Exploring associations between resilience and construction safety performance in safety networks

Abstract

Safety management plays a major role in construction as negligence may result in loss of lives and detrimental project consequences. The Middle East witnesses poor safety management where companies need to improve their performance instead of hiding their deficiencies. This study aims at evaluating safety performance and network resilience to risks by studying safety-related interactions among the construction team. Safety on three mega-projects is evaluated by analyzing their respective networks for communication and safety management and mapping them using Gephi. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), visualizations and various metrics were computed revealing network characteristics and communication patterns. Resilience metrics were measured using actual safety performance data and overall network resilience was simulated through agent-based modeling using NetLogo. Results and correlations show that networks with better interaction and structure have higher resilience to prevalent risks and have better actual safety performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.