Critical Review on Safety Management and Maximize Efficiency on Construction Site Management

CRITICAL REVIEW ON SAFETY
MANAGEMENT AND MAXIMIZE
EFFICIENCY ON CONSTRUCTION SITE
MANAGEMENT
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Abstract
This research focuses
on the concepts of
safety management
procedures and how it
must be integrated in
the normal
functioning of the
construction
management system.
For this reason, the
use of safety
management is
strongly been
analyzed in the
construction
management sectors.
Moreover, various
construction firms are
also utilizing the need
for an effective safety
management in the
construction areas.
The aim of the
research paper is to
critically review the
impact of safety
management in
construction sites.
This paper includes a
general discussion
about the associated
literature of the
study. In addition, this
paper also lists the
various
methodological
approaches that will
be utilized for making
an analysis on this
paper. By considering
the valid points of
research, this paper
will critically evaluate
the impact of safety
management
processes on the
construction
management.
Key Words: Safety
management,
efficiency increases,
construction
management, impacts
of safety in
constructional site
INTRODUCTION
In the year 1995, the government of Hong
Kong was responsible in conducting a review
based on industrial safety levels which must
be consisted in the mapping process of Hong
Kong constructional sectors. The main
requirement that was consisted in the review
is that the industries involved in this sector
must utilize their own compliance policies and
self-regulatory policies for checking their own
safety management processes. Additionally,
this review was also based on the requirement
which demonstrated that the need for self-
regulation in the safety procedures must be
done by utilizing a framework for
management. Moreover, the government of
Hong Kong has also developed a safety
management standard system which included
all the fourteen elements of a safety
management system. The promotions
required for such activities included launching
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of pilot based schemes, publishing a project
charter, seminar organizations and safety
management guide development. Due to such
activities, these actions have been included in
the industrial undertakings as the Safety
Management Regulation which has been
passed on 1999. Furthermore, with regards to
the safety management regulations,
contractors involved with the industrial
undertakings must also develop, strategize
and maintain various strategies for safety
management systems which must also include
the key elements of the strategy. Lastly, the
need for auditing and reviewing of the system
is necessary.
This section of the research paper discusses
about the main topic of this paper. Firstly, the
background of the study is included in this
paper. In this section, the discussions
regarding the background of the topic are
included here. Additionally, the paper also
discusses about some statistical data of the
government concerned which will help in
making a solid statement of the literature
concerned. Secondly, this paper includes an
aims and objectives section which is mostly
responsible in assigning the aims and
objectives of the paper. This will be the main
points which will be followed in covering the
topics involved in this study. Thirdly, this paper
also includes some research questions which
will be answered by the analysis to be made.
These questions are in correspondence to the
aims and objectives of this topic. Fourthly, the
problem statement in this section includes a
discussion of the main problems associated to
this topic. In addition, a rationale of the study
has also been presented which denotes the
overview of the topic. Lastly, this section also
includes a summary in this paper which
highlights the main contributions.
Background of the study
In the modern times, the adoption of
constructional management practices are
being utilized which is the main reason for the
increase in constructional sector around the
world. In a similar manner, the use of
technologies for the constructional aspects
along with the use of other related tools and
frameworks have also been changed due to it.
However, the use of various other tools and
techniques has increased the complexity in
the system (Hardin and McCool 2015). The
occurrence of accidents due to the adoption of
such techniques and tools are the main
reason for the utilization of safety
management practices in construction sectors.
According to the safety management policies,
there are 14 elements which must be
considered in considering and abiding with it.
The first element is the employee participation
which ensures that all the employees including
the production and the maintenance staff must
be present in case of any important mandates.
The next step involves the requirement of
processing safety information which requires
manual compilation of the process. The third
element includes processing of hazard
analysis which includes analysis of system
failures. The fourth element requires
companies to process operating risks. The fifth
element involves providing training to the
employees (Mäki and Kerosuo 2015). Sixth
element involves providing information to the
contractors involved so that an analysis of the
hazards faced can be removed. The seventh
element includes the pre-startup safety review
which involves analyzing the safety systems
which in turn will analyze the safety related
concerns present before starting. The eight
elements include checking the mechanical
integrity which is mainly utilized for
inspections. The ninth element involves
acquiring permits for the process. The next
element involved is change management
which is mainly in place for adopting changes
to the system. The eleventh and twelfth
element involves incident investigation and
emergency planning which is concerned with
investigating incidents and planning responses
for the system. The thirteenth element
involved in this process is the requirement for
compliance based audits. This must be
followed by the employees so that a
certification is always in process to denote the
structure. Lastly, protection of trade secrets is
also to be added to the security management
system where companies must protect their
assets in terms of business perspectives.
The count of occurrence of accidents in the
construction sites of Hong Kong has been
elevated despite of the fact that the
construction industry has made many efficient

changes. Although the employment status of
the construction industry can be termed close
to 8%, its accountability to accidents covers
0ne-third of the total number of accidents in
the past many years (Zhan et al. 2018). For
the many number of accidents in the industrial
sectors, the bulk of it is due to the presence of
construction industry. This level of un-
satisfaction in the construction industry of
Hong Kong is termed as a matter of great
concerns which must be addressed by the
government and the associated personnel.
Since the past decades, the utilization of
safety management procedures in the
construction industries by the government
included enforcing the safety ordinances. The
construction industries were supposed to
follow them and address any difficulties
imposed. The associated labor department of
the government was supposed to send safety
inspectors to the site for carrying out
successful analysis and checks (Hong et al.
2015). This type of measurement standards
was effective and addressed all the
possibilities of errors which in turn led to the
industrial heads to address their concerns.
After the year 1995, the government of Hong
Kong implemented a self-regulatory rule for
the industry which led to the adoption of
changes. Inspection was not being done in the
way needed and this in turn led to negligence
in safety management adoptions.
Research aims and objectives
Aims
The aims of this research are to find out the
impact of efficiency increase due to the
adoption of effective safety management
processes in construction sectors. This paper
will also illustrate the deficiencies of
construction management in Hong Kong. This
will help in making a successful adoption of
safety management practices. Furthermore,
the investigation and analysis of safety
management practices will also be included in
this paper. This paper will investigate the need
for safety management in the construction
sector and critically analyze the challenges
faced in the construction sectors. Lastly, this
paper also includes some strategies which can
be used for increasing the efficiency of
construction management and will make an
evaluation of the required safety management
procedures in construction sectors.
Objectives
This section of the chapter discusses about
the main objectives that will be followed by the
analysis made in this paper. This paper has
listed four important objectives that are related
to the study. These objectives will be
considered for completing the analysis
required in this paper.
The first objective is to investigate the
methods of safety management in
construction industry which will help in
determining the current practices involved for
ensuring safety. As the current practices which
are involved in the construction sector of Hong
Kong have been providing risks to the sector,
the need for an efficient practice is necessary.
This will help in reducing the risks and threats
involved in this sector. As a result, the growth
of the industrial sector will also be evident due
to such adoptions.
The second objective is to evaluate the need
for safety management in construction sectors
which will help in knowing the demands of the
sector. Safety is a growing concern in the
industrial sector which must be addressed by
the government of the country involved. Even
the government of Hong Kong is concerned
with the growing needs of addressing safety
management in construction sectors. This
provides the required need for considering the
evaluation of the safety management
necessities in industrial sectors.
The third objective of this paper is critically
analyzing the challenges faced in the
construction sectors so that an efficient
analysis can be made. As the construction
sectors are subjected to various threats and
risks, it poses several challenges. These
challenges are to be mitigated if the
development of an effective safety
management processes can be involved in the
construction sectors. For this reason, the pre-
requisite for considering the challenges and
making a successful analysis is required for
the construction sectors in Hong Kong.
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The fourth objective is recommending
strategies for increasing the efficiency on
safety management in construction sector for
maximizing the efficiency involved. As the
involvement of the construction sectors in the
industries are associated to various threats
and risks, the need for an effective
construction sector strategy is required. This
will improve the efficiency of the system which
in turn will lead to the betterment of the
industrial standards. For this reason, the
increase in the efficiency of the processes are
required which will help in industrial
betterment and even in the lives of the
employers and contractors.
Research questions
The following are the research questions
1. What are the various methods of
safety management that can be used
in construction sectors?
2. Why safety management is required in
construction management sector?
3. What are the challenges faced in the
construction sectors?
4. What are the strategies for increasing
the efficiencies in construction site
management?
Problem statement
This research paper discusses about the
adoption of safety management practices in
the existing construction management
policies. The problems that exist due to the
absence of safety regarding procedures will be
discussed in this paper and analyzed.
The major problems of the construction
industry are that the security and safety
parameters are not being solved. This leads to
a necessity for acquiring these in the
construction sites of Hong Kong. In addition,
the presence of negligence from the
government towards the construction industry
is also another problem.
Rationale
This study will discuss the need for increasing
the efficiency of the construction management
practices. This in turn will lead to effective
increase in the business related aspects. In
addition, this research paper will also identify
the needs of safety management practices
through the analysis made on this paper. This
paper will show the effectiveness of safety
management aspects in the construction sites
of Hong Kong. Moreover, the associated
stakeholders of the construction industry in
Hong Kong will also follow the set standards of
safety management.
Summary
This section of the research paper includes a
discussion of the main adoptions of this paper.
The research background has successfully
made an impact which will be utilized for
considering the analysis regarding
construction management to be done on this
paper. The various aims and objectives have
also been discussed in this paper. This paper
also lists a rationale which will be considered
while making the analysis needed for
construction sites.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This section of the research paper includes
the relevant discussion of the associated
literature of this context. The various topics
related to the paper will be analyzed
successfully in this section of the paper.
Construction management
The concept of construction management
utilizes the main techniques of managing a
project from the start to the finish. The sole
adoption of this concept is basically utilized in
the constructional industry (Mäki and Kerosuo
2015). In addition, the various construction
industry professionals, engineers, and
architects are mainly utilizing the concepts of
the construction management. There is a very
high rate of accidents in the construction
industry despite of the fact that there are major
improvements accepted in that sector. This
presents a pre-requisite for accepting various
other improvement based standards which
must be able to resolve the accidents based
activities included in the construction based
projects. As commented by Li et al. (2015),
there is much risk involved in any kind of
construction based activities especially the
ones which involve performing tasks on
heights. In the year 2006, the involvement of

workers on heights was responsible in
claiming the lives of 10 people. However,
although there are various involvements of
safety based training which are given to the
workers and labors before starting their job,
the involvement of new conditions in the job
location can lead to various other problems.
As clarified by Sousa, Almeida and Dias
(2014), these conditions include unsafe
behavioral problems and unsafe conditions
which can lead to the presence of various
problems. The study presented in this paper
will be aimed towards the betterment of the
safety based activities on the constructional
projects such that they can be properly
mitigated.
The utilization of construction management
concepts includes planning, coordinating and
controlling the project progress from the
beginning to the completion of the project. As
commented by Zhou, Goh and Li (2015), the
utilization of construction management is
mainly aimed at survey the needs of the
clients involved for the production of a
financially efficient project scope.
The first step involved here is analyzing the
market demands of the project. This will helps
in defining the scope and objectives of the
project. The next step involved is conceptual
planning which helps in gathering a
preliminary design of the project. The third
step involved is design and engineering
systems which specifies the construction
based plans. As explained by Chan et al.
(2014), the fourth step involved is the
procurements and construction based
activities. This is accompanied by the
completion of the construction phase. The fifth
step involved in the construction management
plan is increase in the occupancy rate. These
results in the facilities and the employees
responsible to utilize the services made. The
next step involved is adoption of operations
and maintenance sections in the project. As
commented by Ju and Rowlinson (2014), this
helps in addressing to the effective life of the
project and also helps it to stay active for a
long time. The last step involved is the
disposal of the facility which denotes the
closing phase.
Resource management
The resources that are required in any case of
constructional activities involve allotting and
managing them. This helps in utilizing the
required resources such that the risks and
threats involved in the area are removed. This
also helps in giving a general idea of the
requirements of the site. As a result, the need
to manage the resources in hand is also a pre-
requisite which is involved in this case. The
resource management processes involves
using planning and designing the parameters
involved. In case of planning stage, the
various parameters are analyzed and
estimated before the commencement of the
project.
The design stage involved in case of a
construction project consists of various steps.
These include feasibility and programming,
schematic design concepts, development of
the design and contractual documents. The
personnel responsible for these constructional
design phases must see that each and every
parameter are met and abided with the project
goals and objectives. In addition, the codes
and regulations related to must be met. The
feasibility and programming processes
involves setting up the goals and objectives so
that the general idea of allotting building sizes
and room spaces will be considered. As
discussed by Li et al. (2015), this is mainly
done to commence with the building of the
project. The schematic design considerations
consists of various sketches which will help in
identifying the spaces and patterns involved.
In addition to it, the colors and the material
sizes are also to be considered. Furthermore,
the design development phase involves
investigating and researching about the
various materials that will be used and its
associated costs. Lastly, the contract
documents are the final considerations which
will be signed by both parties. This will be
considered while opting for the project. The
objectives specified in the contracting
document will be followed while constructing
the project.
The next stage involved in the construction
management of Hong Kong is procurement
phase. In this stage, all the associated
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resources which will be required for a project
are to be purchased. As proposed by Zhang et
al. (2017), in case a company has their own
contractors, the project is successfully
commended while in case of the absence of
the general contractor, the sub-contractors are
contacted for commencement of the project
activities. These sub-contractors can be
considered as those personnel who specialize
in only one part of the job. After considering a
contractor or sub-contractor, a purchase order
is given which denotes the requirement for
purchasing the materials needed. As stated by
Li, Fong and Chan (2015), the construction
phase commences with a pre-construction
survey which is usually commenced with the
help of higher officials. In this phase, the
various resources to be required and the
timeline to be set are discussed. Moreover,
the budget related to the project is also to be
discussed in this stage.
For making a constructional project, the role of
a contractor is very essential who is assigned
to the project either by low-bid selection
technique, best-value selection technique or
the qualification based selection technique.
Risk management
In the year 2001, the Construction Industry
Review Committee (CIRC) which was
appointed by the Chief Executive of the
administrative region of Hong Kong, gave
emphasis regarding the need for safety
measurements on the site. This is to be
shared among the employers, regulators and
the employees. In addition, for achieving
better safety management aspects in the
constructional project, the need to indentify the
threats and hazards related to it and mitigate
them for survey the set criteria. As explained
by Arslan et al. (2017), the utilization of such
concepts must be started from the project
commencement which comprises of the
planning phase. The regulations involved in
this process are to be followed for achieving
the set objectives of the project. Moreover, the
stakeholders related to the project including
the designers, clients and the contractors must
play a beneficial role in contributing towards
the reduction of safety based risks among all
the stages of the project cycle.
According to Seo et al. (2015), the objectives
of the risk management principles in the
constructional sectors are to identify the
hazards and threats associated to the safety
and the health related assets. As commented
by Ding et al. (2014), this is also associated
with the identification of the effective mitigation
strategies which can help in reducing them.
The next objective of the construction sectors
is to provide information sharing among the
various associated stakeholders such that a
co-operation and effective decision making
can be adopted. The third objective involved is
to clearly divide the necessary rules and
responsibilities among the associated
personnel responsible for the project which will
help in reducing any risks and threats
persistent due to it. As a result, the
involvement of risks based mitigation
strategies will be emphasized on the system
such that the risks on the constructional sites
will be reduced.
Based on the government of Hong Kong, the
OSH Ordinance is responsible for protecting
the health and safety of the labors and
workers associated to the constructional
sectors. These are also associated with
reducing the risks involved in the sites. As
stated by Verma and Verma (2017), another
involvement from the legislation is the
Industrial Undertakings Ordinance which is
also in place to protect the health and safety
associated to the people involved. According
to Ahn et al. (2015), the safety regulations
involved in the constructional based works are
mainly involved in undertaking the safety
based systems in the activities associated.
There are various other regulations which are
listed under these ordinances. These are:
1. Factories and Industrial Undertakings
Ordinance (Chapter 59)
2. Construction Sites (Safety)
Regulations
3. Factories and Industrial Undertakings
Regulations
4. Factories and Industrial Undertakings
(Asbestos) Regulations
5. Factories and Industrial Undertakings
(Asbestos) Special Regulations
6. Factories and Industrial Undertakings
(Abrasive Wheel) Regulations