An American university has developed an online tool to help improve health and safety performance in the construction industry.
The Sustainable Construction Safety and Health (SCSH) Rating System was developed at Oregon State University by Dr Sathyanarayanan Rajendran for his PhD research. The online tool allows users to plan and assess the health and safety performance of construction projects during the planning and design stages.
The SCSH contains 50 safety elements, which each carry credits based on the effectiveness in preventing construction injuries and illnesses. Companies that use the tool will receive a star rating based on how many credits their project earn. Each element has up to 100 credits available and if a project receives 25 credits in each element they will receive a single star rating. To earn additional stars companies must achieve the following:
Two stars = all elements completed with 55-60 credits
Three stars = all elements completed with 61-75 credits
Four stars = all elements completed with 76-90 credits
fivew stars = all elements completed with 91-100 credits
The premise is that a higher number of total credits received by a project indicates a greater attention to safety and health, which should result in lower potential for incidents and ill health.
The tool is designed for all types of construction projects, regardless of size, location, or scope, and can be accessed at www.sustainablesafetyandhealth.org
