Safety Improvement Approaches in Construction Industry: A Review and Future Directions

Abstract

The construction industry ranks high in the rates of severe and fatal occupational injuries due to complexity and unpredictable nature of the tasks. Decades long efforts to combat occupational accidents by using various safety improvement approaches have reached a plateau. Figures published by Bureau of Labor Statistics show an improvement in the safety of the construction industry, yet a closer look reveals that it is lagging behind most other industries. In an attempt to identify the limitation of the prevailing safety approaches, this paper has reviewed the major approaches that have been implemented to improve occupational safety in construction industry. Evaluating nine major approaches in terms of techniques and effectiveness, it was found that all the approaches transfer the burden of responsibility on the contractors. While the role of contractors in ensuring the safety of workers is undeniable, researchers are of the opinion that ideal time to consider construction safety is during design phases. Considering the prolonged involvement from the phase of inception, architects and engineers can play important role in identifying and mitigating potential hazards to the construction workers. The new approach of preventing accidents and incidents through design has been recommended in this paper as the future direction of safety improvement in the construction industry.