lean safety

The Influence of Implementation Lean Tools on Safety in Construction Projects in Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Abu Zaiter

Civil engineer , IUG, Gaza , PALESTINE

E - mail : [e-mail]

Abstract: lean construction approach is a new set of tools to improve project performance (e.g., productivity, quality and safety) by increasing the profit and minimizing waste. This paper aims to investigate the implementation of lean tools in construction project and its impact on safety conditions in Gaza Strip. The following tools were discussed: last planner, increased visualization and 5s process. This is an exploratory research conduct for diagnosing the situation where construction management in Gaza from using lean construction tools and new safety techniques. The data collection methods included direct observations, interviews and questionnaire. It was found that there is a significant weakness in the learning environment in construction projects thus there is limited amount of knowledge about lean construction tools and other new safety techniques. Training will be a key aspect of implementation and success of the lean construction techniques to increase safety conditions at the site. This training may result in an increased burden in early stages of implementation but over the long haul, it will serve to increase the efficiency and safety level of construction companies. Further research is needed to investigate to find how to distinguish improving productivity and minimizing waste which have great influence on safety conditions.

Keywords : Lean construction, safety, last planner, 5s process.

1 Introduction

Improving the productivity in construction is a great challenge facing the construction industry (Abdelhamid 2004). Achieving smooth work flow with minimal waste requires not only appropriate construction planning, but also effective production management (Sack et al., 2010). Increasing safety is critical in the

References: Abdelhamid, T. (2007), “Lean construction principles and methods”, Graduate class offering at Michigan State University, available at http://www.slideshare.net/tabdelhamid/lean-construction-introduction, Last Accessed Date: October 2012. Abdelhamid, T. (2004), “The self-destruction and renewal of lean construction theory: A Prediction From Boyd’s Theory”, Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction, 3-6 August 2004, Helsingør, Denmark. Ballard, G. (2000), “The last planner system of production control”,Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Birmingham,U.K., available at http://wvvw.leanconstruction.org/pdf/ballard2000-dissertation. pdf, Last Accessed Date: October 2012. Ballard, G. (1999), “Work structuring”, L. C. I. White Paper, No. 5, Lean Construction Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada, http://www.leanconstruction.org/pdf/WP5-WorkStructuring_1.pdf, Last Accessed Date: October 2012. Eric I, Luis F, Hallowell, and Keith R. (2010), “A research on the interface between construction and safety”, available at http://www.safetylaboratory.org/LeanConstruction.pdf, Last Accessed Date: October 2012. Ghosh S. and Ghosh, Young-Corbett D. (2009), “Intersection between lean construction and safety research: A Review of the Literature”, Proceedings of the 2009 Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA. Han, S., Lee, S., and Peña-Mora, F. (2012), “Vision-based motion detection for safety behavior analysis in construction ”, Construction Research Congress 2012 © ASCE 2012, USA, pp. 1032 – 1041. Howell, G., Ballard, G., Abdelhamid, T. S. and Mitropoulos, P. (2002), “Working near the edge: A New Approach to Constrcution Safety”, Proceedings IGLC-10. Gramado, Brazil. Koskela, L. and Howell, G., (2002), “The Underlying Theory of Project Management is Obsolete”, Proceedings of the PMI Research Conference, 2002, pp. 293-302. Nahmens, I. and Ikuma, L. H. (2009), “An empirical examination of the relationship between lean construction and safety in the industrialized housing industry”, Lean Construction Journal, 2009, pp. 1-12. Razuri,C., Alarcón,L., and Diethelm s. (2007), “Evaluating the effectiveness of safety management practices and strategiesin construction projects”, Safety, Quality And Environment Journal, Proceedings IGLC-15, July 2007, Michigan, USA pp. 271 – 281. Salem, O., Solomon, J., Genaidy, A., and Minkarah, I., (2006), “Lean construction: from theory to implementation”, A. S. C. E. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2006, pp. 168-175. Shrestha, P., Yfantis, E. and Shrestha, K. (2011), “Construction safety visualization”, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV),89154, U.S.A. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (2011): U. S. Environmental protection agency, 2011.“5S”, http://www.epa.gov/lean/thinking/fives.htm, Last Accessed Date: October 2012