Preventing fatalities in the construction industry — a review of critical risk management strategies

An analysis of fatalities across Australian construction projects highlighted leadership, risk management, risk maturity and safety climate as priorities for improvement. In comparison, these elements are incorporated into the Australian mining, and oil and gas industry, critical risk management and safety case regimes and appear to have contributed to the reduction of fatalities in the mining industry, and subsequent elimination of fatalities in offshore facilities. In this paper, the authors review fatal hazard risk management processes used in the construction, oil and gas and mining industries. The authors propose an alternative approach to construction industry fatality prevention based on the risk assessment and critical control processes used in other industries. The alternative approach is presented as a shift in focus from risk assessment to risk control including a review of the construction site safety climate and fatal risk management practices.