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Zero-Risk Interpretation in the Level of Preventive Action Method Implementation for Health and Safety in Construction Sites

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  • Antonio José Carpio-de los Pinos

    (Department of Applied Mechanics and Project Engineering, School of Industrial and Aerospace Engineering of Toledo, University of Castilla La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain)

  • María de las Nieves González-García

    (Departamento Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Escuela Técnica Superior de Edificación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Ligia Cristina Pentelhão

    (Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics, LAETA (PROA), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • J. Santos Baptista

    (Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics, LAETA (PROA), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

Risk assessment is a legal obligation for all companies in most countries worldwide. It aims to control the quality of working conditions and avoid externalizing the consequences of accidents and resulting costs to society. This work discusses the need for an adequate interpretation of the zero-risk concept from a technical-preventive perspective to assess occupational risks in construction sites. A critical analysis of several risk assessment methodologies was carried out, focusing on the evaluation criteria of little or no-risk situations. The verification of the results was made through a case study. The perception of health and safety risks by workers is very different from that of the evaluators. Often, when workers identify a situation as low-risk or even zero-risk, the evaluator assesses the same context as maximum risk. Given the workers’ and the evaluators’ responses, the Preventive Action Method establishes a new parameter, the Environment Congruence. This parameter is based on the perception of the preventive environment and gives more importance to the evaluators’ decision. When preventive action is optimal, the risk is low in all preventive observation settings. In conclusion, this study justifies the non-nullity of the risk and the difficulty of assessing zero-risk in construction sites. Therefore, evaluations with qualitative and quantitative non-risk approaches should be discarded.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio José Carpio-de los Pinos & María de las Nieves González-García & Ligia Cristina Pentelhão & J. Santos Baptista, 2021. "Zero-Risk Interpretation in the Level of Preventive Action Method Implementation for Health and Safety in Construction Sites," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-23, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3534-:d:526099
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Antonio José Carpio-de los Pinos & María de las Nieves González-García, 2020. "Development of the Protocol of the Occupational Risk Assessment Method for Construction Works: Level of Preventive Action," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-33, September.
    2. Kristina Eliasson & Peter Palm & Catarina Nordander & Gunilla Dahlgren & Charlotte Lewis & Therese Hellman & Magnus Svartengren & Teresia Nyman, 2020. "Study Protocol for a Qualitative Research Project Exploring an Occupational Health Surveillance Model for Workers Exposed to Hand-Intensive Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Zhen Lei & Wenzhe Tang & Colin F. Duffield & Lihai Zhang & Felix Kin Peng Hui & Richun You, 2018. "Qualitative Analysis of the Occupational Health and Safety Performance of Chinese International Construction Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Xiaoyan Jiang & Sai Wang & Jie Wang & Sainan Lyu & Martin Skitmore, 2020. "A Decision Method for Construction Safety Risk Management Based on Ontology and Improved CBR: Example of a Subway Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-23, June.
    5. Irene Houtman & Marianne van Zwieten & Stavroula Leka & Aditya Jain & Ernest de Vroome, 2020. "Social Dialogue and Psychosocial Risk Management: Added Value of Manager and Employee Representative Agreement in Risk Perception and Awareness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Yuzhong Shen & Chuanjing Ju & Tas Yong Koh & Steve Rowlinson & Adrian J. Bridge, 2017. "The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Matthew R. Hallowell & Siddharth Bhandari & Wael Alruqi, 2020. "Methods of safety prediction: analysis and integration of risk assessment, leading indicators, precursor analysis, and safety climate," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 308-321, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mostafa Namian & Mohammadsoroush Tafazzoli & Ahmed Jalil Al-Bayati & Sharareh Kermanshachi, 2022. "Are Construction Managers from Mars and Workers from Venus? Exploring Differences in Construction Safety Perception of Two Key Field Stakeholders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Antonio José Carpio de los Pinos & María de las Nieves González García & José Antonio Soriano & Benito Yáñez Araque, 2021. "Development of the Level of Preventive Action Method by Observation of the Characteristic Value for the Assessment of Occupational Risks on Construction Sites," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-27, August.

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