Peng, L; Man, S S; Chung, H T; Chan, A H S and Zhang, Z (2025) Prospective workers' perceptions of crane operation risks: Using a pairwise comparison. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(7): 05025001, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Crane operations are common in the construction industry when handling bulky and heavy materials. This study investigated the risk perception of prospective workers on typical risk scenarios regarding crane operations to identify their degree and cognitive dimensions of risk perception and knowledge of the respective situations. The risk perception of 189 university students of engineering-related program majors was evaluated using an online survey featuring 10 crane operation risk scenarios presented via animation videos and a pairwise comparison approach. The results revealed a commendable ability among prospective workers to assess the crane operation risk scenarios. They notably identified unsafe loading and improper rigging as the scenarios posing the highest risks. Furthermore, the analysis uncovered two fundamental dimensions shaping their risk perception: subjective misoperation and hazard nature. These insights are invaluable for designing training programs to minimize crane-related accidents among novice workers. The primary contributions of this study are to provide empirical evidence about prospective workers' degree and cognitive dimensions of risk perception and knowledge of the crane operation risk scenarios. The findings reveal large gaps in the safety education and training provided to engineering management professionals. The large gaps underscore the urgent need to enhance educational programs and training initiatives to equip future construction managers with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective risk assessment and mitigation. By addressing these gaps, construction accidents can be reduced, and a safe working environment can be promoted within the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | crane safety; pairwise comparison approach; prospective worker; risk perception |
| Index terms: | evidence, construction accident, mitigation, construction manager, program, university student, engineering management, survey, risk perception, risk assessment, education and training, dimension, loading, construction industry |
| Subjects: | construction operations, curriculum design, evaluation and assessment methods, environmental hazards, professional education, financial risk, health monitoring assessment and metrics, control systems, profession, data collection methods, industry analysis, occupational health and safety management, software systems |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Project Management, Sustainability, Education, Cost Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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