Mega Infrastructure Construction Safety Issues Intelligent Management.

What is it about?

Bangladesh Institute of Labour reported that construction is the most dangerous industry in terms of health and safety at work. Safety issues have a large impact on the budget, schedule, and project's quality. The ILO estimated that the construction sector in industrialized countries employs between 6% to 10% of the workforce but accounts for between 25% to 40% of work-related deaths. Since the safe work procedures are not integrated, safety concerns are almost entirely ignored in construction projects both in public and private sector. Only projects funded by international financial authorities, such as the World Bank, ADB, JICA, and others, have effective requirements or guidelines regarding safety. In this study a particular task of Jamuna Railway Bridge Construction is considered as the case study to assess the risk and effect of prevention measures on it. In the project, due to an accident during Pier construction, the authority carried out underwater MS plate installation and welding work in the damaged steel cofferdam. Prior to repair activities, method of statement was prepared with risk assessment and its control measures for comparatively safe work. The Hazards and severity of each component were identified and Risk assessments were performed. Based on the well-established methodology, the probability and severity levels are determined to calculate the Risk Factor. It is observed that for the reported activities the probability scores are varied from 2 to 4, whereas the severity varies from 3 to 5 (5 for most of the activities). Thus, the calculated risk score was found to be varied from 9 to 20, which is under the category of high -risk level. Severity of hazard can not be changed but probability can be minimized imposing the prevention measures. Therefore, before implementing the work, precaution measures are imposed, and its reflection in minimizing the Risk Factor are calculated. It is found that the probability scores are reduced to 1 for most of the cases with a highest value of 2 in some. Therefore, the risk scores were reduced and found to be varied from 2 to 6 (only one activity still has a score of 10), which is under the category of low risk level. Workers may not be aware of potential hazards or may not have the skills necessary to effectively mitigate risks if they are not properly trained or if training is not updated on a regular basis. Therefore, Construction projects must be designed with proper risk management plan quantifying the probable hazard and severity for each of the activities and implement accordingly.

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Why is it important?

The proposed study will advance our knowledge of how particular risk appear in the context of construction in Bangladesh and it will shed light on how organizational, environmental and human factors interact to affect safety. The findings of the study will guide the development of national and organizational policies that are appropriate for the specific needs of the construction industry. Moreover, the proposed study results have the potential to immediately impact the adoption of efficient safety protocols, lowering the number of fatalities and injuries sustained during dangerous construction operations. The study would also be useful for policymakers to identify weakness in the safety laws and enforcement system in place, which will aid the initiative to improve the legislative frameworks for OHS in the construction industry.