Developing a Versatile Subway Construction Incident Database for Safety Management

It is very difficult to implement quantitative risk assessment (QRA) for safety management in subway construction because of to the shortage of sufficient information about accidents happening in subway construction. QRA contains, for example, the statistical analysis of incidents, the calculation of safety precursors, and a foundation of precursor early warning systems. To enhance the possibility of QRA and further the safety management in subway construction, a versatile subway construction incident database (SCID) was developed. SCID is composed of three kinds of incidents-inclusive of accidents, near-misses, and unsafe behaviorsconditions. First, this paper researched in-depth on the relationship and differentiation among incident, accident, near-miss, and unsafe behaviorcondition, and the methodology of data collection about subway construction incident was represented. Second, Microsoft Access 2007 was employed as the software platform and each part of SCID was devised. Then, the organization structure of SCID implementation was constructed from three aspects of surveillance, research, and implementation, for the sake of a better effect. Finally, a case example of the use of the SCID for safety management in subway construction was expatiated. This study can fill a gap in the safety management of subway construction and will contribute to safety risk analysis as a qualitative tool in identifying relevant precursor scenarios or as a quantitative tool in estimating safety management. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000518. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.