Safety Factors In Construction

Construction is one of the most dangerous working sectors due to its complex tasks and activities. In the construction industry, the safety performance has been improved over decades world widely. Myers (2003) brought forward in his research that health and safety is being identified as a crucial business performance topic. The risk or chance of an accident in the construction sector is really high due to the fact that more than one task and multiple specialised trades work simultaneously on a construction site. This can lead to injury or death.

The factors influencing the accidents on construction sites have been discussed by several researchers. The most common causes of accidents occurring in the construction industry are falling hazards,

The involvement of a designer in the construction safety is a voluntary effort. The designer and construction company work together only in the design and build firms or in turnkey specialised company. Safety manuals and checklist are being used in such projects. P. G. Furst (2009) also addressed the importance of the incorporation of safety measures in the design process. The author showed how safety can be applied in projects in different phases of the project (Figure 1) and the opportunity to prevent construction accidents is the highest during the planning phase. Safety measures are harder to apply on the projects once it is started on the construction site. He recommended to use new technology such as the Building Information Modelling (BIM) so that the hazards can be forecast and precaution measures could be taken before accidents occur. Figure 1: Impact and change graph during construction phases. Furst, Peter G., 2009,“Prevention through Design (Safety in

Mechanical methods are being more common due to the increasing productivity demand and complex specifications. Seeley (1996) and Godwin (2011) claimed that the mechanisation of construction work can decrease the construction duration and this, therefore, reduces the overall construction cost. Contractors are also more keen to procure these equipment so as to be able to compete with the other contractors. During tendering the contractors also sometimes, stipulate the use of mechanised equipment to be used on the specific tasks. With the actual trend of having tight schedules, it is much practical to go with the mechanisation of the production processes. Unfortunately, mechanisation is also related to hazards as the use of plant and equipment increases the numbers of accidents and injuries (Kartam,1997; Godwin 2011). Over 22% of all the occupational fatalities accounted result from the construction industry in the United States which is one of the most developed countries in terms of construction technology and mechanisation and employs less than 7% of the country working population (Loushine et al, 2003; Godwin 2011). As for the UK, the construction industry, which is one of the biggest industries, provides work for approxiamtely2.2 million inhabitants. This is one of the most dangerous sector over 2800 deaths from accidents over the past 2 decades (HSE, 2009; Godwin