Managing health and safety risks in restoration/renovation of historic buildings

Abstract

Restoration and renovation of historic buildings aim to preserve and sustain those buildings with their original state. This fact is important to conserve historical values for a society as well as for sustainable city planning. Restoration projects have their own occupational health and safety risks and differ from ordinary construction projects. Additionally, implementation of safety measures according to the current regulations are very difficult due to geometrical structure, type of material used and preservation consideration for the structural and architectural elements of the historic buildings. Since the risks as well as mitigation and abatement techniques differ from conventional buildings, restoration projects require paying attention to establish safety and health plan and risk management system to implement safety and health measures. In this paper, different health and safety risks of the restoration projects are discussed. Different safety and health practices are dealt with ordinary structures, risk assessment is made according to specific risks, findings are revealed in some certain restoration projects in Turkey and a new approach for health and safety management in restoration projects is introduced.