14

PROJECT HEALTH, SAFETY, SECURITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL (HSSE) MANAGEMENT

While the PMBOK® Guide does not include a dedicated section to HSSE management, it is generally accepted as a primary component for managing construction projects. Safety and environmental management are not unique to construction projects and may be independent projects or programs within other industries. Because of the unique nature of construction projects, health and security considerations are generally included as part of safety and environmental management, all of which are incorporated under the umbrella of HSSE. This section of the Construction Extension presents HSSE considerations for managing, assuring, and controlling construction projects.

Note that some organizations do not include security in the title of the integrated management section, and refer to HSE to include Health, Safety, and Environmental Management. This section includes HSE within the broader context of HSSE used throughout this chapter.

14.1Project Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Management in Construction

The requirements of the Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental (HSSE) planning processes and activities are:

• Owner/sponsor-enforced regulations,
• Mandated standards and regulations (local, state, national, or international),
• Both owner/sponsor and internationally accepted standards and regulations, and
• Contractor good practices and working criteria.

It is common for project sponsors or owners to invoke additional requirements, such as constraints specific to the geographic region and application area where the project is destined (may depend on the scale, scope, and complexity of the project); specific safety and environmental management systems standards, where general measures may be considered insufficient to provide the assurance and control required; and industry-specific codes and standards, which define specific project safety and environmental performance and acceptance criteria.

It should be noted that the absence of a specific HSSE management program or system does not necessarily mean that the system employed by the performing organization is ineffective. Likewise, having a safety and environmental management system or program does not mean the performing organization will produce compliant products or work.

Health, safety, security, and environment pertaining to construction are described as follows:

• Health. Employee health programs are becoming increasingly important in the corporate environment and directly influence risk and safety factors. Health and wellness programs can address not only physical health factors that enable construction personnel to perform their jobs, but also wellness programs that assist in establishing a work-life balance and assist with other stress-inducing issues that may affect mental stability and focus. Construction sites offer unique health considerations such as a changing work environment, unfamiliar location, transient personnel performing specific short- or long-duration tasks, etc.
• Safety. The safety of construction crews and project teams is a top challenge on construction projects and should be a priority in all levels of the organization. Safety behavior, ownership, and incident reduction is closely monitored and controlled throughout the project with the assistance of several resources, including human resources, safety officers, and other corporate compliance agents.
• Security. Controlled site access is an important consideration for mitigating unauthorized entry, theft, and vandalism. In some areas, establishing a secure construction zone also serves to mitigate any external threats to the construction teams performing work on site.
• Environment. Understanding the environmental factors (climate, wildlife, remoteness, cultural resources, etc.) of each unique construction location requires analysis and coordination during the preconstruction phases of the project. Establishing commitments, mitigations and controls, and construction impact analyses should take place before construction begins. An environmental impact analysis (EIA) is a commonly accepted method of discovery, analysis, and mitigation.

Project health, safety, security, and environmental management processes include all activities of the project sponsor/owner and the performing organization. These activities determine safety and environmental policies, objectives, and responsibilities to ensure the project is planned and executed in a manner that prevents accidents so as to avoid personal injury, fatalities, or property damage. For convenience, the term safety management is used throughout this Construction Extension to include both safety management and health management. Project safety and environmental management interacts with all other project management processes and Process Groups.

The performing organization implements the safety and environmental management system through the policy, procedures, and processes of planning, assurance, and control, and by undertaking continuous improvement activities throughout the project as appropriate. As with quality management, safety and environmental management ensures that the project management system employs all processes needed to meet project requirements, and that these processes take safety and the environment into consideration. Project safety and environmental management consists primarily of ensuring that the conditions of the contract (including those contained in legislation and any project technical specifications) are carried out to benefit the safety of both those working on site and in the vicinity of the project. It should address both the management of the project and the product of the project (and its component parts), including assessing and determining how the different project management processes interact to fulfill the needs of the project, and whether changes or improvements are needed to accomplish the safety and environmental objectives of the project. A proper and effective project management would be incomplete without due consideration of the requirements for safety and environmental management. Furthermore, both project safety and environmental management should be integrated with risk management processes in order to accomplish the stated objectives.

Health and security have additional impacts that are commonly overlooked but equally important to safety and environmental management. Delays and monetary losses, in addition to emotional distress, can be significant factors in both illness and serious injuries or fatalities. Managing the health and security of project resources should be identified and mitigated in the HSSE plan. For example, planning an 8-hour work day during high-heat periods may lengthen project duration yet lower risks to lost hours due to heat stroke and dehydration.

Project health, safety, and environmental management applies to all aspects of project management. As in the case of quality management, this broad application results in addressing three distinctive (and sometimes conflicting) sets of requirements, namely:

• Mandatory statutory requirements. These requirements imposed by legislation and enforced by statutory third-party authorities in the region (geographical or otherwise) where the project is to be constructed are generally applicable to all construction projects regardless of application areas. Special statutory safety and environmental requirements are often imposed on projects in industries such as nuclear, power generation, oil and gas, railways, underground/mining, etc.
• Customer requirements. These requirements are defined in the contract conditions. They specify safety and environmental requirements to be undertaken and administered and the technical performance and acceptance criteria as defined in legislation, statutory instruments, and project specifications. These requirements may also include alignment of the contractor management system with global standards such as ISO or Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA).
• Requirements of the performing organization. These requirements satisfy commercial needs (optimize profit, return on investment, etc.), fulfill social responsibility commitments, increase reputation in the marketplace, etc.

These processes interact with one another as well as with processes of other Knowledge Areas. Although the processes are presented here as discrete elements with well-defined interfaces, in practice they may overlap and interact in ways not detailed here.

14.1.1Health

Physical and mental health for construction projects typically includes several policies and controls to maintain a clean and healthy site. Typical challenges for the construction industry include a transient workforce and lack of site ownership by workers performing short-term activities at the site. Some methods for maintaining a healthy site include:

• Drug and alcohol screening,
• Material safety data sheets (MSDS),
• Globally harmonized system (GHS),
• Dust control and noise control measures,
• Onsite medical facilities (includes portable equipment such as an eyewash station, emergency shower, etc.),
• Fatigue mitigation plans,
• Work hour limitations,
• Climate-specific mitigation such as available water, warming huts, etc.,
• Regular health checkups and hygienic work conditions, and
• Provision of trained first aid personnel (nearby, if not on job site).

14.1.2Safety

Ensuring job site safety in the construction environment requires effective, safe work practices and procedures, with a priority focus on high-consequence and high-risk activities:

• Verification and validation that personal protective equipment (PPE) is appropriate and in good condition for the required activity,
• Pre-site preparation (hazard analysis, permits, site familiarization, and ongoing hazard tagging, etc.),
• Ongoing training,
• Traffic management,
• Verification of safeguards,
• Periodic checking of tools and equipment,
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs),
• Risk recognition and assessment,
• OSHA compliance, and
• Onsite safety compliance personnel.

14.1.3Security

A secure job site allows only authorized access to construction zones and maintains security of the facility and grounds when no construction activities are under way. This can be established by use of constructed or natural barriers, technology, or the physical presence of security personnel. Some options for securing a construction work area are:

• Badge- or smartcard-controlled access,
• Security gates and fencing,
• Traffic barriers,
• Security guards,
• Remote security (cameras, sensors, etc.), and
• Site lighting.

14.1.4Environment

Each construction project is typically located at a site with a unique set of environmental characteristics that require analyzing, planning, monitoring, and controlling. Several aspects of the environment should be considered, including:

• Recycling/waste management,
• Hazardous waste handling,
• Environmental clean-up,
• Noise monitoring,
• Acoustic control,
• Cultural resource planning,
• Environmental impacts,
• Site drainage,
• Dust control,
• Light trespass,
• Traffic management, and
• Government permitting requirements.

14.2Project HSSE Management Planning

Health, safety, security, and environmental (HSSE) planning are overlapping and integral efforts. The HSSE planning process is aimed at providing a safe, secure, healthy work environment to prevent harm to people or damage to the environment. The HSSE policy should demonstrate commitment from senior-level management to these goals and incubate a culture that implements HSSE policies through all levels of the organization. Many government agencies involved in construction projects have well-established procedures and requirements that ensure HSSE policies are met. Employees, consultants, and contractors may be required to attend courses and certificate programs covering HSSE topics.

14.2.1Contract Requirements

Specifications, regulations, legislation, and standards (technical or legislative) are contractual requirements specific to construction projects. Some construction projects may have additional requirements due to their nature, complexity, or specific industry application area. For example, there are mandatory application-area-specific standards for construction within nuclear projects, oil and gas onshore and offshore projects, airport projects, military projects, etc. In the construction industry, these requirements issued by the project sponsor or owner include a project scope statement, a description of the product(s) of the project, and references to all applicable standards and regulations.

14.2.2Safety and Environmental Policy

The safety and environmental policy differs from the quality policy in that it dictates how construction activities should be conducted from a safety and environmental perspective. The safety and environmental management policy also includes the degree to which the performing organization's management is committed to social responsibility and environmental conservation issues, and can have a major impact on the effectiveness of a safety and environmental program.

14.2.3Safety Metrics

While many organizations determine which safety metrics are most important to track, the following metrics are globally recognized and should be included:

• Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR). Refers to an occurrence that resulted in a fatality, permanent disability, or time lost from work of one day/shift or more. Injuries are recorded as injuries per million hours worked.
• Total recordable injury frequency (TRIF). Refers to the number of fatalities, lost time injuries, cases of substitute work and other injuries requiring treatment by a medical professional per million hours worked.
• Serious incident frequency (SIF). Refers to the number of serious incidents (including near-misses) per million hours worked.

14.2.4Site Neighborhood Safety and Environmental Characteristics and Constraints

The characteristics of a construction site and its surrounding environment should be identified prior to project execution. For construction projects, the environment is the neighborhood where the project occurs, which may have constraints pertaining to safety management, quality management, and environmental management. These can include the proximity of adjacent residents, configuration of project offices, layout and location of construction equipment workshop, material delivery time constraints, traffic congestion in vicinity of the project site during peak periods, site security and access protocols, and noise restrictions, etc.

14.2.5Trials and Simulations

Trials and simulations used for safety and environmental projects include simulations of emergency response procedures to ensure that the controls developed are adequate to address those incidents identified as requiring an emergency response. They are dependent on industry application-area constraints and requirements (mining, oil and gas, etc.).

14.2.6Cost of Safety (COS) and Cost of Environment (COE)

The cost of environmental or safety noncompliance can be detrimental to a project if litigation, fines, or a job shutdown occurs. Compliance is typically mandatory. COS or COE is determined by a form of cost-benefit analysis that incorporates the potential impacts of noncompliance on the project. An important distinction is that safety is of paramount importance regardless of cost, and environment may have significant long-term impacts to consider.

Examples of COS and COE that could cause significant cost and schedule impacts include:

• Hazardous waste clean-up from a spill or contaminated soil,
• Environmental clean-up of contaminated water sources or ecological areas,
• Deforestation and afforestation,
• Public infrastructure disturbances,
• Community perception requiring public outreach to restore, and
• Serious injury or fatality.

14.2.7Process Mapping

Process mapping is commonly combined with flowcharting to:

• Map how a particular process is carried out,
• Determine how various processes interact,
• Identify any gaps in a particular work item or activity (termed “gap analysis”), and
• Include the absence of critical review points or a required deliverable (including the omission of verification that work has been undertaken and is acceptable).

14.2.8Flowcharting

Flowcharting is commonly used with process mapping for construction projects and with certain process statistical analyses and reporting methods. Flowcharting identifies non-value-added activities or functions, or delay points in task activities, and defines particular control points in work execution (e.g., the issuance of a permit to enter prior to entering a confined space, or the need to obtain a certificate of occupancy prior to occupying the space).

14.2.9Project Safety and Environmental Requirements Review

Project requirements review includes an assessment and determination of:

• Characteristics and criteria of activities and products. The characteristics and criteria of each activity and product(s) of the project, and how to satisfy them. These are sometimes incorporated into activity risk assessments.
• Verification criteria. The applicable verification criteria, including those required to demonstrate acceptance and performance characteristics are fulfilled.
• Alternatives review and selection. In construction projects, it is common for some activities to be performed with different processes or arrangements for achieving the same result or output. This applies equally to safety management, quality management, and environmental management. Each process requires specific safety and environmental requirements.

When a requirement (standard or specification) is developed in one geographical region for use in another region, it is common for the characteristics and criteria of one region to differ in some degree from those in another location; as a result, the requirements generally reflect the constraints of the region of origin. Situations such as these have increased significantly in today's global economy. Compromise may be necessary, and may require the re-qualification of the requirements to ensure compliance. This compromise does not imply lowering standards for safety and environmental impacts, but illustrates that the same end result can be achieved by different methods. This should be scrutinized carefully so as not to compromise safety and environmental standards. Valid justification should be provided to project sponsors or owners, for obvious reasons.

Generally, all processes are analyzed to determine alternatives to increase effectiveness and efficiency. Examples are cost-benefit analyses and analyses in which time, cost, and safety and environmental considerations are balanced or even exceeded. Safety and environmental requirements can be mandatory constraints, as noncompliance can cause the project to have its execution permits canceled, revoked, or otherwise not issued. Furthermore, a failure in any aspect of safety or environmental management can manifest itself in more significant failures in quality or risk management.

14.2.10HSSE Management Plan

The project HSSE management plan defines the strategy or methodology to be adopted by the performing organization to undertake HSSE management and fulfillment of the project requirements. It is a subset of the overall project management strategy, methodology, and information system. The project HSSE management plan is a high-level strategic planning deliverable that defines the overall intentions and direction of the performing organization as expressed by top management, and is reviewed at various stages throughout the project. It may include the participation of the project sponsor/owner and other major project stakeholders, such as industry regulators and local, national, and federal government. The HSSE management plan can include but is not limited to:

• Staffing or human resources plan. This plan is a subset of the project human resources plan, developed by determining the various human resource arrangements, analyzing the risks and benefits of each, and selecting the optimal arrangement. The selected option should take into consideration the nature of the work involved and any required competencies; contract and legislative requirements; responsibilities and accountabilities; organizational structure; structures among the performing organization, project sponsor/owner, and other project stakeholders; and even the apportioning of work so as not to overload one particular function.
• Budget. The budget is a subset of the project cost management plan. The safety and environmental management budget is developed by determining the costs associated with the different approaches envisioned for the works to be performed (including human resource arrangements), analyzing the costs associated with each, and determining the optimal costs and budgetary requirements for safety and environmental management, training, and safety exercises (such as fire, evacuation, and incident recovery).
• Records and documentation requirements. The cornerstone of any safety management system is the records and associated documentation generated and employed not only as the basis to determine satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance, but also to determine the effectiveness of the project management system as a whole. Safety and environmental management records and supporting documentation are also employed when assessing compliance with statutory safety and environmental requirements and legislation.
• Stakeholder requirements. The agreed-upon project stakeholder requirements are an input into the project stakeholder management plan and include project stakeholders’ requirements for planning, assurance, and control.
• Reporting requirements. The reporting requirements for safety and environmental management are a subset of the overall project performance reporting requirements. Reporting requirements should include, but are not limited to assigned management staff and resources, baseline, management planned versus actual expenditure, agreed-upon performance and acceptance criteria, audit schedule, audits undertaken versus those planned, details of audits (including periods for addressing unsatisfactory performance), details of corrective and preventive actions, and statistical measurements to demonstrate project efficiency and effectiveness of the project management system, etc. In some countries, site safety and environmental inspections are mandatory and occur on a regular basis. In other cases, these requirements are imposed by insurance companies.
• Project execution constraints. The project execution constraints imposed should be considered and may require additional mandatory HSSE requirements. Examples of such constraints could be asbestos removal, outdoor work in extreme climates, working with noisy machines, removing vegetation, working within a known culturally significant resource area, working at heights, etc. At times, project execution characteristics may be dictated by the configuration of the construction site and that of the surrounding environment. Project execution constraints can influence the approach or strategies adopted for health, safety, security, and environmental management and, therefore, form an input into the project management plan.
• Agreed-upon performance and acceptance criteria. The safety and environmental performance and acceptance criteria for all attributes of the project should be finalized and agreed upon by the project sponsor or owner and, where applicable, any relevant project stakeholders. The criteria form the basis for the safety and environmental management baseline.
• Project administrative and contract closure procedures. Administration and contract closure will include collation and assembly of all pertinent safety and environmental management records and other supporting documentation necessary to demonstrate that the safety and environmental requirements of the project were fulfilled.
• Operational definitions. The operational definitions specify what something is and how it should be measured. Safety and environmental assurance and control processes are frequently employed to determine how processes and project work are to be measured. For example, it is insufficient merely to state that management reviews of the project management system will be undertaken once per year, or that site safety and environmental inspections will be carried out as per frequencies specified in the contract, or that the hazard caused by construction equipment will remain within the permissible limits, or that all site staff will wear personal protective equipment. The project management team should, in relation to these statements, be in a position to demonstrate tangibly that management reviews were undertaken, or that the specific inspections were carried out, or that any oil spills or gas emissions were measured, or whether only heavy vehicles or all vehicles were inspected, or that all site personnel were, indeed, issued personal protective equipment.
• Communication. Safety and environmental communication cannot be overstated. This type of communication can cover a broad range of awareness and alert activities such as:
  • Barriers, signs, and bulletin boards;
  • Initial introductory meetings, tool-box meetings, individual bulletins on a specific subject, etc.;
  • Safety and environmental reports, including those required by legislation; and
  • Public warning or hazardous areas.

14.2.11Safety and Environmental Zoning and Signage

Generally, a project site can be divided into specific zones (e.g., workshops, storage areas, the different areas of the construction job site, limited or controlled access areas, etc.), with each having its own safety requirements. The zoning of a particular area of a project site helps determine specific safety and environmental hazards or associated risks. Consequently, such signage can include general signage to warn of access restrictions or more specific signage to warn of particular hazards. This process utilizes the principle of visual operations management (VOM) to reinforce and repeat any specific instruction that would have been given during safety and environmental training and induction. It is also common to employ safety and environmental signage banks at specific access points where all necessary signage relating to a specific area of the project is cited. These banks would be subject to audit or inspection at regular intervals to ensure that all appropriate signs are present and determine whether any have been damaged or otherwise lost and are in need of replacement.

14.2.12Safety and Environmental Training and Induction Requirements

The requirements for safety and environmental training are generally divided into one of the following:

• Safety and environmental training. Safety and environmental compliance training is common on all construction projects and includes mandatory statutory training required for operating construction equipment and/or undertaking specific safety (e.g., heavy-lifting operations) or environmental tasks (e.g., sorting different categories of waste). It is increasingly common for all construction personnel to undergo mandatory general statutory safety and environmental training before being permitted entrance onto a construction project site. This is a result of the increased occurrence of accidents that would, under normal circumstances, be easily avoidable.
• Safety and environmental inductions. Safety and environmental inductions are common on all construction projects. Generally, they relate to specific construction activities or tasks that are employed to address risks associated with particular tasks and the mitigation measures to be employed.
• Tool-box meetings. Tool-box meetings generally provide specific instructions regarding the use of certain construction equipment and tools, and cover such topics as safety, operation, maintenance, etc.

Critical to any safety and environmental program is the need to plan when elements of the program should be implemented to address specific parts of the project. Safety and environmental training planning is a subset of the human resources planning outputs.

14.2.13Traffic Management Plan

The traffic management plan defines the controls to be exercised over traffic in the vicinity of the project site including, but not limited to, project site entry and egress arrangements (including security checks), time limitations for deliveries, use of temporary roads for public traffic, weight restrictions, traffic signals and channeling of vehicles to avoid construction works, access and egress for emergency vehicles, etc.

14.2.14Emergency Response Plan

The necessity for a project-specific emergency response management plan is generally dictated by the constraints of the project, its environs, and industry application area. It is usually developed in conjunction with project sponsors and owners. For example, underground works (such as tunneling) have specific mandatory requirements relating to emergency response needs. Requirements may include, but are not limited to, responsibility and authority for key members of the emergency response team; communication requirements (especially of initial occurrence of emergency incidents, and with emergency service, local hospitals, etc.); provision of appropriate emergency response equipment; and access and egress requirements for emergency response vehicles (fire, police, ambulance, etc.). Emergency responses should not be limited to safety and environmental incidents and can also include environmental emergency incidents, for example, the inadvertent discharge of contaminated material into water courses, which could lead to the contamination of reservoirs. In addition, it is common for application area regulators to require specific mandatory controls to be implemented as part of emergency response activities.

It is prudent to develop an integrated emergency response plan to address both safety and environmental incidents, especially as an emergency incident will directly or indirectly have safety and environmental implications.

14.2.15Permit to Work Management Plan

Many construction project application areas have mandatory requirements relating to permits, for example, excavation, hot work, confined work, biohazards, etc. These permit procedures are defined in the contract conditions, and generally reflect the safety and environmental checks that should be addressed before commencing specific activities. Although the permit to work management plan is a subset of the project communication management plan, the consequences of safety failures warrant its placement in this section. This is especially true where part of the scope of work for a construction project relates to the mitigation measures to deal with contamination originating from adjacent industries.

14.2.16Waste Management Plan

The project waste management plan is a subsidiary of the project management plan. Most construction projects will produce some degree of waste, and some projects will generate significantly more waste than others (e.g., office development versus infrastructure development). Project waste management generally employs the “3R process”—reduce, reuse, recycle—to address environmental management. The project waste management plan details the controls to be applied to each particular category of waste, ranging from general office waste (paper, etc.), food waste (from site canteens), sanitary waste (from site welfare facilities), to the different categories of waste generated by construction processes (excavations, metal, packaging, lumber, etc.).

Requirements for waste management include not only identifying authorized waste disposal facilities, but also obtaining the necessary permits and authorizations to discharge waste, the most common being:

• Discharge of wastewater during excavation into adjacent watercourse, where some degree of primary treatment is required (water treatment plants, settlement ponds, etc.) for the removal of suspended solids or other environmentally harmful constituent.
• Excavated material, where waste enforcement authorities are empowered to assess the performing organization's controls for disposal controls and waste manifest system; that is, the determination of how much waste is placed in authorized areas.
• Construction and demolition waste generated on site, which may require a formal plan for treatment of the debris and separation for potential recycling or reuse.

With many construction projects being sited in areas that previously would have been considered unsuitable, environmental management includes information on how to deal with possible contaminated areas. Such contamination includes material considered unsuitable for reuse or recycling, as well as contamination that would constitute an environmental and/or safety and environmental hazard. No further discussion is made regarding this matter here, as it is beyond the scope of this Construction Extension in view of the involvement of local, state, and federal governments; statutory bodies; and industry regulators. It is mentioned here to make performing organizations aware that such instances are common. Additional information can be found in the Government Extension to the PMBOK® Guide [7].

14.2.17Safety and Environmental Programs

While the project safety and environmental management plan details how the performing organization will manage safety and environmental issues on the project, the project safety and environmental monitoring and control plan defines the actual monitoring and control activities to be employed and undertaken, especially:

• Items of work to be monitored;
• Applicable reference document and acceptance criteria to be consulted;
• Applicable verification activities (inspection, tests, reviews, submissions, etc.) to be performed, and when such activities will be performed in relation to the overall process;
• Project team member responsible for undertaking the work and each verification activity to be identified;
• Applicable characteristics and measurements to be taken or recorded; and
• Applicable supporting documentation to be generated to demonstrate satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance.

To be effective, safety and environmental monitoring and control (and verification) should be integrated into how the physical work is performed. This process establishes control points or gates throughout the process to ensure that the next work phase will not proceed until the preceding work has been completed and verified as complete and compliant.

14.3Project HSSE Management Executing

Implementation and assurance of the various HSSE plans occurs during the executing phase of the project by specialized resources as the responsible entity. Applying the planned, systematic HSSE activities to ensure that the project employs all processes needed to meet the requirements and determining whether these processes and their integration are effective is part of this responsibility. Evaluating the results of the HSSE management on a regular basis provides confidence that the project will safely and environmentally satisfy the relevant HSSE standards. Without this assurance, projects not in compliance can incur devastating financial and life-threatening consequences.

14.3.1Project HSSE Assurance

The HSSE plan details how the health, safety, security, and environmental components will be handled. HSSE execution on construction projects includes assuring compliance, analyzing results, and evaluating effectiveness of the plan. These activities provide the means to recognize noncompliance or variance from the project requirements.

HSSE assurance involves:

• Applying the planned, systematic safety and environmental activities to ensure that the project employs all processes needed to meet requirements;
• Determining whether these processes (and their integration) are effective in ensuring that the project management system fulfills the requirements of the project and the product of the project; and
• Evaluating the results on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant safety and environmental standards.

14.3.1.1Safety and Environmental Audits

Audits involve undertaking structured and independent review to ensure that project activities of the performing organization(s) comply with the project requirements and that such activities are suitable to fulfill the requirements of the project.

Safety and environmental audits of the project product(s) are called technical or compliance audits. For example, road safety audits assess the measures implemented for traffic management, which include an evaluation of results or outputs of activities as compared to the performance and acceptance criteria defined in technical safety and environmental standards and specifications to determine fitness for the purpose intended.

Audits can also be undertaken for the project management system as a whole or for individual component parts (procurement management system, design management system, construction management system, or commissioning management system, etc.). Audits also assess compliance with statutory and legislative safety and environmental requirements.

Integrated audits are commonly adopted to provide a more accurate measure of the effectiveness of a specific work area in fulfilling project requirements. For example, the incorporation of the applicable requirements (such as those for quality, safety, and environmental management), sometimes aligned to global standards as ISO or OHSA, are used to assess the effectiveness of the controls employed on a project as a whole rather than individually.

14.3.1.2Safety and Environmental Hazard Risk Analyses

Safety and environmental hazard risk analyses is a systematic review of each construction process, activity, or work element to identify the potential safety and environmental hazards for project personnel as well as others who are present on the site associated with the activity or process. These analyses are part of the risk identification process and are normally carried out by specific and knowledgeable members of the project management team of the performing organization with the assistance of key construction supervisors.

14.3.1.3Safety and Environmental Assurance Measurements

Safety and environmental assurance measurements are the result of performing safety and environmental assurance activities that are fed back into the Planning Process for use in re-evaluating and analyzing the performance of the performing organization, and the standards and processes employed. Assurance measurements are also used as an indicator of areas that may need further investigation.

14.4Project HSSE Management Monitoring and Controlling

The HSSE monitoring and control describes how the project management team will implement the necessary controlling activities of the performing organization. The monitoring and control may contain or make reference to specific procedures to be employed to ensure the compliance of the work that is carried out, including:

• Determining and applying measures for monitoring the achievement of specific project results throughout the project to determine whether they comply with the safety and environmental requirements, and
• Identifying unsatisfactory performance and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory safety and environmental performance. This includes failures on the part of planning and assurance.

14.4.1Key Performance Indicators

The HSSE management plan includes generally accepted key performance indicators (KPI) for monitoring and controlling, including:

• Lost time injury (LTI),
• Total recordable injury (TRI),
• Worked hours,
• Near misses (NMs),
• Unsafe acts and condition (UA/UC), and
• Serious incidents frequency (SIF).

14.4.2Heinrich's Accident Triangle

First developed in the 1930s, Heinrich's Accident Triangle (Figure 14-1) illustrates the generally accepted concept surrounding unsafe behavior. The figure shows the progression and correlation of unsafe acts to eventual fatalities. For every 30,000 unsafe behaviors, 3,000 near misses will occur, 30 lost days of work, and 1 fatality. This concept underlines the importance of reporting and correcting unsafe behavior.

The National Safety Council defines the following terms:

• Accident. An undesired event that results in personal injury or property damage.
• Incident. An unplanned, undesired event that adversely affects the completion of a task.
• Near miss. An incident where no property was damaged and no personal injury sustained, but where, given a slight shift in time or position, damage and/or injury easily could have occurred.

14.4.3Accident Investigation

It is important that each accident or incident is reported immediately and its cause (direct and/or indirect) is investigated. A complete report should be made stating what happened and why to ensure preventive and corrective actions are implemented. The insurance companies covering the resulting losses usually require these reports, but they are also vital for measuring and improving the performing organization's safety and environmental performance. In some cases, the reports are required by law enforcement agencies or government labor agencies. These investigation reports may require cascading changes in SOPs or implementation plans.

14.4.4Defect Repair Review

Although defect repair would generally be considered an attribute of quality management, the review of defects with regard to any potential safety and environmental issues is common. Defect repair review can commonly be addressed by means of the nonconformance control process.