Zero Incident Safety Management for Continued Safety Improvement.

摘要

Construction work has always had a reputation for being a dangerous profession. Despite the dramatic improvements in construction safety made over the past few decades, the construction industry as a whole is still nowhere near reaching the Zero Injury goal, let alone the Zero Incident goal. The purpose of this research is to provide an approach to continue improvements of safety performance in order to reach the Zero Incident goal.;Since the concept of "Zero Injury" emerged in the 1990s, increasing numbers of owners and contractors have achieved the Zero Injury goal on construction projects. This is especially true for Construction Industry Institute (CII) members. The key to these achievements is the Nine Zero Injury Principles established by CII. These principles have been effective toward achieving Zero Incident for some construction owners and contractors. However, the research on which the Nine Zero Injury Principles is based relied on a questionnaire survey rather than theoretical analysis. Without theoretical analysis supporting the research, the conclusions are often challenged, making the concept of Zero Injury difficult to promote throughout the industry.;Thus, there exists the need to develop the science of Zero Incident Safety Management (ZISM) to provide theoretical insight into the practical application of ZISM techniques.;Drawing on previous theories of construction accident causation and prevention, this research identified the most important causation factors that lead to accidents, and a new update to accident causation theory was developed. This research then identified the management factors that can eliminate the corresponding accident causation factors. Developing the science of ZISM not only helps construction leaders deeply understand and accept the concept of Zero Incident, it also directs efforts towards achieving the Zero Incident goal by focusing on two major factors: the implementation of safety programs and employers' willingness to invest in safety.;To facilitate the most rapid implementation of the Nine Principles, a ZISM standard benchmark tool with leading metrics was created. This tool can be easily used to assess the extent of implementation of safety program in construction projects.;The goal of this research is to increase leaders' willingness to invest in safety in order to move closer to the Zero Incident goal. Having created the concept of willingness to invest in safety, or "WTI," this research analyzed the role of WTI in improving safety performance to achieve the Zero Incident goal, and considered how to increase WTI by demonstrating the positive relationship between investment in safety and total benefits for projects. This dissertation describes the development of the survey to collect data from industry participants and defines investment in safety, direct cost and indirect cost. Through the use of statistical analysis, the indirect cost estimating model was developed first. Then, the research analyzed the importance of leaders' willingness to invest in safety and presented the relationship between investment in safety and cost of injuries.;In addition, the optimal investment model was developed, and the optimal investment point was determined to assist owners and contractors in gaining willingness to invest in safety to reach and sustain the Zero Incident goal.