How Do Project Manager's View Construction Safety in Australia versus the United States?

This paper investigates differences between the safety cultures in the United States and Australia from the viewpoint of constructor project managers. The authors conducted interviews with the project managers on three large construction projects in both countries to qualitatively examine differences of how safety is considered throughout the construction project lifecycle. The results indicate that while constructability reviews during the design phase occur in both countries, safety is considered as an explicit factor in constructability reviews in Australia, while in the United States safety is considered after this review is completed. It is contended that this difference has a major impact on safety culture.