Factors affecting unsafe behavior in construction projects: development and validation of a new questionnaire

Identification of key factors influencing unsafe behavior of decoration workers

This study explores the factors influencing unsafe behaviors among decorators. The study begins with a literature review on unsafe behaviors among construction workers, compiling a checklist of factors specific to decorators. Utilizing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), a measurement scale for these factors is developed. Subsequently, stepwise regression analysis (SRA) is conducted to validate relationships and identify crucial factors. Results categorize influencing factors into three dimensions: personal, organizational and environmental. Non-compliance with safety procedures and protocols is found to correlate directly with increased unsafe behavior at an individual level. Additionally, internal safety regulations within companies are identified as having a direct negative impact on unsafe behaviors at the organizational level. This study enhances our understanding of unsafe behaviors among decorators and offers recommendations for mitigation.

Exploring the Formation Mechanism of Unsafe Construction Behavior and Testing Efficient Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Programs

Safety education and training for employees is important to ensure the safety of construction and improve the safety awareness of employees. It is difficult to meet the needs of the new situation of safety production with traditional safety education and training consequences of construction enterprises. To address this deficiency, this research analyzed the formation mechanism of safety behavior of personnel at different levels in construction enterprises from the perspective of behaviorist psychology and studied their different needs for safety training, designing training programs for simple safety behavior and complex safety behavior according to the degree of difficulty of the training content. This research also developed and tested models of training frequency and training times and carried out corresponding experimental research. Through the experiments of “safety behavior by wearing a helmet” and “fire control consciousness training”, it was found that the training of consciousness of relatively complex safety behavior should follow the principles that each training should last longer and the training interval should not be too short, so as to minimize the cost of safety education and training while ensuring the quality of safety education and training.

Construction Safety Performance Measurement Using Leading Indicator-based Jobsite Safety Inspection Method - A Case Study of Building Construction Project

AbstractThe construction industry is one of the hazardous industries all over the world. There have been continuous safety efforts on post-facto safety investigations and related corrective actions. However, to prevent future accidents, post-facto reports may not be able to provide comprehensive insights. Also, past literature pointed at limited proactive efforts to measure the current level of safety at the project. Therefore, this study introduced a leading indicator-based Jobsite safety inspection (JSI) method to measure the project's safety performance. A total of 781 observations were reported in baseline and follow-up JSI on a real construction site. The study's findings highlighted an increase in safe behavior and conditions (SB&C) by reducing unsafe behavior (UB) and unsafe conditions (UC). Results confirmed the significant improvement in the safety performance index (SPI) of the case study from 39.07% to 67.47%. This study also investigated hazardous locations and weak safety dimensions for further SPI improvement.

Factors Influencing Safety on Construction Projects (fSCPs): Types and Categories

Due to the fact of activity, environment and work dynamics, the construction industry is characterised by high accident rates. Different initiatives have emerged to reduce these figures, which focus on using new methodologies and technologies for safety management. Therefore, it is essential to know the key factors and their influence on safety in construction projects (fSCPs) to focus efforts on these elements. Through a systematic literature review, based on PRISMA methodology, this article identifies, describes and categorises 100 factors that affect construction safety. It thus contributes by providing a comprehensive general framework, unifying previous studies focused on specific geographic areas or case studies with factors not considered or insufficiently disaggregated, along with an absence of classifications focused on understanding where and how factors affect the different dimensions of construction projects. The 100 factors identified are described and categorised according to the dimensions and aspects of the project in which these have an impact, along with identifying whether they are shaping or immediate factors or originating influences for the generation of accidents. These factors, their description and classification are a key contribution to improving the systematic creation of safety and generating training and awareness materials to fully develop a safety culture in organisations.

Exploring individual factors influencing human reliability among control room operators: a qualitative study

Identifying the individual factors is a major issue in determining the likelihood of human error and ultimately human reliability. In current human reliability assessment methods, this is determined based on a list of performance shaping factors and experts' judgment. This was a qualitative content analysis study, in which the participants were selected using purposive sampling from combined cycle power plant control rooms. Semi-structured interviews were performed and collected data were analyzed. A total of 32 operators (20 module controllers, eight head operators and four managers) were interviewed. Five categories were extracted, namely 'mental condition', 'consciousness at work', 'professional competence', 'communication skills' and 'quick reactions and decision-making capabilities'. Accordingly, it is suggested to taken into account such factors as professional competence and speed of reactions and to pay more attention to their important factors in the reliability of operators in combined cycle power plant control rooms.

Determinants for Safety Climate Evaluation of Construction Industry Sites in Saudi Arabia

The hazardous nature of the construction industry requires giving increasing attention to safety management and the available means to eliminate or reduce the risks of workers' injuries. Workers in the construction industry of Saudi Arabia face similar daily risks as workers face in other countries. The safety climate significantly influences safety performance, making research in the field of safety climate a vital step toward raising safety levels at construction sites. This study aims at exploring key components of determinants for safety climate evaluation of Saudi Arabian construction sites. Using data collected from 401 industry practitioners, a dimension reduction statistical approach and exploratory factor/principal component analysis were conducted on 13 safety climate factors that were found to significantly correlate with safety climate evaluation of construction sites. The study revealed three key components of determinants for safety climate evaluation of Saudi Arabian construction sites. Notable components are safety commitment, safety interaction, and safety support. Implications of this study include assisting construction industry stakeholders to bolster the safety climate at their construction sites, which should lead to improved safety performance levels.

Development of the Protocol of the Occupational Risk Assessment Method for Construction Works: Level of Preventive Action

Risk assessment on a construction site is based on the probability and consequences of the accident. But due to the complexity of the construction processes, this new methodology for the evaluation of occupational risks, called Level of Preventive Action, develops a new parameter for evaluating preventive action based on documentary environment that reflects the complexity of the work units, location and interdependence, construction environment referred to construction and protection systems, and social environment relative to the perception of the environment and the workers’ emotional states. The evaluation criteria of the new method are established by developing the William T. Fine methodology and incorporating concepts such as risk tolerance, the importance of work and personal satisfaction, which justify the degree of correction of preventive actions. This methodology determines the amount of preventive action control that is required during the construction process. This research proposes a risk assessment protocol adapted to construction sites based on specialized technical observation with a psychosocial survey on site. Some results of the implementation of the method in real work are shown. In conclusion, the determining parameter towards optimal control of preventive action is the direct and active participation of workers in safety matters.

A Safety Performance Assessment Framework for the Petroleum Industry’s Sustainable Development Based on FAHP-FCE and Human Factors

Sustainability is a key factor in petroleum industry development, determining whether an enterprise has the ability to maintain high-quality safety management in the long term. In order to reduce occupational injuries and accidents, and to improve safety in the petroleum industry, this study proposes a hybrid approach based on the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), human factors, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) method in order to assess safety performance in a petroleum enterprise. This paper is comprised of four stages. In the first stage, a model is constructed for assessing the safety of the petroleum industry based on a literature review. In the second stage, we use the FAHP to determine the weights of five factors and 19 sub-factors. In the third stage, employees are the subjects of a questionnaire on the safety performance of the petroleum enterprise. According to the analysis of the assessment results, we focus on improving employees’ safety behaviors and mental health. A second round of questionnaires is distributed to the employees, and a second set of assessment results obtained. Finally, the results of the two evaluations are compared, and the effectiveness of the combination of FAHP, human factors, and FCE is verified.

Preliminary Human Safety Assessment (PHSA) for the Improvement of the Behavioral Aspects of Safety Climate in the Construction Industry

Occupational safety in the construction industry still represents a relevant problem at a global level. In fact, the complexity of working activities in this sector requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond normative compliance to guarantee safer working conditions. In particular, empirical research on the factors influencing the unsafe behavior of workers needs to be augmented. Thus, the relationship between human factors and safety management issues following a bottom-up approach was investigated. In particular, an easy-to-use procedure that can be used to better address workers’ safety needs augmenting the company’s safety climate and supporting safety management issues was developed. Such an approach, based on the assessment of human reliability factors, was verified in a real case study concerning the users of concrete mixer trucks. The results showed that the majority of human failures were action and retrieval errors, underlining the importance of theoretical and practical training programs as a means to improve safety behavior. In such a context, information and communication activities also resulted beneficially to augment the company’s safety climate. The proposed approach, despite its qualitative nature, allows a clearer understanding of workers’ perceptions of hazards and their risk-taking behavior, providing practical cues to monitor and improve the behavioral aspects of safety climate. Hence, these first results can contribute to augmenting safety knowledge in the construction industry, providing a basis for further investigations on the causalities related to human performances, which are considered a key element in the prevention of accidents.