| The number of structural failures in construction is relatively small compared to the number of existing and under-construction structures. However, once a construction failure or accident occurs, it may cause social and economic losses.; After a project is planned, designed, and scheduled, construction safety procedures are determined subjectively, depending on the level of engineering knowledge and experience. Many uncertainties are involved in the structural reliability analysis of construction projects. They include random, human-based, and system types. The high degree of uncertainty during the preparation and execution of work activities adversely affects the reliability and safety of construction operations.; Many factors which might lead to failures and accidents affect the safety of construction operations. Construction operation safety has a different level of sensitivity to each of these factors. Most of these factors are subjective, vague, and imprecisely defined and, therefore, they are expressed qualitatively rather than quantitatively.; The goal of this study is to incorporate the effect of the state and frequency of the factors that contribute significantly to the risks and consequences of failures and accidents during construction operations.; The modeling technique is developed through safety assessment, evaluation, and optimization methodologies for construction operations. The theory of fuzzy sets and systems is used to quantify the linguistic measures associated the factors as mathematical terms to estimate the safety of construction operations and optimize construction strategies.; The methodologies are very practical and rational. The safety assessment methodology is developed to estimate the risk of failures and accidents in construction operations before actual execution of the work activities. The safety evaluation methodology is developed for safety planning and control purposes during the construction process of work operations.; The development of the optimization methodology is designed to select the most desirable construction strategy to perform work operations. The decision format evaluates the factors with respect to a set of criteria that considers the minimization of relative risk measures along with the total cost function of the construction operation. |
