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$US500K Awarded to Improve Construction OH&S

Workplace-safetyRMIT University researchers will soon begin investigating ways to improve OH&S in the construction industry after having been awarded $US 500,000 by the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Head of RMIT’s School of Property Construction and Project Management, Professor Ron Wakefield, said the prestigious National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) grant was recognition of the University’s cutting-edge work in the crucial area of construction OH&S.

“Construction is one of Australia’s highest risk industries, with an alarming rate of 7.8 compensated fatalities per 100,000 employees – compared with 2.5 in other industries,” Professor Wakefield said.

Professor Wakefield said that a ‘whole industry’ approach is needed to address the intransigent level of injury, illness and death in construction and OH&S is still not embedded as a consideration throughout the whole construction process.

“Our research aims to identify, examine and evaluate ways to better integrate OHS into project decision-making, throughout the project lifecycle,” Professor Wakefield said.

A team of RMIT researchers will work on the five-year project to:

  • Identify how organisational complexity within projects impacts OH&S;
  • Examine how fragmented supply chains impede the development of a “unity of purpose” relating to OHS in construction project teams; and
  • Evaluate how collaborative project delivery mechanisms and procurement methods can support the integration of OHS during the entire project lifecycle.
  • As the research grant is the result of collaboration between RMIT and the Centre for Innovation in Construction Safety Research at Virginia Tech, research exchanges between the two institutions will be supported throughout the project.

“Collecting data here and in the US will enable international benchmarking, allowing knowledge and good practice in OH&S to be shared between researchers and industry participants in both countries,” Professor Wakefield said.

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