Integration of hazard rectification efficiency in safety assessment for proactive management

Safety assessment is crucial for the development of continuous improvement strategies. However, most studies assess construction safety with cross-sectional information and thus management tends to be passive. This study proposes an evidence-based methodology incorporating hazard rectification efficiency for project safety assessment.

First, we theoretically introduced hazard rectification efficiency as a proxy for hazard exposure. Later, based on set-pair analysis, we proposed a safety assessment model that incorporates hazard occurrence and rectification efficiency. Subsequently, we collected site investigation records from seven building projects in Qingdao, Shandong. The data were used to develop a safety performance index (SPI) with the proposed model and a default model. The results were compared and discussed according to industrial practices for validation purposes.

The proposed model provides conservative indications of project safety performance; more importantly, the index calculated with the model provides advance warning when necessary. In the proposed method, in terms of the SPI, hazard and rectification indicators provide actionable information to address failures and improve safety conditions.

This research describes a new perspective (rectification efficiency) for safety assessment, which supplements the current body of knowledge on safety assessment. The proposed index, SPI, promotes the adoption of proactive hazard identification, monitoring, and control in construction.