DOWNLOAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SAFETY MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES HANDBOOK

Construction worker safety and health continues to be an important concern for the Washington construction industry. The industry has consistently experienced higher injury and illness rates compared to other states. In fact, the 2011 WA construction total recordable case rate per 100 full-time workers was the highest in the nation (8.7). 1 Not only are construction injuries a significant cause of humanitarian concern, but the high cost associated with these injuries and deaths is also a motivation for an improved safety performance in the construction industry.

The “technical” causes of injuries and illnesses (e.g. falls) in construction have long been recognized, and their persistence continues to frustrate construction safety and health practitioners. Improvement in project safety management practices is needed to lower the level of risk and improve worker safety and health performance. There is a great deal of knowledge of specific successful management practices, from pioneering safe companies, which can be used to enhance construction safety and health of the overall industry.

To prevent injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, many construction contractors have implemented successful strategies (“best practices”), which are “above and beyond” regulatory compliance that have helped them improve worker safety and health performance. Even though the construction industry shares a common goal of creating an injury and incident free work environment on its jobsites, there is no common medium to share these best practices that will benefit other contractors and the industry as a whole. These best practices, if shared, can benefit the industry to fulfill its goals of creating an injury free work environment on construction sites. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, contractors, who are interested in improving their safety performance, can implement proven best practices during different project phases (e.g. Design or Construction) within their projects, thereby improving their project safety and health performance.