GIS-based health and safety information analysis

The successful implementation of an optimal health and safety management process in the UK construction industry has been impeded by the inadequate utilisation of information present in the construction environment. Consequently, this inability to adequately utilise construction environment information has contributed to the construction industry becoming one of the most dangerous industries to work in. This chapter explores an approach that addresses the utilisation of construction environment information that can enable the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to utilise analysed information for various construction accident mitigation programmes. The approach is based on the utilisation of Geographical Information System (GIS) analytical capabilities. The research demonstrates that the use of a GIS-based approach for analysis of construction environment information could have major benefits for the HSE. Some of the benefits include bringing together fragmented construction environment information, ease of communication, ease of storage and ease of analysis of information from varied sources. These benefits can inevitably in a positive way enhance accident and ill-health analysis surveillance and assessment programmes.