Rajendran, S; Gambatese, J A and Behm, M G (2009) Impact of green building design and construction on worker safety and health. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 135(10), pp. 1058-1066. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Sustainable, or "green," rating systems, such as the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), are leading to changes in the way owners, designers, and contractors approach the design, construction, and operation of buildings. The processes and features included in green design and construction may have positive and/or negative impacts on construction worker safety and health. This paper presents the findings of a research study of the impact of green building design and construction practices on construction worker safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable and lost time injury and illness data from green projects (as identified by LEED) and from nongreen projects was collected through a structured questionnaire survey. The data collected was analyzed to test for the presence of a difference in OSHA recordable incident rates (RIRs) and lost time case rates (LTCRs) between green and nongreen projects. It was found that there was suggestive, but inconclusive evidence of a statistically significant difference in the RIRs of the green and nongreen building projects included in the study. No statistically significant difference was found between the LTCRs for the green and nongreen projects included in the study. The study findings provide valuable information to the construction industry for the purposes of project safety planning and the assessment of safety and health on projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction management; design; occupational health; safety; sustainable development |
| Index terms: | environmental design, owner, illness, designer, occupational safety and health, presence, design and construction, construction worker, construction industry, United States, injury, sustainable development, occupational health, survey, green building, evidence, questionnaire |
| Subjects: | sustainability and energy, contractual arrangements, environmental science, profession, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, practitioner, sociology, health conditions and diseases, occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, design practice, health safety and environment, Geography |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Procurement, Sustainability, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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