Impact of Green Construction on Safety Performance in the Built Environment

Worker health and safety remains to be of high concern throughout the construction industry. Multiple innovative methods and practices have been developed in order to enhance worker health and safety in the construction industry. Green construction is one of the innovations that is expected to enhance worker health and safety. The aim of this research study is to investigate the impact of green construction on safety performance in the construction industry. It is hypothesized that green construction positively influences worker health and safety and is, therefore, associated with fewer workplace incidents compared with traditional, non-green construction. To test this hypothesis, a survey questionnaire is developed and distributed to project managers to collect incident data from green and non-green construction projects. After collecting the data, statistical analysis is performed to determine the impact of green construction on safety performance. Results from the study indicate that there is no statistical evidence in support of the research hypothesis that green construction is associated with reduced incident rates. Recommendations to facilitate the integration of workplace health and safety in sustainable design and construction are provided. It is expected that this integration would be associated with improved working conditions and fewer incidents.