Liu, P (2025) Enhancing construction safety: Assessing training effectiveness using wearable sensing technology and optimizing work zone configuration through a behavioral approach. PhD thesis, University of Wyoming, USA.
Abstract
The construction industry consistently ranks among the most hazardous sectors, highlighting the urgent need for strategies to enhance construction safety. Despite increased investment in safety training interventions, current methods often fail to accommodate individual differences in perception and cognition to address the complexity of real-world construction environments. This study focuses on enhancing construction safety through two key approaches: assessing training effectiveness using wearable sensing technologies and optimizing work zone configurations through a behavioral approach. First, eye-tracking technology and electroencephalography (EEG) were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of safety training. A literature review demonstrated that eye-tracking technology has become an essential tool for construction safety. It was employed to investigate the efficacy of daily safety training in visual search strategy and hazard recognition performance. EEG offers direct insights into cognitive workload and neural processing during training compared to eye-tracking technology. Safety training styles, including vision-based and audio-based, were investigated to identify more effective EEG training styles. Further, the impact of the NSPE Code of Ethics on enhancing ethical awareness in construction workers was explored through corresponding neural responses. In addition to investigating the training using wearable sensing technology, the study also examined how construction area layout influences driver behavior and safety using a behavioral analysis approach. Driver behaviors in work zones with various construction area layouts were evaluated to optimize design for safer environments. The study also analyzes the effect of construction layouts on lane-changing behaviors to support improvements in layout standards and regulatory practices. These efforts provide a comprehensive, data-driven framework for advancing construction safety through enhanced training methods and better environmental design.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Zhang, C |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | complexity; construction safety; environmental design; ethics; investment; safety; standards; training |
| Index terms: | effectiveness, construction industry, safety training, construction worker, environmental design, ethics, cognition, configuration, construction safety, complexity, training effectivenes, literature review, strategy, workload |
| Subjects: | ethical practice, practitioner, assessment methods, cognitive psychology, sustainability and energy, data analysis and analytics, occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, systems engineering, environmental health, management, performance management |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Education, Quality Management, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Design Practice, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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