A quantitative safety risk assessment model for construction site layout planning

A good site layout is necessary to provide a safe construction site environment. Previous studies treated construction site layout planning as an optimization problem to achieve high safety performance. However, the optimization problem does not contain holistic risk factor analysis. Risk factors such as the dangers of falling objects, noise pollution and hazardous chemicals tend to be neglected. Moreover, when site managers face different site layout scenarios, no safety risk assessment models are currently available to help them make decisions. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a quantitative safety risk assessment model, including factor identification and classification, factor analysis, and assessment function development, to help site managers evaluate different site layout scenarios more accurately and holistically. In factor identification and classification, the interaction flows between facilities are initially considered as risk factors. Safety/environmental concerns which were not deeply probed into by previous studies are also considered. For the above two risk factor categories, safety risk assessment functions are developed according to the likelihood of accident occurrence and the linear attenuation law respectively. Finally, a case study is used to verify the proposed model. This study interprets how to implement site safety management by means of site facility layout improvement. It enriches occupational safety research by providing a systematic model for assessing site layout plans in a quantitative and more valid manner. The findings help conduct effective site safety management by proper facilities displacement during the preconstruction stage and in turn guarantee construction safety in later stages.