Schedule Compression Impact on Construction Project Safety

Abstract

Many construction projects are met with stringent timelines or the threat of exorbitant liquidated damages. In addition, construction schedulers are frequently forced to incorporate aggressive schedule compression techniques. As already discussed by previous researchers, these schedule compression techniques have direct impacts on project productivity and quality defects. Researchers have also pointed out that schedule compression will affect safety incidents such as Occupational Safety & Health Administration recordable injuries and near misses over long project durations. However, most of the existing studies treated safety as a subcategory of project productivity and project quality, and minimal research has been done to directly quantify the effect of schedule compression on safety at the project level. Therefore, in this research, we conducted a survey and statistical analysis to investigate the relationship between schedule compression and safety in construction projects. We interviewed various members of the Houston construction community from both industrial and non-industrial roles. Statistical analysis was used to identify factors that have significant impacts on the occurrence of safety incidents at an industry specific level.