The Center for Innovation in Construction Safety, Health & Well-being (IC-SAFE) is consortium of researchers, students, industry leaders, worker and trades representatives, and professional staff conducting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to improve safety and health in construction. The goal of IC-SAFE is to markedly reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities for American construction workers, which will lead to measurable improvements to the national statistical profile. Ultimately, our integrated design and delivery team involves architects, engineers, safety professionals, public health, statisticians, students, industry, and others. Our engaged Stakeholders' Committee and Industry Advisory Board (IAB) will serve the center by providing feedback and feed-forward guidance. Our outcome-based projects seek the highest level of risk control, elimination, and prevention, separating humans and hazards. This will increase construction sustainability, leading to industry revitalization. We will deliver back to industry, through the practice-to-research-to-practice (P2R2P) cycle, pragmatic and measurable results that do not trade-off against productivity or profitability. We aim to serve and protect the diverse "whole" industry.
Our consortium of research stakeholders is situationally aware and produces synergistic results across disciplinary, organizational, state, worker representation, industry, cultural, and sector boundaries. Our external advisors, diverse leaders from industry, insurance, and worker organizations, are led by a former CEO who decided to lead OSH efforts for his company and industry transformation. Such passion for the worker and measurable change permeates the Center's consortium.
IC-SAFE includes occupational safety and health (OSH) researchers with a committed passion and desire to address a variety of construction safety and health issues in a variety of diverse construction populations to transform workers' occupational lives, their families, and the industry itself into a safer, more productive and fulfilling environment.
What is Interdisciplinary Research? It is research involving two or more field of study.
What is Transdisciplinary Research? It is the integration of diverse forms of research and transcends their traditional boundaries.
What is P2R2P (practice-to-research-to-practice)? It is when practice drives the educational and research needs and rigorous research results are packaged and disseminated as scholarly and practical products.
Mission
The IC-SAFE Mission is to improve construction worker safety, health, and well-being by connecting and integrating industry, education, and research. The goal is to reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities for American construction workers, and to improve their well-being. The Center established a practice-to-research-to-practice (p2r2p) life-cycle for research such that pragmatic and measurable results do not trade-off against productivity or profitability. We aim to serve and protect the diverse "whole" industry and supply chain. This is accomplished via faculty, graduate, and undergraduate discovery (i.e. practice-to-research-to-practice); student-centric service learning, curricular and extracurricular learning; industry, and worker engagement for outcome-based results.
Vision
The vision of the Center is to provide national leadership for construction safety, health, and well-being research, teaching and engagement.
Values
The researchers and professional staff of IC-SAFE value:
- Our end user, the American construction worker, and their family and friends. Of particular concern are groups disproportionately at risk.
- Our strategic partners and use participatory and inclusive approaches that empower and encourage their participation.
- The entire construction sector, including the complete life-cycle process of a building.
- Bench-marking best practices from other successful construction stakeholders and other industries.
- Faculty support, including appropriate distribution of credit and resources.
- Sound construction science and occupational safety and health principles to guide our practices.
- A socio-technical systems (STS) approach to guide safety, health and well-being processes, and research methods.
- Domestic and international service learning opportunities.
- International collaboration and engagement as an opportunity to learn from other successes and encourage construction safety and health participation.
- Discovery, learning and engagement that are cost effective, innovative, translatable, and well-received.
