Enhanced safety in complex socio-technical systems via safety-in-cohesion

Abstract

Due to its tightly coupled structure, intractable and unpredictable workflow and complex interaction of its elements, the construction industry’s work environment (i.e., vertical, horizontal or underground construction projects) is acknowledged as a complex sociotechnical system (STS). STS theory studies the interrelationship of components within a complex system rather than inquiring about its integral components in isolation. To expand knowledge and application of the STS perspective in construction safety management, this study generates a new (STS thinking based) conceptual model through systematic review and analysis of extant literature on construction safety management. An overarching epistemological design embraced interpretivist, critical realism and inductive reasoning to analyse bibliometric data of 2,227 articles retrieved from the Scopus database. Thematic analysis of bibliometric data that was conducted through manual screening of ‘titles’, ‘abstracts’ and ‘keywords’ revealed eleven distinctive thematical clusters of research activity within the prevailing body of knowledge, viz.: ‘contractor relationship’, ‘lean management’, ‘policy and regulations’, ‘prevention through design’, ‘safety culture’, ‘safety management strategies’, ‘safety of machinery’, ‘safety of sites’, ‘safety of workers’, ‘sustainability and waste management’ and ‘technology’. From these aforementioned clusters, ‘safety of workers’, ‘safety of machinery’ and ‘safety of sites’ thematic clusters were selected for further content analysis using the NVivo qualitative data analysis tool. The results from both thematic and content analysis form the basis of a novel theoretical conceptual model (entitled ‘safety-in-cohesion’) that provides palpable insights and guidance for academics and industry practitioners to reflect upon the design, development and analysis of safety management systems based on a holistic perspective of both social and technical aspects. Specifically, the ‘safety-in-cohesion’ model: combines pertinent elements of Safety-I and Safety-II principles that apply to construction safety management. It also promotes continuous learning (through relational loop between design and construction stages) based on integration of different project stakeholders, different data types (i.e., lagging and leading indicators) and different work modes (i.e., reactive and proactive). Emergent findings and concomitant polemic discussion present an unconventional perspective on construction safety within a complex (and often bespoke) STS system on site and generate new avenues of research direction for scholars.