Safety engineering

The construction site is a complex and dynamic environment that brings together workers from diverse backgrounds and expertise, where accidents are common; with the increasing complexity in the construction activities, safety has become a critical focus within the industry.

The course focuses on effective safety management throughout the design, construction, and maintenance phases, emphasizing construction site safety with attention to specific regulations and strategic management practices. It provides students with essential skills for hazard identification, risk assessment, and the development of comprehensive safety protocols. Students will gain expertise in identifying site-specific risks during work planning, implementing controls to prevent injuries and damage, and monitoring practices to swiftly address unsafe conditions. 

Lectures on the course topics are scheduled. A practical exercise will be developed on the optimal organization of the construction site (layout and schedule) for safety purposes. In particular, the exercise involves developing the construction site layout and creating a Gantt chart for the safe organization of construction activities.

Visits to construction sites will be conducted.

There are no curricular prerequisites for this course; however, knowledge of the main construction technologies is required, specifically regarding construction processes.

Attendance is not mandatory; however, since the practical exercise on the topics covered during the course will be conducted in the classroom, attendance is strongly recommended.

• Overview of Safety in the Construction Sector
• Reference Regulations (with particular reference to Italian regulations)
• Safety Actors and Regulatory Bodies
• Types of Risk
• Risk Assessment
• Safety Documentation: DVR (Risk Assessment Document) / DUVRI (Interference Risk Assessment Document) / Preliminary Notice / PSC (Safety and Coordination Plan) / POS (Operational Safety Plan) / Building Safety File / PGE (Emergency Management Plan)
• Construction Site Layout
• Work Schedule

• ·       Course handouts
• ·       M. Rashad Islam, Construction Safety. Health, practices and OSHA, Mc Graw Hill, 2022
• ·       Patrick Manu, Gao Shang, Paulo Jorge Silva Bartolo, Valerie Francis, Anil Sawhney, Handbook of Construction Safety, Health and Well-being in the Industry 4.0 Era, Routledge, 2023
• ·       Reference regulations

An oral exam is scheduled, focusing on the topics covered during the lectures, which will also include the assessment of the practical exercise developed throughout the course.

• Risk assessment;
• Types of risks present on the construction site;
• Workers' obligations.