Using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS approaches for assessing safety conditions at worksites in construction industry

Providing safe workplace conditions is one of the main purposes of a safety management system (SMS) in effective construction companies. Ensuring safe workplace conditions at construction sites depends on different factors, including safety rules, management commitment, safety training, and safe behaviour. The current research aims to establish a method for identifying and evaluating the factors that impact workplace safety conditions at construction sites in Saudi Arabia. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique was used to determine and measure the qualitative factor weights affecting workplace safety to assist in the evaluation of multiple concurrent criteria. Hence, the fuzzy AHP technique was used to determine criterion weight. Alternatively, a fuzzy technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model was used to evaluate the performance of companies and rank them according to their safety performance. Based on the results and findings of the presented approaches, four companies were ranked for their overall safety performance. The findings are encouraging and can be used in the construction industry to benchmark the performance of construction companies for their application of safety rules and regulations. The approach also determines the leading companies in terms of best practices and provides information for government inspectors to investigate the priorities identified for inspection.