Pre-task planning for construction worker safety and health: Implementation and assessment

Area of Science:

• Occupational Safety and Health
• Construction Management

Background:

• Construction workers face high injury rates, with many incidents preventable through proactive hazard recognition.
• Pre-task planning (PTP) is crucial for identifying and mitigating construction site hazards before work commences.
• Current PTP practices lack standardized guidelines, hindering consistent and effective implementation in the construction industry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify deficiencies in existing pre-task planning (PTP) practices within the construction sector.
• To gather insights from safety professionals and workers on solutions to improve PTP.
• To develop a practical tool for assessing and enhancing PTP quality.

Main Methods:

• Interviews were conducted with 28 construction safety professionals and 104 workers.
• Seven on-site pre-task planning (PTP) sessions were directly observed to gather empirical data.
• Qualitative data analysis was used to categorize PTP shortcomings and proposed solutions.

Main Results:

• Key PTP shortcomings identified include issues with planning, implementation, inter-trade coordination, worker engagement, training, workforce diversity, and accessibility of information.
• Recommended solutions focused on improving these identified areas to enhance PTP effectiveness.
• Categorized findings provide a framework for understanding and addressing PTP weaknesses.

Conclusions:

• Worker involvement in identifying task requirements and hazards is essential for effective PTP.
• PTP processes must be dynamic, updated regularly to reflect evolving site conditions.
• A holistic project view, including other trades' scopes, enhances worker awareness and safety.