During the last decades, there has been a growing awareness about occupational safety and health risks
by the various interested parties in the construction industry. However, despite the substantial improvements
achieved, the rate of accidents is still significantly higher than in most of the other industries. Two
major reasons have been used to explain this high rate of accidents in the construction industry: (i) the
intrinsic riskiness due to the nature of the activities and the particular characteristics of constructions
projects and organizations and (ii) the financial and economic issues regarding the implementation of
additional safety measures in a growing competitive market.
This companion paper is presented in two parts. The present document refers to Part 1 and reviews the
major lines of research and main contributions in the field of occupational safety and health in the construction
industry. The review covers occupational safety and health research, organized in accident
understanding studies, accident analysis studies and accident modeling studies, and occupational safety
and health risk management, in particular risk criteria and limits. The review reveals the need for a methodology
to quantify occupational safety and health risk in construction projects following the guidelines
set by the international standard ISO 31000:2009. Part 2 proposes and details the Occupational Safety
and Health Potential Risk Model (OSH-PRM) that was designed to allow estimating the statistical cost
of occupational safety and health risk.