Citation

Love PED, Teo P, Smith J, Ackermann F, Zhou Y. Ergonomics 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-16.

Affiliation

School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Hubei , PR China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2019.1644379

PMID

31305227

Abstract

To remain competitive and manage their safety performance, many construction organizations have engaged in benchmarking themselves against lagging indicators provided by a statutory body. Aggregated metrics that are provided by statutory bodies are not useful for the purpose of operational benchmarking, as 'best practice' is unable to be identified. Access to safety statistics from leading construction organizations' projects is seldom made available for the purposes of benchmarking. In addressing this void and to engender a process of operational benchmarking, a homogeneous dataset is used to examine 26,665 workplace injuries that arose during the delivery of 562 projects over a ten-year period by a leading international Australian construction organization. The nature and the degree of severity of the injuries that arose are statistically analyzed. The findings provide invaluable insights into issues contributing to workplace injuries during construction, which can be used as a basis for operational benchmarking and a platform for engaging in continuous improvement. Practitioner Summary: Workplace injuries are a problem in construction. Recognizing that safety is a key goal for construction organizations, we analyze the nature of workplace injuries that occurred in 562 projects. Acknowledging the challenges of using lagging indicators, an operational framework for engendering best practice in workplace safety is presented.

Language: en

Keywords

Construction; learning; operational benchmarking; safety; workplace injuries