Findings from the Analysis of Incident-Reporting Systems of Construction Companies

Abstract

Incident reporting systems (IRSs) are well-known for producing proactive information for safety management. However, there is little guidance on how the analysis of IRSs can provide feedback for improving those systems. Thus, the question addressed in the research reported in this paper is stated as, how can the analysis of IRSs support the identification of opportunities for improving their design? Case studies were carried out in the IRSs of three construction companies. A qualitative analysis of the IRSs was made, based on semistructured interviews, participant observation, direct observation in construction sites, and analysis of documents. A quantitative analysis was made of 946 incidents reported in 16 construction sites. Those events were classified according to types, severity, duration of latent conditions, and number of reports per reporter. The contribution of the research reported in this paper is three-fold, as follows: (1) there were lessons learned from the analysis of IRSs, indicating how existing data could be explored further; (2) based on those lessons, a set of guidelines for the design of IRSs was produced; and (3) quantitative analysis of incident reports was a contribution in itself, given the scarcity of empirical studies about predecessor events of accidents. The findings are expected to be useful for those designing and operating IRSs in the construction industry.