Introduction

Project safety management is one of the most common capital project challenges, and construction is the highest industry sector for worker fatalities in today’s project environment. In the construction industry, safety is non-negotiable. Without the proper precautions, procedures, and attention to safety, construction is extremely dangerous.

Project safety management is an essential part of any capital project management strategy, as effective project safety management can eliminate or mitigate potential risks. Below, we provide an overview of key elements of project safety management.

Key Elements of Capital Project Safety Management

Promoting and maintaining a robust safety culture will help maintain frequent and continuous attention to safety across all levels of a project and improve safety hazard identification and performance. Regarding safety, there is always room for improvement—contractors can take positive, proactive steps to improve worker safety further and enhance safety culture.

Behaviour-Based Safety Programs

Behaviour-based safety programs are designed to influence employee actions towards safer outcomes by preventing accidents and injuries before they occur. The names of these programs will likely vary from contractor to contractor, but all have the same overarching purposes. It is important to have buy-in at all levels of an organization, from on-site employees to management. These programs allow this by communicating the importance of safety and the ability for each employee to improve through positive reinforcement and feedback without placing blame.

Hazard Analysis Tools and Procedures

A hazard analysis is a construction safety tool, often a physical form, that can be used on-site to define and control hazards associated with a particular process or job. It provides workers with a highly systematic way to examine and document every task within a given job to identify health and safety hazards and the steps to control each task. Those doing the actual work on-site are the ones who perform the hazard analysis. This is an important aspect of the process, as it helps construction personnel identify the safest possible way to perform a job.

They are generally standard across the construction industry. The basic steps required in a typical hazard analysis procedure are as follows:

1. Select the job to be analysed.
2. Break down the job into a sequence of steps.
3. Identify any potential hazards.
4. Determine preventive measures needed to overcome identified hazards.

Important Questions to Ask Contractors

To understand a contractor’s safety culture and commitment to safe project execution, there are a few important questions to ask about how they handle project safety management, such as the following:

• What safety training programs are utilised?
• What measures do you take beyond the norm for safety management?
• How would you describe your company’s safety culture?
• How do you ensure continuous improvement surrounding safety?

How iCARE Supports Project Safety

Having been directly involved in many capital projects, ranging from $10 million to well over $500 million in some cases, iCARE has first-hand knowledge and experience as to what makes for a successful project safety strategy.

Often in projects today, there is a propensity to over-engineer solutions, complicate systems and even isolate critical information, from the people at direct risk. We have witnessed and understand these issues and as a result, are well and truly aware of what’s needed, from the very outset of the project.

Our approach centres around communication, engagement, common sense and ongoing improvement. Of course, we create user-friendly systems and manage contractors effectively, but the core of successful project safety comes from how information is communicated and disseminated.