Lonsdale, J H (2004) Situational awareness and risk perception of operatives using portable ladders in the construction industry. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 20th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2004, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
Accidents involving falls from portable ladders occur at a rate of 40 per week in the construction industry. Ladders are so common that they are taken for granted and the awareness and perceived risks, particularly at low levels, are often underestimated, with operatives having an 'it won't happen to me' attitude towards their safety. This paper reports information on risk awareness gathered from questionnaires and structured interviews taken from a cross section (by age, experience and work type) of 500 construction operatives, attending construction related training courses. The majority of operatives are aware of the hazards when using ladders but not the extent of the risks. There was a greater perception of risk at high levels but an underestimation of the risk at low levels. The information will be used to develop a ladder use training toolkit to promote the safe use of portable ladders by operatives of construction organisations.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | falls from height; ladder; risk perception; safety; training toolkit |
| Index terms: | toolkit, construction industry, construction operative, operative, questionnaire, risk perception, falls, construction organization, interview, low level |
| Subjects: | measurement and scaling, industry analysis, environmental hazards, health risk and incident analysis, software systems, data collection methods, organization, practitioner |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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