Identification, Quantification, and Classification of Potential Safety Risk for Sustainable Construction in the United States

Abstract

Sustainability is a balanced approach that puts equal focus on the environment, economy, and society. Research suggests that worker health and safety is an integral dimension of social sustainability. The present research contributes to the body of knowledge by assessing, quantifying, and classifying occupational health and safety (OHS) risk associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of sustainable projects across the United States construction industry and compares it with OHS risk encountered on nonsustainable counterpart projects. The researchers conducted a credit-by-credit review of the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) rating system to evaluate the potential positive or negative impact of green design elements and construction practices associated with the implementation of LEED credits on the OHS of construction and maintenance workers. The researchers also quantified OHS risk associated with LEED credits on 41 green projects distributed across the United States. The results show that even though a large number of LEED credits are neutral toward OHS, sustainable construction represented by LEED projects is associated with an increase in base-level safety risk. Finally, a risk model was integrated into a risk plane analysis to classify safety risk associated with each of the LEED credits. The risk classification analyses indicate that two credits are associated with unacceptable risk to OHS across the United States construction industry. It is expected that the findings from this research will benefit safety professionals, academics, designers, and all construction stakeholders by providing evidence of how their chosen sustainable designs may impact OHS on building projects.