Ibrahim, A; Nnaji, C; Namian, M and Shakouri, M (2024) Evaluating the impact of hazard information on fieldworkers' safety risk perception. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(3): 04023174, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Construction is a hazardous industry due to the dynamic nature of the work environment. However, limited studies have investigated how the introduction of additional hazards affects construction fieldworkers' perception of safety risks. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of varying levels of hazard information on fieldworkers' safety risk perception (SRP) for the OSHA "fatal four"hazards. A sample of 181 fieldworkers rated the severity and frequency of safety incidents for five construction work scenarios. The study found that as new hazards were introduced in the work scenarios, the fieldworkers had a significant change in their perception of risks for about 71% of the accident causes. They were able to assess safety risks related to slip, trip, fall; struck-by; caught-in or -between; electrocution; stepping on an object; fall to a lower level; and trapped-in by collapsing. However, they failed to perceive the risk of increasing the number of workers in a hazardous work environment, indicating that workers focus on the severity of the occurrence of accidents and do not pay attention to the workers present on the scene. This study provides new insight into the role of varying degrees of hazard information in situational awareness and highlights the need for additional research at the intersection of worker exposure and situational awareness. Additionally, results from the study could inform the development of safety training to enhance workplace safety.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | dynamic environment; fieldworkers; OSHA fatal four; risk perception; safety risk assessment |
| Index terms: | exposure, workplace safety, risk perception, risk assessment, construction work, work environment, safety training |
| Subjects: | operations management, environmental hazards, occupational health, occupational health and safety management, financial risk, public and environmental health, management |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Sustainability, Cost Management, Health and Safety, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
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