Al-Shabbani, Z (2019) Improving safety performance of highway maintenance crews through pre-task safety toolbox talks. PhD thesis, University of Kentucky, USA.
Abstract
The dangerous work environment in the construction industry and the inherent high risks associated with construction work make it the focus of safety training and regulations. Highway construction and maintenance has unique hazards but seemingly less directly applicable safety standards, regulations, and programs. Department of Transportation (DOT) employees working in highway maintenance are exposed to a variety of unique hazards specifically associated with their work and not relating to the adjacent traffic. Yet, highway construction and maintenance work has not received sufficient attention in terms of safety research and programs. The lack of safety training and education in highway construction and maintenance work leaves a significant portion of DOT employees prone to different work-related hazards that can be avoided with additional safety awareness. As part of the efforts of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to improve safety of their employees, the study describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a pre-task safety briefing toolbox. By analyzing recordable incidents of KYTC maintenance employees and identifying frequent hazards present within their typical work operations and the causes behind the frequent incidents, the final product of design phase is a toolbox that is relatable and relevant to KYTC maintenance crews. The toolbox presents these hazards along with incidents causes and the appropriate safety practices to avoid or mitigate the associated risk. The goal of this safety toolbox is to improve safety awareness of KYTC maintenance crews. The second part of the study is a comprehensive systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the toolbox. Three evaluation phases including reaction and knowledge evaluation, implementation evaluation, and behavior change evaluation were carried out to assess the effectiveness of the toolbox. With 22% improvement in workers safety knowledge, 23% improvement in workers hazards identification skills, and 33.24% increase in the likelihood of safe behavior, the results showed that pre-task safety toolbox talks can increase highway workers’ safety awareness, improve their hazards identification skills, and increase their safe behavior. In addition to serving an underserved audience of the construction workforce, this study contributes to the body of knowledge in different ways. First, it sheds the light on a significant underserved portion of construction workers and the unique hazards present in their work environment. Second, it presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a data driven safety intervention that addresses the most frequent safety issues in highway maintenance operations. Finally, it presents an empirical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a common practice used in the construction industry in a unique sector of the industry that has not received sufficient research efforts.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | education; hazards; skills; workforce; highway; standards; traffic; briefing; safety; training; regulation; construction worker; employee |
| Index terms: | highway construction, work environment, construction work, effectiveness, design phase, construction worker, implementation, safety training, construction industry, behaviour change, safety issue, program, regulation, safety research, safety standards, body of knowledge, briefing, safety performance |
| Subjects: | behavioral psychology, financial risk, operations management, professional practice, contractual arrangements, knowledge management, practitioner, scope management, occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, political science, management, software systems, civil engineering, performance management |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Governance, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Information Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Procurement, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety |
| 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