CII ‘Hidden Gems’ Safety Week Series: A Dive into CII’s Transformational Safety Practices
The Construction Industry Institute (CII) has released several pivotal reports that offer valuable insights and actionable strategies to enhance safety across construction sites. The reports cover a spectrum of topics, such as leading indicators, precursor analysis, hazard recognition, safety practices, and more. Here’s a breakdown of the key findings and recommendations from each report to help integrate the insights into your safety protocols.
Leading Indicators:
Measuring Safety Performance with Active Safety Leading Indicators (RS284-1)
The report underscores the importance of proactive safety measures. While traditional safety measurements have relied heavily on lagging indicators, such as the number of incidents, the research findings shift the focus towards active safety leading indicators, designed to predict and prevent incidents before they occur. By tracking passive and active leading indicators, organizations should evaluate its current safety program, select leading indicators that complement existing strategies, and carefully add new leading indicators that integrate well into the organizational culture.
Precursor Analysis:
Precursors of High-Impact, Low-Frequency Events, Including Fatalities (RS321-1)
High-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events, while rare, can lead to catastrophic outcomes, including fatalities. The report delves into the precursors to high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events, offering a precursor analysis protocol for correctly predicting the occurrence of HILF events with significantly better than random frequency. The key takeaway is implementing a robust monitoring protocol that flags minor deviations, which seem insignificant but can escalate into high-impact severe events.
Hazard Recognition:
Strategies for Improving Hazard Recognition (RS293-1)
Effective hazard recognition is a core competency for all other safety processes. CII’s research has alarmingly shown that workers do often not identify more than half of hazards. As a result, three transformative strategies and practical hands-on tools are recommended to enhance workers' ability to identify and respond to potential hazards. These include training programs that simulate real-life scenarios, the use of visual aids like signage and color-coded barriers, and the adoption of technology such as augmented reality to highlight potential danger zones on a jobsite.
Safety Practices:
Using Near Miss Reporting to Enhance Safety Performance (RS301-1)
Near misses, which are often overlooked, can provide critical information about construction safety and health. The report proposes a near-miss reporting system that helps companies identify patterns and leading indicators and intervene before an accident occurs.
Targeted Safety Programs (RS216-1)
Target safety programs are techniques or approaches employed to reduce or eliminate specific types of hazards. The programs are generally implemented by firms that are proactive about construction safety. To pursue the zero-injury objective, CII highlights the procedures to ensure the successful development, implementation, and management of target safety programs that have effectively been implemented on commercial and industrial projects.
Safety Plus:
Making Zero Accidents a Reality: Focus on Shutdowns, Turnarounds, and Outages (RS160-1)
The visionary report provides a roadmap to achieving zero accidents on construction sites. The report emphasizes there is no simple or singular solution to achieving zero injuries, and is particularly focused on the periods of shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages. It identifies the intervals as high-risk phases that require special attention. There is also no single practice that makes a tremendous difference in safety performance in the absence of other safety practices. Excellent safety performance is achieved through applying practices that are effective, whether on large projects or on shutdown projects.
Conclusion
CII’s reports offer invaluable insights and practical strategies that can transform safety practices within the construction industry. As we observe Construction Safety Week, remember that safety is not just a protocol—it’s our responsibility. It is critical to commit to integrating these transformational practices into daily operations, not just to comply with regulations but to protect the safety, health, and well-being of every individual on the jobsite.
CII’s ‘Hidden Gems’ Safety Week Series for Construction Safety Week 2024 is endorsed by CII’s Safety Community for Business Advancement (CBA).
Please contact Robert Wible at CII (Robert.wible@cii.utexas.edu) if you are interested in becoming a member or attending an upcoming Safety CBA meeting.
Leading Indicators:
Measuring Safety Performance with Active Safety Leading Indicators (RS284-1)
The report underscores the importance of proactive safety measures. While traditional safety measurements have relied heavily on lagging indicators, such as the number of incidents, the research findings shift the focus towards active safety leading indicators, designed to predict and prevent incidents before they occur. By tracking passive and active leading indicators, organizations should evaluate its current safety program, select leading indicators that complement existing strategies, and carefully add new leading indicators that integrate well into the organizational culture.
Precursor Analysis:
Precursors of High-Impact, Low-Frequency Events, Including Fatalities (RS321-1)
High-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events, while rare, can lead to catastrophic outcomes, including fatalities. The report delves into the precursors to high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events, offering a precursor analysis protocol for correctly predicting the occurrence of HILF events with significantly better than random frequency. The key takeaway is implementing a robust monitoring protocol that flags minor deviations, which seem insignificant but can escalate into high-impact severe events.
Hazard Recognition:
Strategies for Improving Hazard Recognition (RS293-1)
Effective hazard recognition is a core competency for all other safety processes. CII’s research has alarmingly shown that workers do often not identify more than half of hazards. As a result, three transformative strategies and practical hands-on tools are recommended to enhance workers' ability to identify and respond to potential hazards. These include training programs that simulate real-life scenarios, the use of visual aids like signage and color-coded barriers, and the adoption of technology such as augmented reality to highlight potential danger zones on a jobsite.
Safety Practices:
Using Near Miss Reporting to Enhance Safety Performance (RS301-1)
Near misses, which are often overlooked, can provide critical information about construction safety and health. The report proposes a near-miss reporting system that helps companies identify patterns and leading indicators and intervene before an accident occurs.
Targeted Safety Programs (RS216-1)
Target safety programs are techniques or approaches employed to reduce or eliminate specific types of hazards. The programs are generally implemented by firms that are proactive about construction safety. To pursue the zero-injury objective, CII highlights the procedures to ensure the successful development, implementation, and management of target safety programs that have effectively been implemented on commercial and industrial projects.
Safety Plus:
Making Zero Accidents a Reality: Focus on Shutdowns, Turnarounds, and Outages (RS160-1)
The visionary report provides a roadmap to achieving zero accidents on construction sites. The report emphasizes there is no simple or singular solution to achieving zero injuries, and is particularly focused on the periods of shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages. It identifies the intervals as high-risk phases that require special attention. There is also no single practice that makes a tremendous difference in safety performance in the absence of other safety practices. Excellent safety performance is achieved through applying practices that are effective, whether on large projects or on shutdown projects.
Conclusion
CII’s reports offer invaluable insights and practical strategies that can transform safety practices within the construction industry. As we observe Construction Safety Week, remember that safety is not just a protocol—it’s our responsibility. It is critical to commit to integrating these transformational practices into daily operations, not just to comply with regulations but to protect the safety, health, and well-being of every individual on the jobsite.
CII’s ‘Hidden Gems’ Safety Week Series for Construction Safety Week 2024 is endorsed by CII’s Safety Community for Business Advancement (CBA).
Please contact Robert Wible at CII (Robert.wible@cii.utexas.edu) if you are interested in becoming a member or attending an upcoming Safety CBA meeting.
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