PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/07) 

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA 

NOTES: * If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from the organization with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction.

DECLARATION OF THESIS AND COPYRIGHT

Author’s full name : SAMANEH ZOLFAGHARIAN

Date of birth : 10.06.1983

Title : AUTOMATED SAFETY PLANNING ON CONSTRUCTION

SITE

Academic Session : 2010/2011 (II)

I declare that this thesis is classified as:

CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972)*

RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by organization)

OPEN ACCESS I agree that my thesis to be published as online open access (full text)

I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows:

1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the

purpose of research only. 3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic exchange.

Certified by:

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

E14294104 Assoc. Prof. Aziruddin Ressang (NEW IC NO. /PASSPORT NO.) (NAME OF SUPERVISOR)

Date: May 2011 Date: May 2011

√

19 May 2011

Librarian

Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah

UTM, Skudai

Johor

Sir,

CLASSIFICATION OF THESIS AS RESTRICTED

AUTOMATED SAFETY PLANNING ON CONSTRUCTION SITE

SAMANEH ZOLFAGHARIAN

Please be informed that the above mentioned thesis entitled " AUTOMATED SAFETY PLANNING ON CONSTRUCTION SITE " be classified as RESTRICTED for a period of three (3) years from the date of this letter. The reason for this classification is

(i) The information and data are confidential as requested by the respondents’ companies.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Assoc. Prof. Aziruddin Ressang

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Univesity Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

Skudai, Johor

(0167124248)

2

“We hereby declare that we have read this project report and in our opinion this

project report is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree

of Master of Science (Construction Management)”

Signature : …………………………………………

Name of Supervisor I : …………………………………………

Date : …………………………………………

Signature : …………………………………………

Name of Supervisor II : …………………………………………

Date : …………………………………………

Assoc. Prof. Aziruddin Ressang

May 2011

Assist. Prof. Dr. Javier Irizarry

May 2011

AUTOMATED SAFETY PLANNING ON CONSTRUCTION SITE

SAMANEH ZOLFAGHARIAN

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Construction Management)

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

MAY 2011

ii

“I declare that this project report entitled “Automated Safety Planning on

Construction Site” is the result of my own research except as cited in the references.

The project report has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently

submitted in candidature of any other degree”

Signature : …………………………………………

Name : …………………………………………

Date : …………………………………………

Samaneh Zolfagharian

May 2011

iii

This is dedicated to my loving, caring, understanding and supporting

husband, Mehdi. Thank you for being a pillar of my strength. This dissertation is

also dedicated to my family. A special feeling of gratitude goes to my loving parents

whose words of encouragement and full support over the years has helped to finish

this important chapter of my life. You are the most precious thing I have in this

world. I love you dearly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to deeply and sincerely thank my dear supervisor Assoc. Prof.

Aziruddin Ressang for his leadership, professionalism, guidance, understanding,

enthusiasm and continued optimism. His guidance helped me during the research and

writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and

mentor for my master study. For everything you have done for me, Assoc. Prof.

Aziruddin, I thank you.

I would also like to extend my special gratitude to my co-supervisor,

Assistant Professor Dr. Javier Irizarry from Georgia Institute of Technology, for his

support, guidance, motivation, patience, and immense knowledge throughout this

project. It was such a pleasure to have an opportunity to pursue my Master's research

under his supervision. Without his offer to accomplish this research, I would not

have been able to finish my study.

I believe that a good marriage and a strong family is a joy forever, and it

makes a successful journey worthwhile. My husband, Mehdi, has many strengths and

I love him. Throughout my studies, he has expressed unconditional love for me, as

well as an unwavering belief in my ability to succeed. When I feel loved and

supported by him, I can weather any crisis and truly enjoy success.

I would also like to thank my family and my best friends for the support, love

and encouragement they provided me through my entire life.

v

ABSTRACT

Construction industry is considered as a dangerous industry because a large

percentage of fatal accidents are recorded in it. It is reported that poor-safety

awareness of project managers is one of the root causes of construction accidents.

Thus, developing a program for promoting the knowledge of construction managers

is crucial. This research developed an automated safety-planning prototype that can

be used to mitigate occurrence of accidents on construction sites. To achieve this

aim, frequency and severity of the common construction hazards were collected by

distributing an online questionnaire among 300 construction safety managers, safety

experts, and safety officers. Then, level of risks related to each hazard was calculated

based on the relevant risk matrix. Ten interviews with expert panels were conducted

to establish a relationship between hazards and construction activities and also to

determine the most common construction activities in residential building within

Malaysia. The results of this study reveal that the riskiest hazards on construction

sites are lack of appropriate attitudes, lack of awareness of safety regulations, poor

safety awareness in a project manager, and lack of knowledge. The results of this

stage were implemented in developing the prototype. The prototype extracts current

construction activities from schedules in Microsoft Project in order of their risks.

Moreover, safety regulations and hazards related to each activity could be reported

both in manual and automatic mode. The result of the prototype evaluation

demonstrates that the prototype is innovative, efficient, and helpful in preventing

construction accidents by promoting the project mangers’ knowledge.

vi

ABSTRAK

Industri pembinaan merupakan antara industri yang mempunyai pelbagai

aktiviti merbahaya. Adalah di lapurkan kurang nya kesadaran tentang keselamatan

di kalangan pengurus projek adalah salah satu punca utama kemalangan di tapak

bina. Oleh itu adalah penting untuk membuat program keselamatan yang dapat di

guna kan oleh pengurus projek bagi mengurangkan kamalangan yang boleh berlaku.

Tujuan penyelidikan ini ini adalah untuk menghasilkan prototaip perancangan

keselamatan yang otomatik yang boleh di gunakan untuk mengurangkan kemalangan

di tapak bina. Untuk mencapai tujuan kajian ini, kekerapan dan keseriusan risiko

pembinaan di kumpulkan melalui kaji selidik ke atas 300 pengurus projek, pegawai

keselamatan pekerjaan dan pakar keselamatan pekerjan. Data-data kemudiannya

dianalisis menggunakan kaedah Analisis Kekerapan , Analisis Indeks Purata dan

Matrik Risiko. Hasil kajian menunjukkan risiko yang paling tinggi di tapak bina

adalah sikap kurang mengambil berat, kurang kesadaran dan kurang pengetahuan

tentang peraturan keselamatan. Prototaip yang di hasilkan dapat menyenaraikan

aktiviti projek dari jadual Microsoft Project dan menyenaraikan risiko yang

berkaitan. Hasil penilaian prototaip ini menunjukan ianya satu yang inovatif, cekap

dan dapat membantu pengurus projek meningkatkan keselamatan di tapak bina.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES xv

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem 2

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Methodology 4

1.5.1 Selecting Specific Research 6

1.5.2 Literature Review 6

1.5.3 Determining the Research Methods 6

1.5.3.1 Input Stage 6

1.5.3.2 Design Stage 7

1.5.3.3 Evaluation Stage 7

1.5.3.4 Output Stage 7

1.5.3.5 Cognitive Work Analysis 7

1.5.3.6 Discussion and Conclusion 7

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Background 8

viii

2.2 Definition of Hazard and Risk 9

2.3 Theories of Accident Causation 10

2.3.1 Domino Theory 10

2.3.2 Epidemiological Theory 11

2.4 Critical Causes of Accidents on Construction Sites 12

2.5 Factors Affecting Safety Performance 15

2.6 Managing Safety on Construction Sites 16

2.7 The Importance of Safety Planning at the Design

Stage

17

2.8 Summary of Previous Works 18

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Introduction 21

3.2 Research Process 21

3.2.1 Conceptualization 22

3.2.2 Literature Review 22

3.2.3 Data Gathering 23

3.2.3.1 Step 1: Literature Review 24

3.2.3.2 Step 2: Questionnaire 24

3.2.3.3 Step 3: Semi-Structured Interview 25

3.2.4 Data Analysis 26

3.2.4.1 Risk Assessment Analysis 27

3.2.4.2 Risk Calculation Method 29

3.2.5 Prototype Design 30

3.2.6 Review and Conclusion 31

4 COGNITIVE WORK ANALYSIS 32

4.1 Introduction 32

4.2 Cognitive Work Analysis Background 32

4.3 Cognitive Work Analysis Methods 33

4.4 Framework for Conducting CWA 34

4.4.1 Phase 1 – Work Domain Analysis 34

4.4.2 Phase 2 – Control Task Analysis 38

4.4.3 Phase 3 – Strategies Analysis (StrA) 40

ix

4.4.4 Phase 4 – Social Organization and

Cooperation Analysis

40

4.4.5 Phase 5 – Worker Competencies Analysis

(WCA)

40

4.5 CWA And Construction 41

4.6 Methodology 42

4.7 Results 43

4.7.1 Work Domain Analysis 43

4.7.2 Control Task Analysis 46

4.7.3 Strategies Analysis 48

4.7.4 Social Organization and Cooperation

Analysis

50

4.7.5 Competencies Analysis 52

5 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 54

5.1 Introduction 54

5.2 Respondents Profile 54

5.3 Analysis and Result 57

5.4 Safety Risk Assessment 57

5.5 Linking hazards to activity 61

5.6 Evaluation 67

6 AUTOMATED SAFETY PLANNING 69

6.1 Principles 69

6.2 Input 70

6.3 Prototype Process 72

6.4 Output 73

6.5 Model Performance and On-Site Experiment 74

7 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 77

7.1 Conclusion 77

7.1.1 Objective 1 77

7.1.2 Objective 2 78

x

7.1.3 Objective 3 78

7.1.4 Objective 4 79

7.1.5 Objective 5 79

7.2 Recommendations 80

REFERENCES 81

APPENDIX A 88

xi

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Holistic Outline of the Critical Hazards and Causes of

Accidents on Construction Sites

14

3.1 Likert Scale Used to Determine the Level of Frequency

and Severity

25

3.2 Risk Matrix of Construction Hazards_ adopted from (Jeong

et al., 2010)

29

3.3 Comparison of Project Management Software Packages

used in Construction_ adopted from (Liberatore et al.,

2001)

30

4.1 The Phases of CWA and the Types of Boundaries or

Constraints_ adopted from (Naikar, 2005)

34

4.2 Descriptions of Levels of Abstraction_ adopted from

(Daniel, 2009)

35

4.3 Construction Safety and CWA Phases 41

4.4 Respondents’ Years of Experience 42

5.1 Respondents’ Years of Experience 56

5.2 Average Number of Employee in Respondents’

Organization or Firm

56

5.3 Average Number of Employee in Respondents’

Organization or Firm

56

5.4 Evaluation of Risks related to Causes of Construction

Accidents

59

5.5 Earthwork and related Hazards on Construction Site 62

5.6 Concreting and related Hazards on Construction Site 63

5.7 Reinforcing and related Hazards on Construction Site 64

5.8 Masonry and related Hazards on Construction Site 65

5.9 Form working and related Hazards on Construction Site 66

xii

LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 System Development Life Cycle_ adopted from:

(Gaudsmith, 2011)

4

1.2 Methodology of the Research 5

2.1 Number and Rate of Fatal Injury to Workers 1999-2009_

adopted from (HSE, 2010)

9

2.2 An Accident is Caused by the Action of Preceding

Factors_ adopted from (Heinrich, 1950)

10

2.3 The Removal of the Central Factor Makes the Action of

Preceding Factor Ineffective_ adopted from (Heinrich,

1950)

11

2.4 The Model of Epidemiological Theory of Accident

Causation_ adopted from (Mausner and Bahn, 1974)

12

2.5 Time/Safety in Xuence Curve_ adopted from (Szymberski,

1997)

18

2.6 Overview of the Sources and Goals of Safety 19

2.7 Detection Zones_ adopted from (Lee et al., 2009) 20

3.1 Research Design and Procedure (simplified from

Figure1.2)

22

3.2 Data Collection Procedure 23

3.3 Risk-Based Technology Methods 27

3.4 Safety Impact Assessment Procedures 28

4.1 Means-ends links_ adopted from (Daniel, 2009) 37

4.2 Decision-ladder showing leaps and shunts_ adopted from

(Daniel, 2009)

39

4.3 Abstraction Hierarchy 45

4.4 Control Task Analysis 47

4.5 Strategic Analysis 49

4.6 Social Organization and Cooperation Analysis 51

4.7 Competencies Analysis 53

xiii

5.1 Achieved Responses from Different Countries 55

6.1 Schematic Model of the Safety-Planning prototype 71

6.2 Algorithm of the Safety-Planning prototype 73

6.3 Prototype Interface in MS Project 75

6.4 Automatic Mode 75

6.5 Manual Mode 76

xiv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HSE - Health and Safety Executive

CCOHS - Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Science

RBTs - Risk-Based Technologies

PM - Project Management

MS - Microsoft Project

VBA - Visual Basic for Application®

CWA - Cognitive Work Analysis

WDA - Work Domain Analysis

AH - Abstraction Hierarchy

ConTA - Control Task Analysis

DL - Decision Ladder

STRA - Strategies Analysis

SOCA - Social Organization and Cooperation Analysis

WCA - Worker Competencies Analysis

SRK - Skill, Rule, and Knowledge

SBB - Skill-Based Behavior

RBB - Rule-Based Behavior

KBB - Knowledge-Based Behavior

FOC - Frequency of Occurring

SD - Standards Deviation

SEV - Severity of the effects of accident or consequences

xv

TABLE OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Questionnaire on Identifying the Frequency and

Severity of safety Hazards on Construction sites

88

1  

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Construction is often the largest source of employment in any country (Bust

et al., 2008). It has been well documented that a large number of accidents have been

recorded in this industry (Bust et al., 2008; Camino et al., 2008; Gregory and Simon,

2006a; Wang et al., 2006). In modern society, the construction industry has been

defined as a dangerous industry (Liao and Perng, 2008; Niza et al., 2008). In Korea,

the construction industry accounted for less than 10% of gross domestic product in

2007, while its occupational fatalities accounted for 20% of total fatalities (Kim et

al., 2010). In Taiwan, occupational fatalities accounted for 0.29 deaths per thousand

construction employees in 2005, which was a much higher than fatality rate than that

of all other industries (Cheng et al., 2010). In Hong Kong, the construction accident

rate was approximately 68.1 per 1000 workers, which is high compared to other

industries (Ling et al., 2008).

The first essential step to mitigate construction accidents and manage safety

is safety planning, which consists of identifying all probable hazards and safety

measures. As such, this safety planning should be executed before conducting each

construction activity in order to identify required safety measures. It is possible to

improve safety planning into safety risk management by determining safety hazards,

2  

classifying risks, controlling the risks and monitoring implementation (Chantawit et

al., 2005).

It is critical to identify hazards that threaten workers (Yi and Langford,

2006). One of the most critical factors in serious and mortal accidents is a lack of

understanding about risk and hazards on a construction site (Dejus, 2007a). While

risks cannot be removed entirely, they should be effectively identified and assessed

(Smith, 1999). In order to manage and control construction hazards, consideration

should be given to the prevention of hazardous events and efforts to limit the severity

of occurred hazards (Gregory and Simon, 2006a).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Construction safety accidents have serious financial and humanitarian

impacts (Dorji et al., 2006) such as “wasted cost”, “reduced productivity”, “declining

company reputation”, and a “negative psychological impact on workers” (Mohamed,

1999; Tam et al., 2004). Meanwhile, excessive or unnecessary safety measures in

order to mitigate construction safety accidents may also result in both delays in

schedule and costs overruns (Yi and Langford, 2006).

Poor safety management is considered one cause of construction accidents.

The construction manager, as a key project member, should know the most

hazardous and risky conditions to mitigate accidents, optimize cost and time, and

promote quality of production (Chantawit et al., 2005). Management needs a reliable

database to provide comprehensive safety measures and hazards. Such a system will

enable managers to be aware of real-time hazards and risks in order to promote safe

performance on their construction sites. However, there unfortunately is no pattern

for construction managers to follow to ensure safety on projects (Dejus, 2007a).

3  

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to propose a prototype for automated safety planning

to mitigate occurrence of accidents in the construction industry. To achieve this aim,

the following objectives have been identified:

i. To investigate the frequency and severity of construction safety

hazards;

ii. To determine risks of construction safety hazards;

iii. To establish a relationship between safety hazards and common

construction activities;

iv. To investigate the application of cognitive work analysis in

construction safety domain; and

v. To develop a prototype for automated safety planning in construction

projects.

1.4 Scope of the Study

To achieve the objectives of this study, the following scopes of work are

considered:

i. This study considers five common construction activities related to Malaysian

residential buildings;

ii. This study is limited to the design stage of the system development life cycle,

namely prototyping and feedback.

iii. The system development life cycle is the process of developing information

systems through investigation, analysis, design, testing, implementation, and

maintenance (Bosworth and Kabay, 2002). This study is limited to investigate

first stage which includes gathering required information and data, and also

4  

design stage which contains flowcharting, prototyping, and also customer

acceptance (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 System Development Life Cycle_ adopted from: (Gaudsmith, 2011)

1.5 Methodology

To fulfill the research aims and objectives, the following procedures and

methods will be employed (see Figure 1.2):

5  

Figure 1.2 Methodology of the Research

      

6  

1.5.1 Selecting Specific Research

The selection of topics was accomplished by investigating recent research

trends and also through discussions and interviews with members of the construction

industry. The findings of this stage were used to establish a new research direction,

and ensure that the results of the research area would help improve construction

safety.

1.5.2 Literature Review

Literature reviews were carried out to acquire the principal knowledge of the

research topic. The sources involved in the literature reviews were published books,

journals, and conference papers.

1.5.3 Determining the Research Methods

The research methods were determined by the constraints of a tight schedule,

availability information on the research topic, efficiency of programming, and the

time required for collection of data for analysis.

The initial work made the research objectives attainable. The following

methods of investigating the problems are discussed in more detail.

1.5.3.1 Input Stage

The formation of the components of the construction objectives were defined

after questionnaires, interviews, and discussions with workers, then the relationships

between the elements were generated.

7  

1.5.3.2 Design Stage

The main function of the design stage is the automation of safety on a

construction site.

1.5.3.3 Evaluation Stage

In the evaluation and selection stage, the prototyped application was assessed.

1.5.3.4 Output Stage

The final automated prototype was generated.

1.5.4 Cognitive Work Analysis

This section of the research process was explained in chapter 4.

1.5.5 Discussion and Conclusion

The analysis of the results was proof of the feasibility and efficiency of the

proposed program.