Construction safety factors assessment through Frequency Adjusted Importance Index

Abstract

The construction industry is plagued by numerous accidents and fatalities due to improper implementation of safety measures. Globally, researchers have concluded that the construction environment is the most hazardous when compared to other labor enforced industries. Construction is a temporary project-based industry, however, the injuries sustained to workers and stakeholders involved are permanent. Rigorous measures need to be taken to ensure a safe atmosphere on-site and laws governing implementation of safety management programs need to be enforced internationally. The objective of this paper is to identify what is perceived to be the most influential safety attributes affecting the construction industry. After a review of the literature, a list of 40 safety attributes was produced and presented in a survey. The survey was distributed online and sent to various experts in the construction industry. 238 complete responses were received and analyzed by Frequency Adjusted Importance Index, Spearman's Rank Correlation, T-Test. As a result, “use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and following safety rules and procedures,” and “providing safety trainings, campaigns and awareness to employees by contractor, “were ranked as the most important safety attributes. The main contribution of this study can be summarized as ranking the safety attributes considering both their importance and frequencies as perceived by various groups of industry professionals and identification of influential attributes affecting construction safety which have significant level of agreement among various groups in the construction industry.