High Reliability Organisation (HRO) Principles of Collective Mindfulness: An Opportunity to Improve Construction Safety Management

The construction industry remains a high-risk industry, because of high fatality rates worldwide. Most construction accidents result from interaction between the work team, workplace, equipment and materials which lead to about 70% of injuries and fatalities. A wide range of safety management approaches have been implemented to manage construction risks, and they have been successful in reducing lost time injuries and incidents. However, a number of safety management approaches currently used in the industry have not kept pace with emerging theory on accident causation, prevention and safety management. To minimise accidents more advanced approaches and methods are required, and one of such methods is High Reliability Organisation (HRO) principles of collective mindfulness. This paper presents a systematic review of HRO research published in construction from 1990–2017. This review aims to identify the possibilities and barriers associated with transferring HRO principles to construction activities. Key findings from seven articles are discussed, research gaps identified and primary outcomes from the data will be presented descriptively.