US grant to boost construction safety

— filed under: Weekly Top Stories, New Equipment

The US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, has awarded RMIT University researchers, a $US500,000 grant for a five-year project investigating innovative approaches to improving OH&S in the construction industry.

The grant is the result of a collaboration between RMIT’s School of Property Construction and Project Management and the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety Research at Virginia Tech.
Head of the School Professor Ron Wakefield, said the prestigious NIOSH grant, was recognition of the University’s cutting-edge work in the crucial area of construction OH&S.
“Construction is one of Australia’s highest risk industries, with an alarming rate of 7.8 compensated fatalities per 100,000 employees, compared with 2.5 in other industries,” Wakefield said.
“There is emerging evidence that a ‘whole industry’ approach is needed to address the intransigent level of injury, illness and death in construction. But despite many efforts, OH&S is still not embedded as a consideration from the earliest planning stages. So our research aims to identify, examine and evaluate ways to better integrate OH&S into project decision-making, throughout the project lifecycle.”
A team of RMIT researchers led by Professor Helen Lingard, Wakefield and associate professor Nick Blismas, will work on the project to:
•    Identify how organisational complexity within projects impacts OH&S;
•    Examine how fragmented supply chains impede the development of a “unity of purpose” relating to OH&S in construction project teams; and
•    Evaluate how collaborative project delivery mechanisms and procurement methods can support the integration of OH&S during the entire project lifecycle.
Research exchanges between RMIT and Virginia Tech will be supported through the project, titled From finger-pointing to lifesaving: A “supply chain” approach to construction occupational health and safety, which will also involve industry partnerships with key building firms in Australia and the US.
“Collecting data here and in the US will enable international benchmarking, allowing knowledge and good practice in OH&S to be shared between researchers and industry participants in both countries,” Wakefield said.

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