The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries, with a high number of working injuries and fatalities. A special issue for occupational accidents in the construction industry is the use of scaffolds, which is usually attributed to falls from height. Research and practice have demonstrated that decisions made upstream from the construction site can influence construction worker safety. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the risk levels for different construction stages on scaffolding, with various work trades, aiming to prevent the occurrence of fall accidents. The use of new techniques and methodologies, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), is of major importance. The growing implementation of BIM in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is changing the way safety can be approached. This study reviews the existing literature about BIM and construction safety on scaffolding, to explore useful findings and detect knowledge gaps for future research. Despite the enormous evolution of research and technological innovations based on BIM for construction safety, there is still a flagrant lack of knowledge and solutions for identifying hazards related to construction on scaffolding.

Introduction. Problems concerning occupational safety and health are commonly found in the construction industry, including falling materials, tools or people from a height, stepping on objects, and injuries caused by hand tools. An important factor in occupational safety in the construction industry is the use of scaffolds. All scaffolds used in construction, renovation, repair (including isolating, painting and decorating) and demolition, should be erected, maintained and dismantledin accordance with safety procedures. Therefore, it is crucial to deal with the safety of scaffolds and risk assessment in the construction industry; thus, the way of undertaking the assessment and the liability of assessment seems to be essential for professionals. However, it has been found that those professionals are prone to rely heavily on their own experience and knowledge in decision-making regarding risk assessment. Materials and method. The Scaffold Use Risk Assessment Model (SURAM) has been developed for assessing risk levels at various stages of the construction process in various work trades. The SURAM is the result of a research project carried out at 60 construction sites in Poland and Portugal where 504 observations have been completed including both harmful physical and chemical factors, stress level, workers' habits, as well as a hundreds ex-post reconstruction of construction accidents scenarios. Results. It was found that the workers' Health Behaviour Index (HBI) seems to be a more direct predictor for development of the unsafe chain of events leading to an accident than the workload, and concentration of harmful factors at the workplace. Conclusions. The developed HBI module of SURAM seems to be beneficial for predicting high-risk construction activities, and thus preventing the occurrence of accidents, based on a set of historical accident data.

No abstract

No abstract