11. Residental Construction Safety and Health: Homesafe Audit Results

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge on the advantages of integrating safety earlier in the construction project lifecycle. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used to collect data from construction sites in the USA, which performs poorly in construction safety and health, and Australia (AU), which performs well in construction safety and health. Qualitative data are collected to determine how and when safety is considered in the project lifecycle in both countries, and then the results are benchmarked to determine the benefits of addressing safety earlier in the process. Findings – Data show that addressing a potential hazard earlier in the project lifecycle has performance benefits in terms of the level of hazard control. Research limitations/implications – The processes that are identified as possibly explaining the performance difference are just based on qualitative data from interviews. Targeted research addressing the relationship between these processes and safety outcomes is an opportunity for further research. Practical implications – The case study data are used to identify specific processes that are used in AU that might be adopted in the USA to improve performance by integrating safety earlier into the decision-making process. Social implications – This paper highlights the advantages of integrating safety as a decision factor early in the process. Worker safety is not just an issue in the construction industry, and thus the findings are applicable to all industries in which worker safety is an issue. Originality/value – This paper advances the safety in design literature by quantitatively supporting the link between when a hazard is addressed and performance. It also links the results to specific processes across countries, which advances the literature because most research in this area to data is within a single country.

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Annotated Dictionary of Construction Safety and Health

Annotated Dictionary of Construction Safety and Health ◽

10.1201/9781315137506-1 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1-256

Author(s):

Charles D. Reese ◽

James V. Edison

Keyword(s):

Construction Safety ◽

Safety And Health

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The People Issue in Construction Safety and Health

Handbook of OSHA Construction Safety and Health, Second Edition ◽

10.1201/9781420006230.ch3 ◽

2006 ◽

pp. 29-63

Keyword(s):

Construction Safety ◽

The People ◽

Safety And Health

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Right-time vs real-time pro-active construction safety and health system architecture

Construction Innovation ◽

10.1108/ci-10-2015-0049 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 253-280 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Jochen Teizer

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Real Time ◽

Occupational Safety ◽

Time Window ◽

Data Gathering ◽

Critical Time ◽

Construction Safety ◽

Content Type ◽

Safety And Health ◽

High Concern

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical time window for pro-active construction accident prevention and response. Large to small organisations throughout the entire construction supply chain continue to be challenged to adequately prevent accidents. Construction worker injuries and fatalities represent significant waste of resources. Although the five C’s (culture, competency, communication, controls and contractors) have been focusing on compliance, good practices and best-in-class strategies, even industry leaders have only marginal improvements in recorded safety statistics for many years. Design/methodology/approach Right-time vs real-time construction safety and health identifies three major focus areas to aid in the development of a strategic, as opposed to tactical, response. Occupational safety and health by design, real-time safety and health monitoring and alerts and education, training and feedback leveraging state-of-the-art technology provide meaningful predictive, quantitative and qualitative measures to identify, correlate and eliminate hazards before workers get injured or incidents cause collateral damage. Findings The current state and development of existing innovative initiatives in the occupational construction safety and health domain are identified. A framework for right-time vs real-time construction safety and health presents the specific focus on automated safety and health data gathering, analysis and reporting to achieve better safety performance. The developed roadmap for right-time vs real-time safety and health is finally tested in selected application scenarios of high concern in the construction industry. Originality/value A strategic roadmap to eliminate hazards and accidents through right-time vs real-time automation is presented that has practical as well as social implications on conducting a rigorous safety culture and climate in a construction business and its entire supply chain.

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