| dc.description |
The main objective of this research study is to incorporate construction worker safety and health into sustainable design and construction practices. This can be fulfilled by the development of an innovative construction worker safety and health planning tool, called Sustainable Construction Safety and Health (SCSH) Rating System that will:
• provide an opportunity to rate projects based on the importance given to safety and health and the degree of implementation of safety and health elements; and
• unify and coordinate the safety and health efforts of the four primary parties in a project: owner, designer, general contractor, and subcontractors.
Before development of the SCSH rating system, it was necessary to analyze whether present sustainable buildings are truly sustainable from a safety and health perspective. Currently, the construction industry’s sustainable practices are based on compliance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. To be truly sustainable, sustainable buildings should have superior safety performance in addition to environmental performance. A pilot study on a LEED building project revealed that there were both negative and positive impacts on worker safety and health. However, based on the analysis of 86 LEED and non-LEED construction projects, it was found that there was not a statistically significant difference in safety performance between the two types of projects. Hence, current sustainable buildings are not truly sustainable when considering worker safety and health. To be labeled as sustainable, the construction industry should include worker safety and health in the project lifecycle. This can be achieved with the SCSH rating system.
A Delphi survey technique was used to develop the SCSH rating system. The rating system consists of 50 safety and health elements, grouped into 13 categories that should be implemented through the combined efforts of the project team. The rating system was validated based on 25 real-time construction projects and was found to accurately represent the safety performance of projects. The rating system can be used as a tool to help sustain the safety and health of construction workers. Recognition for using the rating system will be an added incentive for a project team to improve the safety and health performance of a project. Since the rating system would require the joint efforts of all of the parties involved in a project, a team effort would be another benefit that will help set in motion the sustainable safety and health drive throughout the construction industry. |
|