision making in safety management beyond the scope of existing detection and alarming devices. Third, guiding future research by outlining the role of proximity detection and alarming technology in developing autonomous safety systems for construction.
Introduction
This research aims to develop, validate and implement health and safety performance metrics to evaluate the health and safety performance of sustainable building projects throughout their design and construction in Manitoba.
Methods
Thirty-four metrics were developed following a detailed literature review and validated by expert judgment based on analytic soundness, practicality and predictability. Only 25 metrics satisfied these criteria, of which five metrics were implemented via data collected on seven sustainable buildings and seven non-sustainable ones.
Results
The results showed that sustainable building projects had 12.7% higher recordable injuries rates than non-sustainable ones, although the difference was statistically insignificant. Findings from this research showed that for sustainable building and non-sustainable ones, PM19, “The percentage of workers with unsafe behaviour based on conducted safety observations” had a statistically significant and strong negative correlation with PM 8 “The percentage of workers who attended safety meetings” and with PM 21, “The percentage of the total workdays in which safety meeting were held”.
Conclusion
The findings of this research can be used by general contractors and safety practitioners looking to enact evidence-based guidance to manage safety proactively onsite and improve health and safety performance of their sustainable building projects.
Managing risk in construction projects has proven to be a challenge for many project managers and stakeholders involved in projects. The lack of a systematic approach and standardized processes are key factors influencing improper risk management techniques. This research introduces a new model to evaluate and assess risk in terms of cost impact, utilizing a fuzzy Monte Carlo simulation approach for the first time. The method consists of ranking the top risks using a fuzzy logic system utilized in an objective manner by setting criteria for experts to rank the risk based on cost impact and probability to reduce human biases, then evaluating their cost impact through a Monte Carlo simulation both pre- and postmitigation. This work proposes a new strategy to elicit risk for construction projects based on risk cost impact, project type, project location, project contract type, and project delivery method. Based on the findings, implementation of a risk mitigation response plan can decrease the project cost remarkably. This model proved to be beneficial in forecasting risk impact when executed on a commercial construction project in California. This model can be applied as a general tool for risk mitigation processes for the construction industry.
Purpose
Prefabricated construction is often hindered by scheduling delays. This paper aims to propose a schedule delay prediction model system, which can provide the key information for controlling the delay effects of risk-related factors on scheduling in prefabricated construction.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper combines SD (System Dynamics) and BP (Back Propagation) neural network to predict risk related delays. The SD-based prediction model focuses on dynamically presenting the interrelated impacts of risk events and activities along with workflow. While BP neural network model is proposed to evaluate the delay effect for a single risk event disrupting a single job, which is the necessary input parameter of SD-based model.
Findings
The established model system is validated through a structural test, an extreme condition test, a sensitivity test, and an error test, and shows an excellent performance on aspect of reliability and accuracy. Furthermore, 5 scenarios of case application during 3 different projects located in separate cities prove the prediction model system can be applied in a wide range.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to academic research on combination of SD and BP neural network at the operational level prediction, and a practical prediction tool supporting managers to take decision-making in a timely manner against delays.
The construction industry has always been considered as one of the most hazardous industries globally. The condition is worse in developing countries due to poor implementation of safety management. To overcome this problem, there is a need to focus on improving the implementation of safety programs. This paper aims to identify the elements of safety programs in construction projects in developing countries. An extensive review of literature found 25 elements. Sixteen semi-structured interviews with experts in the Iraqi construction industry was conducted to gain in-depth insight and understanding of these elements. The interviewees confirmed the relevance of the elements and emphasized on the importance of several elements, including safety objectives, safety policy, safety committee, training. These elements can used as a procedure to implement safety program in developing countries construction industry. The findings can used in the Iraqi construction industries and in developing countries to support the implementation of safety program.
Risk assessment is one of the most effective actions in the safety management of demolition projects. This paper provides a framework to determine building demolition safety index (BDSI), which shows the safety level of a building being demolished. Two phases are involved in this study. In the first phase, 11 potential risks in building demolition and their influencing factors were identified, evaluated, and classified using a hybrid approach consisting of the Delphi method, Fine-Kinney method, fuzzy fault tree analysis (FTA), fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and fuzzy inference system (FIS). In the second phase, a checklist of the most important safety factors and sub-factors in the demolition operation was provided, and the equations needed to calculate BDSI were presented. The first phase of the study was validated by comparing the study’s results with available demographic data from Tehran Construction Engineering Organization, Iran. The second phase was validated by calculating the BDSI for two buildings and evaluating the relationship between BDSI and safety level. BDSI is useful for building demolition projects because it allows project managers to have a more realistic view of the risk level of the project and accordingly take the necessary measures to prevent accidents.
This paper presents a study to develop and validate a sustainable construction safety and health (SCSH) rating system. The rating system provides an opportunity to rate projects based on the importance given to construction worker safety and health and the degree of implementation of safety and health elements. A Delphi survey using an expert panel of 12 experienced safety and health professionals representing different sectors of the construction industry was employed to develop the SCSH rating system. The study resulted in a rating system consisting of a total of 50 safety and health elements organized into 13 categories. Each category contains safety and health elements which carry credits based on their effectiveness in preventing construction worker injuries and illnesses. The rating system was initially validated based on data from 25 construction projects and found to accurately represent the safety performance of large projects. The SCSH rating system can be used as an effective tool to develop and plan construction safety and health programs and evaluate the potential safety performance of construction projects.
This study is concerned with the assessment of risk for major construction activities. Risk has been defined as a measure of the probability, the severity, and the exposure of all hazards of an activity. A risk assessor model (RAM) was developed and computerized to determine the risk associated with a particular activity and the justification factor for a proposed remedy. Knowing the value of risk would help contractors identify the high risk of major construction activities and would enable them to allocate safety precautions in a more efficient manner.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has had the long-standing mandate to promulgate standards and to enforce them. Another mandate is for OSHA to collect injury and illness information. While vast amounts of information have been collected over the past two decades, only isolated studies have been conducted to evaluate that information. An independent study was conducted on selected injury data pertinent to the construction industry. This analysis focused on those areas in which the greatest numbers of violations have been recorded and those in which the greatest number of fatalities have occurred. This examination of the data revealed some interesting trends. Some of the findings confirmed the work of other research efforts and others appear to be unique to this study. The injury data can be useful to identify key areas that warrant special attention. Falls continue to be the major cause of fatalities. Safety efforts must be focused on fall protection if dramatic improvements in safety performance are to be made. Through the examination of the existing data it was concluded that the injury data is not consistently coded and this leads to less meaningful information.
Occupational injury and fatality risk analysis was performed on 16 building trades in the study reported herein. The approach was based on defining risk fundamentally as the product of probability (frequency) and severity, and using the risk plane concept to evaluate and rank the trades in terms of nonfatal injury rates. A parameter named index of relative risk was then used for fatality rate based ranking, and the results separately obtained from these analyses were integrated into a combined risk score for arriving at final rankings. Bureau of Labor Statistics data was used in the study. The risk analysis methodology included both frequency and severity considerations associated with nonfatal injuries. It was observed that simultaneous consideration of frequency and severity gives more comprehensive results than performing risk analysis based exclusively on either frequency or severity. The findings of the study indicated that ironworkers and roofers were the highest risk trades. The information derived from the methodology presented in this paper should be particularly valuable for risk managers, legal and liability experts, and project managers.
This paper provides strategies for improving construction safety performance through the analysis of numerical profiles of companies and projects with varying levels of safety performance. This research perspective compliments much of the previous safety-related research, which tends to be more qualitative in nature, addressing "what" factors are important for success as opposed to "how much" is appropriate to achieve successful safety outcomes. Corporate safety coordinators completed questionnaires that solicited quantitative data (e.g., number of safety inspections, dollars spent on safety program, and percentage of time devoted to safety issues) at both the company and project levels. Several safety performance measures were investigated: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) incidence rates, experience modification rating (EMR), and a subjective project performance rating. Forty eight company programs and 69 individual project safety programs are included in the analysis. Results from the statistical data analysis point to several company- and project-specific factors that are statistically significant in improving safety performance. This paper can benefit contractors, specialty contractors, and owners by providing them with objective strategies to consistently achieve better safety performance.
This report presents a critical analysis of the Delphi technique. The analysis is in four parts. First, the scope of the inquiry is defined, and issues pertinent to an evaluation of Delphi are raised. Second, conventional Delphi is evaluated against established professional standards for opinion questionnaires, and against associated scientific standards for experimentation with human subjects. Third, Delphi is evaluated with respect to its assumptions, principles, and methodology. Fourth, conclusions of the analysis are brought together and recommendations are made for the future use of Delphi.
Despite recent efforts to improve site safety, construction still accounts for a disproportionate number of occupational-related fatalities. Construction safety efforts often operate under the fundamental assumption that simply applying more safety program elements will produce better results. That is, program elements are applied in an informal fashion under the premise that applying a higher number will improve site safety. While some construction firms are capable of implementing a large proportion of applicable safety program elements, a vast majority of firms must operate under a limited budget and are forced to select the small subset of elements. Currently, there is no mechanism by which construction site safety professionals may formally select safety programs for a particular process. This paper presents the theory behind a formal method for strategically matching safety program elements to construction processes. This decision scheme assumes that every construction activity is associated with specific safety risks and that each safety program element is capable of mitigating a portion of such risks. Once the cumulative risk for a construction process has been assessed, safety program elements may be ranked and selected based on their ability to mitigate the risk.
The purpose of this study was to identify critical cross-cultural competencies for school psychologists. This study used a Delphi procedure to bring together the expertise of a national sample of cross-cultural experts, including school psychology practitioners, faculty, and supervisors/administrators of whom 62% represented a racial/ethnic minority group member. To identify the competencies, we conducted an extensive literature search about cross-cultural school psychology competencies then used a questionnaire to ask expert panelists to rate the importance of the literature based competencies and to delineate additional competencies not represented in the integrated literature but based on expert opinion. The literature yielded 185 competencies and the panelists generated 75 additional competencies. Following the second questionnaire round, 102 competencies were identified as critical cross-cultural competencies. The 102 competencies cover 14 major domains of professional activities and practices for school psychologists (e.g., Academic Interventions, Assessment, Consultation, Counseling, Culture, Language, Laws and Regulations, Organizational Skills, Professional Characteristics, Report Writing, Research Methods, Theoretical Paradigms, Working with Interpreters, and Working with Parents). Implications for research and training are discussed.
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