Occupational Health and Safety in Construction Project Management

Abstract

The construction industry performs poorly in occupational health and safety (OHS). Despite many OHS campaigns and initiatives, the statistics reveal that construction workers continue to be killed or injured at work each year. More insidious is the large number of construction workers who suffer impaired health or long-term illness caused or made worse by their work. Many of these illnesses only manifest themselves years after exposure and many are ultimately fatal. We believe that these injuries, deaths and illnesses can and should be prevented. Their persistence indicates a serious management failure in an industry that prides itself on having considerable management expertise and utilising state-of-the-art project management tools and techniques. Construction contractors have traditionally borne the responsibility for OHS on site. Their site-based project managers and site staff are responsible for the day-to-day management of OHS. However, site-level managers and professionals usually have a limited understanding of their legal obligations relating to OHS or OHS principles and practices–which we suggest is, to a large extent, the result of a serious gap in most construction management and engineering degree courses. This book aims to provide construction professionals and students of construction project management with an understanding of theory pertaining to OHS as well as to introduce a range of tools and techniques representing best practice in the management of OHS. The activities of site-based project managers do not occur in isolation. The book also argues that OHS is a strategic issue for management in all construction organisations, irrespective of size. As such, corporate OHS issues are addressed. As legal entities, corporations have responsibilities for OHS and may be subject to serious criminal charges in the event of serious injury or death. It is noteworthy that the first (and to our knowledge, the only) conviction of a corporation for manslaughter in Australia, occurred as the result of a construction plant operator’s death in Melbourne. The present-day OHS legislation requires that companies implement OHS management systems and proactively manage the OHS risks posed by their operations, even those performed by self-employed persons or subcontractors. It is unacceptable to assume that worksites are safe because they have been accident-free. There is also a growing understanding that OHS in const