Mapping of Global Construction Safety Research using Scientometric Approach

Abstract

The construction sector is one of the hazardous sectors across the world. In the Indian construction sector, on an average 38 fatal accidents happen every day. Research on construction safety and improvement of safety performance has been continuing for a few years. It explores multiple areas such as safety performance measurement, safety program, human factors, safety planning, site monitoring, etc. This study followed a three-stage literature review approach summarizing the research domain of construction safety. The science mapping approach consists of both bibliometric analysis and scientometric analysis which are carried out in this study. For the bibliometric analysis, Web of Science (WoS) database has been used while for the scientometric analysis, the Cite-Space software has been used in this study. This study identifies key areas of construction safety management by following by a qualitative discussion on research publications across the globe. It includes information and communication technology in safety management, workers' safety perception and behaviour, safety management system, hazard identification, accident causation, and risk management in safety, safety climate and safety culture. This study helped the authors to prepare the outline of construction safety manual. This paper is useful to academic community and industry practitioners to understand the trend of research in the field of construction safety. Also, the proposed directions for future work could benefit to the new researchers and industry practitioners in enhancing safety performance and improving site 'employees' health and wellbeing.