In construction projects, all incidents, regardless of their perceived severity, must be reported to the Project Safety Management Team after the occurrence and before seeking medical treatment unless in cases of life-threatening injuries. This includes damage to property, construction equipment, and vehicle-related incidents. Priority items include care for the injured, establishing control over the accident scene, and notification of proper project personnel.
After priority items have been accomplished, the designated safety project team member shall obtain as much preliminary information as possible. Preliminary information should include who was involved, the nature and extent of the injury, what happened, where it happened, how it happened, and the names of any witnesses. If practical, take photos of the scene as soon as possible before any conditions are altered.
Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb usually will have to default a form for Safety Incidents. The Safety Incident Form must be completed for all incidents, injuries, and work-related illnesses. The Safety Incident form header will capture details of the project, phase, WBS level that relates to the scope of work where the incident happened, the company involved in the incident, accident type and category, incident description, weather status at the time of the incident, who is submitting the safety incident form and when among other details.
The Safety Incident form also includes fields to describe the work activity in progress at the time of the accident, to describe the incident, including a list of people or persons involved in the incident and their injury details, to list the incident witnesses, and to list causes and root causes that resulted in the incident for which they will subject for a formal root cause analysis that will recommend corrective actions be distributed to the persons involved in the accident.
Similar to other PMWeb modules, pictures that relate to the incident, police and medical reports, and other related documents will be uploaded, stored, and attached to the safety incident form. For this form, PMWeb provides the option to visualize selected documents on the safety incident form header.
The predefined workflow will ensure that the safety incident forms and all supporting documentation will be completed and submitted to the HSE Department for classification of the incident and further investigation, if necessary.
Similar to all other formal communications, the Safety Incident Form needs to be printed and wet signed, and stamped. The output form layout can be designed in any desired form and format to meet the organization’s project HSE management plan reporting requirements. PMWeb provides a default output that captures the details of the safety incident that can be used as is.
The data captured in the safety incident forms will become the basis for monitoring and evaluating the project’s health, safety, and environmental performance. One of the important reports that can be generated from the safety incident forms is the Safety Incidents Analysis by Body Area report. The report, which can be for a single project or a portfolio of projects will detail the reported safety incidents in the injured body area. Of course, this data along with other HSE processes data will become the basis for creating the HSE performance dashboard.
Of course, this data along with other HSE processes data will become the basis for creating the HSE performance dashboard. The dashboard will include visuals to analyze the frequency of occurred safety incidents per worked manhours, the trend chart for Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), category of safety incidents per period, incident causes, and location of injuries. The dashboard will also include details of planned and actual HSE site tours.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, and Telecommunication and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business School, London, UK.