Safety Hazard Identification on Construction Projects
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132, Issue 2
Abstract
Hazard identification is fundamental to construction safety management; unidentified hazards present the most unmanageable risks. This paper presents an investigation indicating the current levels of hazard identification on three U.K. construction projects. A maximum of only 6.7% of the method statements analyzed on these projects managed to identify all of the hazards that should have been identified, based upon current knowledge. Maximum hazard identification levels were found to be 0.899 (89.9%) for a construction project within the nuclear industry, 0.728 (72.8%) for a project within the railway industry, and 0.665 (66.5%) for a project within both the railway and general construction industry sector. The results indicate that hazard identification levels are far from ideal. A discussion on the reasons for low hazard identification levels indicates key barriers. This leads to the presentation of an Information Technology (IT) tool for construction project safety management (Total-Safety) and, in particular, a module within Total-Safety designed to help construction personnel develop method statements with improved levels of hazard identification.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132 • Issue 2 • February 2006
Pages: 197 - 205
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 13, 2002
Accepted: May 17, 2005
Published online: Feb 1, 2006
Published in print: Feb 2006
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