International Benchmarking for Performance Improvement in Construction Safety and Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blismas N ; Cooke T ; Kleiner BM ; Lingard H ; McCoy AP ; Mills T ; Saunders LW ; Wakefield R
• Description:
  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. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Project Management Benchmarking Construction Industry Construction Workers Design For Safety Injury Prevention Occupational Safety And Health Prevention Through Design Process Management PTD Safety Practices Supply Chain Management Worker Safety

  More +
• ISSN:
  1463-5771
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061962
• Citation:
  Benchmarking 2016 May; 23(4):916-936
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Benchmarking: an International Journal
• End Date:
  20150131
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e49de12f50cad657df5415dc3a3418eddaa47193f2e2238f5d76417773a6a27c057550acfefeb66a63a57f6abcf1e5de2bf2ee5bdb3357a613e3940215d63869
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225295/cdc_225295_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 663.49 KB ]