Benchmarking studies on construction safety management in China

This paper presents information by which to measure safety management performance on construction sites. In China, the conventional construction safety benchmarking approach is to assess safety performance by evaluating the physical safety conditions on site as well as the accident records, while no attention has been paid to the management factors that influence site safety. This paper is to identify the key factors that influence safety management and to develop a method for measuring safety management performance on construction sites. Based on the survey and interview data collected on safety management factors in 82 construction projects in China, the safety management index as a means to evaluate real-time safety management performance by measuring key management factors was developed. The quantified factors were compared with the commonly accepted physical safety performance index, which was derived from inspection records of physical safety conditions, accident rates, and the satisfaction of the project management team. Multifactor linear regression was conducted and the result indicates that safety management performance on site is closely related to organizational factors, economic factors, and factors related to the relationship between management and labor on site. Based on this benchmarking study, a practical safety assessment method was developed and then implemented on six construction projects. The results show that this method can be an effective tool to evaluate safety management on construction projects.