A decision support system for demolition safety risk assessment

Abstract

Demolition can be defined as dismantling, razing, destroying or wrecking of any building or structure or any part thereof. Demolition work involves many of the hazards associated with construction. However, demolition also involves additional hazards due to unknown factors which makes demolition work particularly dangerous. In order to make the demolition project safer, everyone at a demolition site must be fully aware of the hazards they may encounter and the safety precautions that they must take to protect themselves and their employees. Safety risk assessment is a planning tool that can be used to improve safety performance at demolition site. In the absence of a special tool for demolition safety risk assessment, a prototype Decision Support System (DSS) based on failure mode and effect analysis that enables decision makers to systematically and semi-quantitatively identify, analyze and evaluate safety risks factors in demolition project has been developed. The prototype is named Hybrid Demolition Safety Risk Assessor (HDSRA). It has three modules; (i) safety risk identification, (ii) safety risk analysis and (iii) safety risk evaluation. Module one aids the decision makers to identify thirty-seven safety risks that is developed by reviewing safety literatures and forming consensus among Delphi panel of experts. In addition, the module introduces seven immediate causes that trigger occurrence of those thirty-seven safety risks. The second module comprised a hybrid decision making model based on Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) that relatively estimates likelihood of thirty-seven safety risks with respect to seven immediate causes. The third module evaluates and prioritizes the safety risks by using two ranking methods; Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR). The HDSRA prototype is then developed by integrating module 1, 2 and 3 and evaluated by a group of demolition experts. HDSRA acts as information source that can be used by demolition contractors to identify safety risks in a systematic way. Therefore, possibility of raising error during risk identification process in the implementation of demolition work is reduced. Decision support system that is produced by the HDSRA prototype, proactively proposes action that should be taken by demolition safety experts to control risks at workplace. And finally, HDSRA can be also used as a training tool to raise safety awareness among demolition workers.