An approach for evaluating the health and safety risk associated with construction project features based on their contribution to accident causation

The evaluation of health and safety (H&S) risk and the implementation of risk control measures is a hugely important requirement on construction projects. In this light, several risk assessment methods and tools have been developed to enable the evaluation of the H&S risk posed by factors that have the potential to cause harm. A review of accident causation literature reveals that construction project features (CPFs) such as the nature of project, method of construction, site restriction, project duration, procurement system, design complexity, level of construction, and subcontracting contribute to accident causation and thus have the potential to cause harm. Beyond this, the review also reveals that the insight given by literature in relation to the H&S risk associated with CPFs remains an elusive issue which requires investigation. Drawing on existing risk assessment methods, the study puts forth a method for evaluating the H&S risk associated with CPFs. This method evaluates the H&S risk associated with CPFs based on the extent of their contribution to accident causation coupled with the extent of exposure of the construction workforce to CPFs. By this method, the H&S risk associated with a CPF is thus the combined effect of the extent to which the CPF contributes to accident causation, and the degree of exposure of the workforce to the CPF. Seeing that the need to evaluate risk is a crucial requirement on construction projects, this method will assist project participants in assessing the H&S risk posed by CPFs based on which appropriate risk control measures can subsequently be implemented.