Improvements of design for safety in construction through multi-participants perception analysis

For several decades, the number of reported accidents and fatal incidents in the construction industry has remained high compared to those in other industries. Therefore, many studies have been conducted in an effort to reduce accidents and fatal incidents in the construction industry. Recently, construction safety management has shifted from the construction phase to the pre-construction phase, ultimately to eliminate fatal incidents. In line with this change, South Korea enacted the Design for Safety (DfS) process in 2016. However, the current DfS process remains not well implemented for several reasons. Therefore, this study aims to present eight alternatives to improve the DfS process and suggests DfS improvement priorities by considering construction project participants and career levels using what is known as a fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP) analysis. The results of this study are as follows. First, respondents overall suggested improvements in the area of 'assignment of responsibility for DfS to the client' (0.196). Second, improvement priorities were also identified according to construction project participants and career levels. The results of the study can be utilized as basic information for DfS improvements during construction projects.