Zhao, D; McCoy, A P; Kleiner, B M; Du, J and Smith-Jackson, T L (2016) Decision-making chains in electrical safety for construction workers. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(1): 04015055, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Electrocution is one of the four leading causes of worker deaths in the construction sector, and thus it is paramount to identify its mechanisms. This work interprets the mechanisms of an electrical accident as a chain of decision mistakes throughout the entire task process. The objective of this paper is to visualize the decision-making chains in workplace electrical safety for construction workers. Because of construction's "one-off" nature, the researchers narrow the decision-making chain for specific "features of work" (FOW), a group of distinct activities possessing higher occupational safety and health (OSH) risks and requiring particular attention. By analyzing National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) electrocution reports, the authors identify five features of work and illustrate their decision-making chains. This work promotes electrical safety and injury prevention through the decision-making lens and contributes to the scholarly body of knowledge by introducing a comprehensive approach to the decision-making chain that is applicable to other safety research.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | chi-square automatic interaction detection; classification tree; decision making; electrocution; feature of work; IDEF0; risk management; workplace safety |
| Index terms: | body of knowledge, construction sector, safety research, decision-making, workplace safety, injury, prevention, interaction, construction worker, occupational safety and health, risk management |
| Subjects: | occupational health and safety management, health conditions and diseases, decision analysis, occupational health, industry analysis, behavioral psychology, financial risk, knowledge management, risk assessment, practitioner |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Cost Management, Information Management, Research Practice, Risk Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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