Assessment of safety management information systems for general contractors
Introduction
Safety is a critical measure for successful construction projects, and general contractors are vigorously utilizing safety management information systems (SMIS) to effectively improve their safety performance. However, there has been no systematic and quantitative effort to evaluate comprehensive appropriateness of SMIS for construction organizations. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology that evaluates SMIS for general contractors mainly in terms of managerial effectiveness. This paper consists of two phases where the first part is a development of the methodology and the second part is a test of this methodology by using a case-company.
Characteristics and variables of safety management assessments were investigated first in this paper. The major variables for evaluating safety control tasks include the ‘importance within a safety management procedure’, ‘importance as a consequential impact’, ‘frequency of occurrence’, ‘user satisfaction’ and so forth. Several assessment techniques using a set of questionnaires and a series of workshops were developed. A single index system measuring safety management performance of construction projects was also proposed for practical application.
By applying the proposed methodology to a case-company, the safety management tasks were classified and listed under a hierarchy, and each task was evaluated based on the pre-defined variables. ‘As-is’ as well as ‘to-be’ systems were separately analyzed so as to clearly identify the areas to be improved. Details and implications of the case are outlined. Practical issues and lessons learned are briefly discussed as well.
For the purpose of clarifying the research objectives and identifying issues to be addressed in this study, research questions can be described as follows: (1) What are the most ‘important safety tasks’ those can enhance the overall safety performance of an organization with optimized managerial effort? (2) How can the head office safety experts or managers ‘monitor and support each project’, in terms of safety control, according to priority? Is there any indicator for this priority? (3) How can an organization develop ‘safety management information systems’ in order to meet these requirements?
Section snippets
Integrated perspective of safety management systems
The general role of information systems (IS) has changed in organizations. The traditional role of IS had been to support business functions by replacing labor-intensive transactions. However, as the use of information systems has become widespread and deeply integrated with business processes, the role has expanded to include support for or even shaping of corporate strategy (Bakos and Treacy, 1986, Jung and Gibson, 1999, Jung et al., 2004). Therefore, the assessment process of safety
Safety management information systems assessment
Assessing information systems for an organization requires comprehensive measures including “corporate strategy, management, computer systems, information technology, and incremental investment” (Jung and Gibson, 1999) as described in Table 1. However, the information systems assessment (ISA) for SMIS in this study is a process from a ‘business function-level perspective’. In order to clarify the research scope, it is assumed that the ‘corporate-level issues’ of ISA such as ‘strategic fit’,
Case-study
In order to examine the viability, the measures and methodology proposed in this study was applied to a case-company, which is one of the largest general contractors in South Korea. A series of workshops and a set of questionnaires were used in 2005 to gather the data from the head office and job sites.
The participants in this case include the researchers as a consultant and a facilitator, the head office safety managers as the appraiser, information systems managers as the informant, and job
Conclusions
An assessment methodology for safety management information systems (SMIS) proposed in this study has been proved to be effective enough to provide a construction organization with meaningful insights for identifying improvement areas with priority. The authors feel that the proposed methodology is also universally applicable to any organizations in the construction industry including owners, construction managers, engineers, or contractors regardless of their size or discipline. This universal
Acknowledgements
This study is part of a research project supported by GS Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. Special thanks go out to Mr. Seongyeol Cho, Mr. Youngsuk Ryu, Dr. Chan-Jeong Park, Dr. Heewon Chung, and many other managers of GS Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd., for their participations and comments throughout several workshops and interviews.
References (16)
Technology planning frameworks to guide national IT policy in construction
Automation in Construction
(1995)- et al.
Integration of virtually real construction model and design-for-safety-process database
Automation in Construction
(2002) - et al.
Information technology and corporate strategy: a research perspective
MIS Quarterly
(1986) - et al.
Incident causation model for improving feedback of safety knowledge
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
(2004) - Go, S.-S., Song, H., Lee, H.-M., Lee, H.-C., 2005. Hazard evaluation of work types for building construction. In:...
- et al.
Capturing safety knowledge using design-for-safety-process tool
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
(2004) - et al.
Planning for computer integrated construction
Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE
(1999) - et al.
Informatization index for the construction industry
Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE
(2004)
Cited by (20)
Safety informatics as a new, promising and sustainable area of safety science in the information age
2020, Journal of Cleaner ProductionCitation Excerpt :In recent years, the academic sector has extensively carried out universal safety information management (Gielen et al., 2009), as well as management on various specific types of safety information, such as emergency information (Yao and Hu, 2016), accident information (Lind and Kivistö-Rahnasto, 2008), error information which may lead to accidents or disasters (Li, 2013), occupational safety information (Keller and Cunningham, 2016), chemical (process) safety information (Aziz et al., 2014), traffic safety information (Abdi and Meddeb, 2017), food safety information (Peng et al., 2009), and patient safety information (Sheikhtaheri et al., 2013). In addition, safety management information or data systems as effective tools for managing safety information have been extensively studied and applied in safety management (Jung et al., 2008). In recent years, due to the rapid growth of data, big data has become a hot buzzword in various disciplines.
Fuzzy probabilistic expert system for occupational hazard assessment in construction
2017, Safety ScienceCitation Excerpt :It is also clear that the most effective approach to improving safety performance is to avoid accidents and reduce uncertainty before accidents happen (Cooke, 1997; Gambatese et al., 2008). Hence, assessment of safety related risks is the foundation in which safety management is built upon, and therefore, risk assessment is considered an essential component of safety management systems (Langford et al., 2000; Pheng and Shiua, 2000; Cheng et al., 2004; Jung et al., 2008). In this regard, it is noteworthy that Haslam et al. examined 100 incidents in the construction industry and recognized that the lack of proper risk management processes is one of the hidden factors in this field.
Is it possible to influence safety in the building sector?. A literature review extending from 1980 until the present
2012, Safety ScienceCitation Excerpt :Other examples come from the United States and Denmark where researchers point to the positive role that stakeholders, and specifically clients, can play in ensuring that safety is observed during by contractors construction (Huang and Hinze, 2006; Spangenberg, 2010). In Korean and Southeast Asian research the emphasis is more on the quality of information systems and the impact this has on design aspects (Jung et al., 2008; Benjaoran and Bhokha, 2010), or upon safety training and awareness (Jaselskis et al., 2008; Teo et al., 2005; Tam et al., 2004). This focus on the training, competence and awareness of construction workers, supervisors, foremen and the broader ‘management support’ team is a recurring topic in a number of studies (Abdelhamid and Everett, 2000; Aksorn and Hadikusumo, 2008; Baradan et al., 2006; Carter and Smith, 2006; Kines et al., 2010; Lipscomb et al., 2000; Paas and Swuste, 2006).
Risk analysis and assessment methodologies in the work sites: On a review, classification and comparative study of the scientific literature of the period 2000-2009
2011, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process IndustriesBuilding information modelling (BIM) framework for practical implementation
2011, Automation in ConstructionCitation Excerpt :Again, the perspective (P0) variable characterizes distinct information systems requirements. Different levels of perspectives also require different information systems assessment (ISA) criteria [16,18,19]. Business functions (F0) well represent the distinct IS requirements of the construction industry [17] and clarify the roles shared by organizations under different project delivery systems (PDS) over the entire project life cycle (PLC) [16,17].
Developing a risk assessment model for construction safety
2010, International Journal of Project Management