Health and Safety Considerations in Mega Construction Projects

Abstract

The construction industry is considered one of the most hazardous industries especially in Mega projects, not only in developing countries but also throughout the world due to its unique nature. The hazards of this industry make it very essential to pay more attention to construction safety and to improve the safety performance of construction companies. However, safety is not a luxury but a necessity, and may be considered an important function to be used against unnecessary loss. International Mega Construction projects are likely to become increasingly common in the engineering and construction industry. A Mega-project as a high impact technically complex project which requires careful advanced planning, large projects are defined as those with construction work valued in excess of US $1billion. On such projects, there may be 60 large contracting organizations and 30 to 40 consulting companies. The construction workforce could total 45,000 personnel delivering over 10 million man hours of effort per month at peak periods, so there is a need of guidance material that can be used to improve the management of health and safety(H&S) throughout these type of projects. Thus the aim of this paper is to identify the H&S considerations that are related to Mega Construction Projects. To achieve the aim of this paper a literature review analysis has been performed where more than hundred research paper that have been published from 1998, to 2018 have been analyzed. Findings of this paper have managed to identify the nature of mega construction projects, the root causes of accidents and the consequence of poor health and safety management in mega construction projects. This paper is considered of value to construction project officers and Project managers working in mega construction projects in Egypt and MENA region.