Owner’s Role in Construction Safety: Guidance Model

Abstract

The practices implemented by owners that were associated with better project safety performances were described in a companion paper. This paper will expand on those research findings and present a model that evaluates the impact of different owner practices on project safety performance. Four indices were established which quantitatively describe the project characteristics, the selection of safe contractors, the contractual safety requirements, and the owner’s participation in safety management. Analysis of variance and linear regression were conducted to evaluate the combined effects of different owner practices on project safety performance as measured by the total recordable injury rate (TRIR). Results show that project safety performances were closely associated with all the indices except the index to describe the selection of safe contractors. The linear regression model explained 42.6% of the total variance of the TRIR. A scorecard to evaluate the owner’s involvement in construction safety was developed to serve as a practical means of conducting an assessment and predicting project safety performance. The owner’s involvement can favorably influence project safety performance by setting safety objectives, selecting safe contractors, and participating in safety management during construction.