TY - GEN
T1 - Comparative safety risk analysis of highway construction work tasks
AU - Esmaeili, Behzad
AU - Hallowell, Matthew
AU - Pandey, Sangeeta
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The construction industry is characterized by a relatively high injury and illness rate. Within the construction industry, the highway construction and maintenance sector is one of the most dangerous. Recent research has shown the importance of quantifying safety risks so that safety information can be objectively integrated into project design and construction planning. Despite its importance, only a few studies have attempted to and quantify safety risks for construction tasks. This paper describes the results of a Delphi study that aimed to quantify the relative unit safety risks for 25 highway construction tasks. Delphi experts have been selected based on rigorous requirements and various controls have been employed to decrease cognitive biases. The results indicate that "construction zone traffic control" and "install traffic control devices" are the highest risk highway construction tasks and "watering and dust palliatives" is the lowest risk task. Once obtained, the risk data were integrated with the safety schedule integration framework presented in the literature. This application of the data demonstrated the practical implications of the data and validated the risk integration framework. It is expected that the findings can be used by safety managers to improve job hazard analyses, prioritize resources, and increase the efficacy of existing schedule-based safety risk management tools.
AB - The construction industry is characterized by a relatively high injury and illness rate. Within the construction industry, the highway construction and maintenance sector is one of the most dangerous. Recent research has shown the importance of quantifying safety risks so that safety information can be objectively integrated into project design and construction planning. Despite its importance, only a few studies have attempted to and quantify safety risks for construction tasks. This paper describes the results of a Delphi study that aimed to quantify the relative unit safety risks for 25 highway construction tasks. Delphi experts have been selected based on rigorous requirements and various controls have been employed to decrease cognitive biases. The results indicate that "construction zone traffic control" and "install traffic control devices" are the highest risk highway construction tasks and "watering and dust palliatives" is the lowest risk task. Once obtained, the risk data were integrated with the safety schedule integration framework presented in the literature. This application of the data demonstrated the practical implications of the data and validated the risk integration framework. It is expected that the findings can be used by safety managers to improve job hazard analyses, prioritize resources, and increase the efficacy of existing schedule-based safety risk management tools.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855807939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84855807939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84855807939
SN - 9781618392183
T3 - Proceedings, Annual Conference - Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
SP - 2140
EP - 2149
BT - Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering 2011, CSCE 2011
T2 - Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering 2011, CSCE 2011
Y2 - 14 June 2011 through 17 June 2011
ER -