Influence of semantic cues on hazard-inspection performance: a case in construction safety

Analysis of eye movements of workers in safe and unsafe behaviors using a video-based method

Analyzing eye movements of workers in safe and unsafe behaviors can reduce accidents. With a video-based method, the angular velocity of gaze direction (AVGD) represents micro-movements in gaze and angular velocity in saccade is used to analyze eye movements. A similar behavior simulation experiment is designed to collect operation videos, and an eye movement information extraction and processing framework is constructed to quantify and analyze eye movements. The results show that: the root mean square and movement frequency of AVGD can be used to recognize unsafe behavior; in operations with attention target fixation, compared with safe behavior, workers in unsafe behavior have higher angular velocity, movement frequency and turn frequency of eye movements; and in operations with attention target change, eye movement rules of workers in safe and unsafe behaviors depend on operation types. The results can provide features for unsafe behavior recognition and theoretical bases for safety training.

A Systematic Review of Eye-Tracking Studies of Construction Safety

Safety is the most important concern in the construction industry, and construction workers' attention allocation is closely associated with their hazard recognition and safety behaviors. The recent emergence of eye-tracking techniques allows researchers in construction safety to further investigate construction workers' visual attention allocation during hazard recognition. The existing eye-tracking studies in construction safety need to be comprehensively understood, to provide practical suggestions for future research and on-site safety management. This study aims to summarize previous studies on the application of eye-tracking techniques to the construction safety context through a systematic literature review. The literature search and study selection process included 22 eligible studies. Content analysis was then carried out from participant selection, device selection, task design, area of interest determination, feature extraction, data analysis, and main findings. Major limitations of the existing studies are identified, and recommendations for future research in theoretical development, experiment improvement, and data analysis method advancement are proposed to address these limitations. Even though the application of eye-tracking techniques in construction safety research is still in its early stage, it is worth future continuous attention because relevant discoveries would be of great significance to hazard control and safety management in the construction industry.

Evolutionary Process of Promoting Construction Safety Education to Avoid Construction Safety Accidents in China

Construction safety is related to the life and health of construction workers and has always been a hot issue of concern for government and construction units. The government can use “construction safety education” to reduce the probability of safety accidents in the construction process and avoid the loss of life and property of construction workers. To encourage construction units to provide safety education for construction workers before construction starts and promote construction workers to actively participate in safety education. In this paper, a tripartite evolutionary game model of government–construction units–construction workers is established, and the factors affecting each party’s behavior strategy are comprehensively analyzed. Firstly, evolutionary game theory is used to investigate the influence of different behavior strategies among government, construction units, and construction workers on the behavior strategies of the other two parties. Secondly, according to the events in different situations, the influence of critical factors on the evolution process of the model is analyzed. On this basis, combined with the construction experience and construction data of actual construction projects, the established model and preliminary conclusions are verified. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of all parameters is carried out. The results show that: (1) The government’s enhancement of reward and punishment is conducive to promoting the choice of "providing safety education" for construction orders and the choice of “actively participating in safety education” for construction workers, but the excessive reward will lead to the government’s unwillingness of participation; (2) The reasonable reward and punishment mechanism set by the government must meet the condition that the sum of rewards and punishments for all parties is more significant than their speculative gains, to ensure the construction safety under the evolutionary stability; (3) Increasing welfare subsidies for construction workers who choose to participate in safety education actively is an effective way to avoid unwilling participation of construction workers.