Wang, G; Liu, M; Cao, D and Tan, D (2022) Identifying high-frequency–low-severity construction safety risks: An empirical study based on official supervision reports in Shanghai. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 29(2), pp. 940-960. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: Few of the established risk identification methods refer to low-severity yet high-frequency safety risks data that may lead to several safety risks being ignored, thus reducing the potential of learning from a considerable number of cases. The purpose of this study is to explore a new valid method based on preaccident safety supervision data to identify these minor construction safety risks during routine construction operations. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 329 official construction safety supervision reports containing 5,159 safety problem records from Shanghai between 2016 and 2018 served as raw material for in-depth analysis. Given the characteristics of the data collected, text mining integrated with natural language processing was applied to review the supervision reports and group safety risks automatically. Findings: This study clarifies the way in which the supervision data should be employed to analyze high-frequency–low-severity safety risks. From these data, seven unsafe-act-related and nine unsafe-condition-related risks are identified. Regarding unsafe-act-related risks, inappropriate human behaviors could usually occur in personnel management, contract management, expense management, material management and acceptance work. For unsafe-condition-related risks, hoisting, scaffolding and reinforcement works are the main generators of onsite safety hazards during construction operations. Practical implications: The study includes implications for project managers and supervisors to facilitate more effective proactive risk management by paying more attention to collecting and employing the supervision data established in each routine inspection. Originality/value: Whereas previous research focused on analyzing severe accidents, this study seeks to identify the high-frequency–low-severity construction safety risks using the preaccident supervision data. The findings could provide a new thought and research direction for construction safety risk management.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction safety risk; high-frequency–low-severity; risk identification; supervision data; unsafe acts and conditions |
| Index terms: | inspection, construction operation, project manager, onsite, supervision, supervisor, risk management, mining, reinforcement, empirical study, human behaviour, risk identification, Shanghai, scaffolding, routine, contract management, personnel, hoisting, construction safety, methodology |
| Subjects: | environmental health, quality assurance, building construction, geotechnical engineering, sociology, contract management, financial risk, Geography, research methods, management, construction operations, building materials, operations management, practitioner, control systems, health behaviours and lifestyles, profession, risk assessment |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Organizational Design, Site Management, Quality Management, Human Resources, Sustainability, Construction Technology, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Cost Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here