Automated safety planning approach for residential construction sites in Malaysia

Developing a Schedule Integrated Automated Safety Planning Tool for Residential Construction Projects

Construction safety culture can be greatly improved if safety planning is done hand-in-hand with project planning. This paper investigated the integration of construction scheduling with construction safety planning by developing an Automated safety planning Add-in (ASPA) for Microsoft Project. A risk assessment database was developed that analysed the frequency and severity of the hazards associated with construction tasks and the risk level of each hazard was calculated. The developed ASPA compares the ongoing construction activity in the schedule with the safety database, and an automated safety report is produced as a spreadsheet containing the details of Task name, Risk Priority, Task Start and End Dates, Hazard and Safety Regulations related to the tasks. The schedule integrated ASPA was then tested for efficacy by implementing in a real-time project. The ASPA facilitated the safety engineers to plan the daily activities by prior envisaging of the hazards and safety regulations through the schedule-based report generation.

Impacts of Lean Construction on Safety Systems: A System Dynamics Approach

Lean construction has been viewed as an effective management approach for reducing the occurrence of no-value or destructive activities, such as wasting resources and safety-related accidents. However, few studies have systematically addressed how and to what extent lean construction practices influence construction safety. To bridge this gap, a conceptual model is developed and validated using a system dynamics approach. The construction system in this model comprises four sub-systems (i.e., environment system, equipment system, management system, and employee system). Data were collected from 448 projects in China. Simulations were conducted to determine the correlations between five types of lean tools and the four construction sub-systems. The results show that: (a) 5S management has significant positive impacts on the control of key locations and facilities at construction sites, and contributes to the mitigation of environmental impacts; (b) visual management can significantly improve safety compliance and safety management; (c) just-in-time management has significantly positive influences on the safety facilities layout and formulation of the safety plan; and (d) the Last Planner^® System and conference management are effective in improving safety training and the implementation of the safety plan. These findings provide new insights into the use of lean construction for improving construction safety through the implementation of a targeted lean approach.