Development of a New Technique for Safety Risk Assessment in Construction Projects Based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

This study follows the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to develop a semiquantitative technique to assess the safety risk of construction projects based on effective parameters affecting the probability and severity rates. Various studies targeting safety risk assessment in construction projects together with their research characteristics were investigated. In the second step, the initial structure of risk assessment was designed based on a semiquantitative technique of safety risk assessment. In the third step, a three-round Delphi method was employed, and an expert panel comprising 41 project managers and senior authorities of construction projects determined the existing components of the two factors of risk probability and severity. Finally, the weights of the components of risk probability and severity were determined so that their roles in determining the level of final risk could be specified. The normalized weights of probability and severity factors for calculating the semiquantitative safety were 0.48296 and 0.51704, respectively. Moreover, the incident probability factor included the four components of technical inspection, human reliability, incident learning, and hazard detection, with the following weights, respectively: 0.303, 0.364, 0.088, and 0.245. The incident severity factor included the four components of human injury, financial loss, operational interruption, and reputation damage, with the following weights, respectively: 0.369, 0.233, 0.191, and 0.207. The utilization of this technique can help reduce the risk of occupational incidents in construction projects.