Model for enhancing integrated identification, assessment, and operational control of on-site environmental impacts and health and safety risks in construction firms

Abstract

Certifiable management-system standards apply similar management techniques and principles, but each system still tends to have a separate structure in construction companies. Research and practice have demonstrated that management tasks may be duplicated when standards are implemented in parallel. Consequently, integrated management systems are strongly advocated. However, existing literature demonstrates that the integration of planning and control instruments involves a high level of uncertainty. This paper presents an innovative model to enhance the integration of environmental- and health and safety – management systems in construction companies, focusing on the subsystems for identifying, assessing, and operationally controlling environmental aspects and health and safety hazards and using risk as an integrating factor. The findings of this study have direct implications for both designers and contractors because the model helps to explicitly consider on-site environmental impacts and construction-worker safety during the design process and offers on-site guidance to eliminate the remaining impacts and risks or reduce them to acceptable levels. A case study is reported to illustrate the practical use of the proposed model and its benefits.