10th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction - Gramado, Brazil - 2002

Working Near the Edge: A New Approach to Construction Safety

Gregory A. Howell1, Glenn Ballard2, Tariq S. Abdelhamid3 & Panagiotis Mitropoulos4

1Executive Director, Lean Construction Institute, Box 1003, Ketchum, ID 83340. 208/726-9989. [email protected]
2Research Director, Lean Construction Institute, 4536 Fieldbrook, Oakland Ca. 510/530- 8656. [email protected]
3Assistant Professor, 207 Farrall Hall, Construction Management Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1323. [email protected]
4Ph.D., Process Improvement Coordinator, Menlo Park, CA, 94025. [email protected]

Abstract

Construction safety has substantially improved, but has reached a plateau. Further improvement will come from spreading Best Practice throughout the industry, or from Breakthrough that transcends Best Practice. We are working on Breakthrough and propose that what is needed is a new theory of accidents. Current Best Practice is described along with its underlying theoretical assumptions. An alternative theory is proposed, based on the work of Jens Rasmussen, a leading thinker on risk management in dynamic environments. A research program is proposed to test that theory and to develop a new approach to safety management.

Keywords

Accident, accident theory, decision making, hazard, risk, safety

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Reference

Howell, G. A. , Ballard, G. , Abdelhamid, T. S. & Mitropoulos, P. 2002. Working Near the Edge: A New Approach to Construction Safety, 10th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 49-60. doi.org/

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Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

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