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How did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site.
Selleck, R.; Cattani, M.; Hassall, M. How Did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety Performance on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site. Safety2022, 8, 77.
Selleck, R.; Cattani, M.; Hassall, M. How Did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety Performance on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site. Safety 2022, 8, 77.
Selleck, R.; Cattani, M.; Hassall, M. How Did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety Performance on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site. Safety2022, 8, 77.
Selleck, R.; Cattani, M.; Hassall, M. How Did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety Performance on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site. Safety 2022, 8, 77.
Abstract
COVID-19 had a significant impact on construction projects due to labor shortages and COVID-19 restrictions, yet little is known about the impact it had on construction safety. To address this gap, an Australian construction project was selected to study the impact of COVID-19 on safety performance, safety climate and safety leadership. The study collected data from safety climate surveys, leading and lagging safety indicators and used linear regression to compare safety performance pre and post the onset of COVID-19. Our results showed after the onset of COVID-19 there was a significant reduction (Pr>F at 0.05%) in incident rate, an improvement in supervisor safety leadership and safety climate, and satisfaction with organisational communication. The study identified the increase level of safety awareness due to COVID-19 did not result in an increase in the level of engagement in safety leadership. Interestingly, participation in the safety leadership activities did not improve until a change of Project Manager occurred. The study determined leaders who establish a positive safety climate within a project could negate the safety performance impact of COVID-19. The study confirms the importance of site safety leadership in maintaining engagement in risk management and the value of focused safety communication.
Engineering, Architecture, Building and Construction
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
