Safety risk management in construction sites

Revision as of 10:03, 11 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. 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. 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

Management of safety risks

  == Identification ==
  == Assessment ==
  == Treatment ==
  == Inspections/Maintenance ==
  == Prevention ==

Limits of the safety risk management process

Conclusion

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.