Those involved in projects on which lean practices are present indicate that improving production through the application of lean naturally leads to enhanced worker safety. Accidents and worker injuries result in added time to clean up after the incident, repair damaged work, and attend to the injured worker, all of which represents waste. Previous studies have identified that some lean practices positively impact safety management practices; however, there is still little understanding of the direct relationships between lean construction practices and the risk of worker injuries and fatalities on construction sites. To address this gap in knowledge, this paper builds on previous research on lean and on safety and presents a study carried out through case studies to investigate the impacts of lean practices in hazard mitigation and safety performance. By doing so, the research intends to provide evidence for the need to integrate both disciplines in order to enhance construction site safety while improving the efficiency of delivering projects. The study revealed that in some cases practices that change the way people work could have helped improve the project's safety performance. Nevertheless, collaboration between lean practitioners and safety professionals is needed to implement more reliable safety controls.
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