Managing safety in the construction industry
In Summary
The construction and engineering industry is known for being an unsafe industry in which to work; it provides employment for about seven per cent of the world’s workforce, but accounts for 30-40 per cent of work-based fatalities.
Despite improvements in safety performance in the industry, injuries and fatalities still occur frequently.
To address this, Professor Patrick Zou from Swinburne University of Technology and Dr Riza Sunindijo from the University of New South Wales have written a research-based book, Strategic Safety Management in Construction and Engineering, launched last week at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus.
The book takes a broad view of safety from a strategic decision making and management perspective, with a focus on the need to integrate the science of safety management with the art of safety management.
The principles covered include the economics of safety, safety climate and culture, skills for safety, safety training and learning, safety in design, risk management, building information modelling, and safety research methods and the research-practice nexus.
These are integrated into a strategic safety management framework which comprises strategy development, implementation and evaluation.
Techniques are included to apply the principles in the context of construction and engineering industry and projects, while case studies demonstrate the principles and techniques in practice.
“This book is suitable for a wide audience,” Swinburne Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Professor John Wilson, said.
“It provides good strategy advice for the boardroom through to practical recommendations for site operations.”
Mr John Morrison, Director of Frontline Coach, specialists in safety, accident and rework prevention, said: “There is a lot of safety training out there, but the question is how much learning is going on? This book is a vehicle to open up discussion around safety learning; it is an important anchor for our industry going forward.”
Published by John Wiley & Sons, the recommended retail price for Strategic Safety Management in Construction and Engineering is $167.95.
It is available from the Swinburne bookshop for the special launch price of $120.00.
Interested in studying engineering at Swinburne? Find out more on our website.