Review of construction safety performance measurement methods and practices: a science mapping approach

Abstract

The construction industry is struggling with poor safety performance. Also, the existing construction safety performance (CSP) measurement methods are no longer effective by reaching their point of diminishing returns, which ultimately points to the need for a novel and reliable method for CSP measurement. To do so, a systematic and comprehensive review of existing methods is a prerequisite. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a comprehensive review of CSP research using a science mapping approach. The CSP research literature was retrieved from the Scopus literature database and analyzed using VOSviewer and NVIVO tools, to visualize the domain-specific body of knowledge. The investigation highlighted the most productive and influential contributors, highly focused research levels, project types and phases, research instruments and data sources, CSP measurement methods, key safety practices, current research trends, future research directions, theoretical and practical implications. This study has observed the CSP research paradigm shift from reactive to proactive approach. To this end, 11 safety dimensions that comprise 109 safety practices were identified, and a proactive CSP management approach was proposed.

Keywords:

• Construction safety
• safety performance
• safety practices
• scientometric analysis
• content analysis

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

Supplementary tables S1, S2, S3, and S4 are available from the publisher’s online repository (if available) or corresponding author upon reasonable request.