From risk on site assessment to how improve safety: give me an easy 'app'

Abstract

Construction site has specific risks and organization conditions captured in the concept of 'site risk'. Although the research has provided some tools to assess the level of risk on site, the main focus has been more on the validation of the different assessment processes than on providing clear guidelines or specific set of criteria for interventions. In this research, we contribute adopting a prescriptive approach to fill this gap. Based on the model of risk that grounds the CONstruction Site Risk Assessment Tool (CONSRAT), our first objective is to decompose its variable 'Site Risk' into different risk factors in order to shed more light on how the connections between organizational precursors and risk responses are articulated. A second main objective is to design, develop and implement an application for mobile devices to assess the organizational structure, resources and material conditions and the level of risk on construction sites using CONSRAT, to give practitioners a specific set of criteria for interventions. We use confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model technique to test the specific connection paths between the organizational variables and the risk variables. Based on our results we create the 'App' RISGEST to derive clear and specific recommended actions, not only aimed to address, check and correct the lack of safety measures, but also to improve the level of available resources in the construction site and controlling its complexity. Additionally, we offer examples of how to use RISGEST in real settings as well as an additional test for the discriminant validity of CONSRAT.