Principles Of Lean Construction

By Steven Huntzinger

Many of the lean construction principles directly impact the safety of workers and the hazards present on a job-site. A key element of lean construction is the elimination of waste. The areas of focus include many fundamentals that contribute to reducing hazards on the job. Improving overproduction, waiting, talent utilization, transportation, inventory control, unnecessary movement and over processing, all improve efficiency and safety. The ideal state of a lean construction project is a continuous, uninterrupted workflow that is reliable and predictable. When components are manufactured off-site and delivered on-time, the sources of inefficiency are reduced and so are the hazards.

When the work is moved to the controlled environment of a shop, engineering controls can be put in place to reduce or eliminate the hazards. Here are some of the hazards that are reduced when off-site fabrication is used.