Hu, Z; Chan, W T; Hu, H and Xu, F (2023) Cognitive factors underlying unsafe behaviors of construction workers as a tool in safety management: A review. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 149(3): 03123001, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Understanding the dynamic interactions in the construction worker's cognitive process is the key to eliminating human errors on construction sites and designing safety interventions to facilitate better safety management. However, the existing literature lacks a systematic review of the construction workers' cognitive-related factors from the perspective of competence and their application in safety interventions. This review aims to summarize the state-of-the-art cognitive-related studies of construction employee errors and provide a guide for considering cognitive-related factors for safety management. The selection of relevant studies was through a three-step process. Key findings from these papers are organized into three areas of interest, namely (1) extractions of cognitive-related factors in the construction worker's cognitive process, (2) determinations of the cognitive-related factors, and (3) cognitive-based safety interventions. Key conclusions include: (1) cognitive-related factors have been studied piecemeal and the ones that show a worker's competence have been missing; (2) sensing of cognitive factors has focused on the perception stage and mixed indicator matrix to determine the worker's cognitive status is needed; (3) safety interventions lack personalization and need to incorporate usable cognitive factors. A synthesis of the concepts underlying the reviewed studies is provided to get a sense of the strengths and gaps in the current studies, with suggestions for future research provided.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cognitive factor; construction safety; human error; review |
| Index terms: | state of the art, safety management, systematic literature review, construction worker, competence, interaction, unsafe behaviour, construction employee, construction site, construction safety |
| Subjects: | environmental health, research dissemination and communication, behavioral psychology, research evaluation and metrics, occupational health and safety management, work location, financial risk, practitioner, personnel development |
| Topics: | Cost Management, Human Resources, Research Practice, Site Management, Sustainability, Roles and Professions, 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