Impact of Green Building Design and Construction on Worker Safety and Health
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135, Issue 10
Abstract
Sustainable, or “green,” rating systems, such as the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), are leading to changes in the way owners, designers, and contractors approach the design, construction, and operation of buildings. The processes and features included in green design and construction may have positive and/or negative impacts on construction worker safety and health. This paper presents the findings of a research study of the impact of green building design and construction practices on construction worker safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable and lost time injury and illness data from green projects (as identified by LEED) and from nongreen projects was collected through a structured questionnaire survey. The data collected was analyzed to test for the presence of a difference in OSHA recordable incident rates (RIRs) and lost time case rates (LTCRs) between green and nongreen projects. It was found that there was suggestive, but inconclusive evidence of a statistically significant difference in the RIRs of the green and nongreen building projects included in the study. No statistically significant difference was found between the LTCRs for the green and nongreen projects included in the study. The study findings provide valuable information to the construction industry for the purposes of project safety planning and the assessment of safety and health on projects.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 135 • Issue 10 • October 2009
Pages: 1058 - 1066
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 20, 2007
Accepted: May 21, 2009
Published online: Sep 15, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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