SAFETY EVALUATION OF THE SELF-SUPPORTED STEEL JOINT FOR STEEL ERECTION WORK

Recently, the scale of buildings has been increasing because of the high-rise trend and complexity of underground spaces. A significant number of steel structures have therefore been adopted for building construction. Since workers need to work in high places to install steel beams, many industrial accidents easily occur during steel-frame work. Furthermore, considering the increasing trend of building steel structures, the safety of the workers during the steel beam erection work is of concern. To improve the safety, a new type of joint, located between the steel column and beam, which can eliminate the need for working at the elevated height during steel beam erection has been developed in Korea. Using the newly developed technology in the construction field, the safety performance needs to be evaluated. This study presented the safety evaluation approach for the newly developed technology from the literature review, and applied the method to a self-supported steel joint. The result showed that applying the self-supported steel joint improved the safety of the steel erection work in terms of working posture, working environment, and risk exposure time.