Improving the reliability of visual inspections conducted by environmental health and safety professionals, on a hyperscale data centre construction site
Proceedings of the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference
Abstract
The conduct of visual inspections on construction sites is of crucial importance for workplace safety. This is because visual inspection is the primary method by which construction site hazards are routinely observed, monitored and controlled. However, there is no consensus guidance as to how such visual inspections should be conducted. This is resulting in many observable hazards going unseen and therefore not being appropriately managed on construction sites worldwide. In an attempt to improve the reliability of visual inspection, this study presents results from an innovative method called systematic visual inspection which utilises an iterative set eye scan pattern during observation. In this study using one construction site, systematic visual inspection is compared with custom and practice visual inspections conducted by four environmental health and safety professionals (EHSPs) and four senior site managers. The results were as follows; the lead investigator who used the systematic visual inspection method observed a mean 37.70 hazards per inspection (SD=40.92). In sharp contrast, the mean number of observable hazards identified by EHSPs per inspection was 11.94 (SD=13.51). For site managers, the results were 10.87 per inspection (SD=12.40). This improvement in hazards observed by the use of the systematic visual inspection method was highly significant (p=