Revision as of 10:55, 18 February 2023

Building construction sites are some of the most dangerous places to work in where unfortunately roughly 60.000 people lose their life every year around the globe^[1] due to the high number of objects, heavy machineries, equipment, tools, moving trucks and so on. Nevertheless, a huge responsibility is placed upon the project manager to ensure that all the potential risks workers might encounter are eliminated and, if not possible, they must be minimized.

Before digging into the concepts, it is relevant to understand what a risk is; according to Macquarie Dictionary, risk is the chance of an adverse event depending on the circumstances and its impact can be measured as the likelihood of a specific unwanted event and its unwanted consequences or loss^[2] and it can be identified mathematically as follows .

There are multiple types of risks in a typical construction site that could affect the safety of the workers, such as: vibrations, noises, respiratory, handling of heavy materials, electrocutions and many more. These risks may lead to different types of immediate consequences, from a small injury to even death; however, some complications caused by the constant exposure to one of the risks mentioned above, such as noises, could manifest in months or even years, known as professional illnesses.

Given the importance of such topic, there are a few steps explained in this article that can be followed to guarantee the safety of everybody working in the construction site. The points are the following: identification, assessment, treatment, inspections/maintenance and prevention. It must be said that, regardless of how thorough and accurate the safety risk management may be, some incidents can not be avoided due multiple factors, for instance their unpredictability or also, in certain circumstances, the low level of attention or carelessness of the workers themselves. This process is meant to find the sources of the risks and eliminate or minimize them, but it can not fully solve the issue.

Overview of safety risks

A construction site can be a rather chaotic place with plenty of risks that can pose a threat to the health and safety of the workers. Some of the most common risks workers can face in a construction site are^[3] :

- Falls from different heights that can involve workers or objects falling onto workers which can cause small injuries, permanent physical disabilities or even death in the worst cases. A few important points to take into consideration are the slipperiness of the floor where workers are operating, the type of shoes they are wearing and also the protection elements around them that could prevent them from falling, for instance the horizontal bars on a scaffolding

- Vibrations, typically caused by construction tools workers have to handle and vehicles. This type of risk does not immediately evolve into an accident, however it can cause professional illnesses in the long run depending on the level of exposure

- Noises, similarly to vibrations, they can be caused by tools and machineries. If not minimized, it can cause issues to the hearing system and in the worst cases, even permanent hearing loss

- Respiratory, this risk depends usually on: the environment in which workers are operating, such as in not well-ventilated closed rooms or the sewer system, the type of products they are using which could be toxic if inhaled, for example spray paints, and also the type on material they are operating on that could pose a threat to their respiratory system, like asbestos

- Handling of heavy materials, this could generate issues to muscles and especially bones such as the spine depending on the methods used to handle the materials and the number of times a worker needs to lift an object

- Electrocution, which can occur when utilizing certain electric tools and can generate fires or even explosions.

Management of safety risks

In this section, the whole process regarding the management of the risks potentially present in a construction site will be explained. This is a process meant to identify and try to eliminate or mitigate as much as possible all the risks that might harm the workers.

Here are the fundamental steps to follow.

== Identification ==

This is a critical part of the process since it lays the foundation for the further steps of risk management. It is a rather complicated topic since it is done before the work begins and therefore it is based on the ability of the project manager to figure out where the risks may arise and in what circumstances^[4].

The project manager or whoever is responsible for the safety of the workers should gather as much information as possible regarding similar projects and the accidents and risks that were identified^[5]. This is a great way to use past databases that can help spot the sources of risk in today’s construction sites.

Furthermore, communication is vital in many areas, including risk identification; it is suggested to talk to other engineers, project managers or even the workers to see if the can contribute to the process of identifying the risks also replying on their experience in past works^[5]. Since many accidents are caused by equipment or tools, it could be useful to verify the instructions of everything the workers will have to use in order to assess the hazards they might encounter^[5].

Overall, this firs phase of the safety risk management process replies on the knowledge and experience of the project manager who has to identify the risks or third party individuals who might be involved like the manufacturers of tools or the workers themselves.

== Assessment ==

== Treatment ==

== Inspections/Maintenance ==

== Prevention ==

Limits of the safety risk management process

Here we will mention some of the limitations or discrepancies that can emerge when using the process described. Can we actually make a construction site 100% safe thanks to the safety risk management tool?

Conclusion

Recap of the whole article.

Annotated bibliography

1) Matej Mihić (2020). "Classification of construction hazards for a universal hazard identification methodology". Research gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339107995_Classification_of_construction_hazards_for_a_universal_hazard_identification_methodology

2) Anthony Mills (2001). “A systematic approach to risk management for construction”. Emerald Insight. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02630800110412615/full/html?casa_token=jWz-aT1-efAAAAAA:lmJT0vBRzG_Bq9cGElDnvDB5tVEFMtXJgCZHgv3brjA2U24WqKFpqg4GM3JlMkTS3E-s5hs8zD1wgcbXzeOrQ0J3wf1_q70KR6agbCkPaowsRJPNQw

References

1. ↑ Helen Lingard. “Occupational health and safety in the construction industry” (2013). Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263552916_Occupational_health_and_safety_in_the_construction_industry#:~:text=According%20to%20statistics%2C%20the%20death,worldwide%20every%20year%20%5B5%5D%20.
2. ↑ Anthony Mills (2001). “A systematic approach to risk management for construction”. Emerald Insight. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02630800110412615/full/html?casa_token=jWz-aT1 efAAAAAA:lmJT0vBRzG_Bq9cGElDnvDB5tVEFMtXJgCZHgv3brjA2U24WqKFpqg4GM3JlMkTS3E-s5hs8zD1wgcbXzeOrQ0J3wf1_q70KR6agbCkPaowsRJPNQw
3. ↑ European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. “Construction safety risks and prevention” (2014). OSHwiki. https://oshwiki.osha.europa.eu/en/themes/construction-safety-risks-and-prevention
4. ↑ Martin Schieg (2006). “RISK MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT”. Tandfonline. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/16111699.2006.9636126?needAccess=true&role=button
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Devdatt P Purohit*, Dr.N A Siddiqui, Abhishek Nandan & Dr.Bikarama P Yadav (2018). “Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment in Construction Industry”. Research India Publications. https://www.ripublication.com/ijaer18/ijaerv13n10_56.pdf