Since 2012, Dodge Data & Analytics has conducted studies on safety management. The study featured in this report demonstrates the ongoing importance of construction site safety to those in the industry. This report is the third in an ongoing series and examines the positive impacts of construction safety practices in the construction industry. It includes new data, case studies, thought leader perspectives, and feature articles on critical trends in safety, including:
- Increasing evidence of the relationship between safety-related investments and improved project business outcomes
- Large contractors continue to engage in more safety practices, conduct more training and to reap more benefits than smaller ones
- The continuing shift of industry focus toward engaging workers in construction site safety programs
- Common organizational practices and policies promoting job site safety in the industry
- Top drivers and obstacles for increased safety investments
- Trends and common practices in jobsite safety training and communication about safety
The study also explores the sharp increase in technologies available to address construction safety in the past few years. It not only offers insights into well-known technologies, but also provides a baseline for emerging ones, including drones, laser scanning, wearable devices, photogrammetry and robotics.
- Building information modeling (BIM) clearly improves construction site safety
- The high rate of adoption of smartphones and tablets facilitates the use of many mobile tools for safety purposes
This study also looks at another emerging trend in construction site safety management: the use of Prevention Through Design (PtD). This approach recognizes that construction safety begins in the early design stages and can be increased by engaging the designer and contractor in consideration of safety factors early in a project. Therefore, in addition to the survey of contractors that has formed the basis of all the previous studies, an additional survey was conducted among architects to measure their awareness of PtD and their use of various practices. Because this concept is still not widely known, a fuller explanation of the PtD approach is provided on pages 16-17 of the report, along with a case study examining its use on projects.
We would like to thank CPWR and United Rentals for their ongoing partnership and support for these studies, and we look forward to continuing to provide this vital information on safety management to the industry in the future.