Blackmon, R B and Gramopadhye, A K (1995) Improving construction safety by providing positive feedback on backup alarms. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 121(2), pp. 166-171. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Federally mandated backup alarms and safety management have been unable to eliminate fatalities and injuries due to maneuvering trucks and mobile equipment on construction sites. Workers appear to ignore the alarms as part of the general noise level. When reversing, drivers and equipment operators tend to depend on the alarm's effectiveness to clear areas in which drivers have limited visibility. Using human factors analysis, the problem was recognized as one of decremented vigilance, a person's natural inability to sustain attention without positive feedback. This paper presents experimental data on the use of a simulated, discriminating, personal alarm activated by a short range, directional transmitter to encourage safe behavior. During the experiment there was a significant increase in response time, as expected, for the conventional backup alarm and a decrease in response time for the discriminating personal alarm. The proposed backup alarm system has the potential to eliminate on-site vehicle/equipment accidents.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | safety management, construction site, fatalities, injury, experiment, effectiveness, human factor, construction safety |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, performance management, work location, health risk and incident analysis, health conditions and diseases, environmental health, occupational health and safety management |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Sustainability, Quality Management, Site Management, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here