The Impact of Job, Site, and Industry Experience on Worker Health and Safety

Reinvestigation of the Psychological Mechanisms of Construction Experience on Hazard Recognition Performance

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to reinvestigate psychological mechanisms of the influence of construction workers' experience on hazard recognition performance, with signal detection theory (SDT) and electroencephalogram (EEG) readings.

BACKGROUND

Existing evidence regarding the effect of experience on hazard recognition performance in the construction industry remains inconsistent. Behavior-wise, identification of dominant hazard recognition factors (sensitivity or response bias, or both) would help determine appropriate training strategies to improve hazard recognition. In terms of neuro-responses, induced gamma-band activity was expected to reflect the cognitive functions mediating the psychological effects of experience.

METHOD

Seventy-seven construction workers participated in a predesigned hazard recognition task, in which participants judged whether a hazard was present from a series of construction scenario pictures. We computed and compared the sensitivity and response bias of SDT and time-frequency representations of recorded EEG signals of the two experience-level groups.

RESULTS

Novice workers had higher hazard recognition rates. Behavior-wise, novices were more sensitive than more experienced workers. Compared with experienced workers, novices showed stronger gamma-band difference power (hazardous minus safe) in the left frontal and right posterior parietal areas during the hazard recognition process.

CONCLUSION

Novices performed better at hazard recognition, indicating their sensitivity to the hazards without a clear difference in response bias. Based on the EEG data, novices' sensitivity may be attributed to more efficient working memory and attentional control.

APPLICATION

There is a need for continuous refreshment of hazard recognition skills for experienced workers for safety interventions.

Exploring Occupational Health and Safety Standards Compliance in the South African Mining Industry, Limpopo Province, Using Principal Component Analysis

The health and safety of the miners in the South African mining industry are guided by the regulations and standards applied to promote a healthy work environment. The miners must comply with these regulations/standards to protect themselves from potential occupational health and safety risks, accidents, and fatalities. The status of compliance to safety regulations and standards in the mining industry of Limpopo Province has received little attention from scholars. This study explores the practices related to occupational health and safety standards compliance in the mining industry. A total of 277 miners were randomly selected from 1300 respondents in the mining industry. Data were collected using a 31-item survey questionnaire, administered to miners to explore occupational health and safety standards compliance from December 2019 to May 2020. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) extracted key attributes of occupational health and safety standards compliance in the mining industry and uncovered relationships between different dimensions. The study revealed that seven factors could measure occupational health and safety standards practices. It was observed that Factor 1 (occupational health practice related to regulations) is correlated with Factor 2 (measures to reduce risk of injuries/accidents). Additionally, Factor 2 (measures to minimise the risk of injuries/accidents) is correlated with Factor 4 (impact of the environment and production). There is a correlation between non-compliance with the safety regulations and the occurrence of injuries and accidents.

Exploring Worker Experience as a Predictor of Routine and Non-routine Safety Performance Outcomes in the Mining Industry

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role that individual factors play in health and safety (H&S) outcomes in the mining industry. Two surveys, one measuring self-reported routine safety performance and one measuring individual perceived competence in the non-routine knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) critical to emergency response, were administered to two samples of mineworkers in separate research studies over a 2-year period (N = 2,020 and 696, respectively). Eight demographic items were common to both surveys and their associations with each performance outcome were tested in response to a series of exploratory research questions. Significant relationships were found between both safety outcome variables and individual factors, including the length of experience in current job, current mine, and mining industry, as well as participant workgroup and work schedule. Notably, the length of experience in the mining industry was the only variable significantly associated with both routine and non-routine safety performance. This analysis suggests that individual factors such as length of job, industry, and mine experience are predictive of routine and/or non-routine safety performance outcomes in significant and sometimes unexpected ways.

Identify the Influence of Risk Attitude, Work Experience, and Safety Training on Hazard Recognition in Mining

Mineworkers face a challenging and dynamic work environment every workday. To maintain a safe workplace, mineworkers must be able to recognize worksite hazards while they perform their jobs. Though hazard recognition is a critical skill, recent research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicates that mineworkers fail to identify a significant number of hazards. To further the understanding of mineworkers' hazard recognition ability and to begin to address hazard recognition performance, NIOSH researchers analyzed data collected during a laboratory research study to determine the effect of individual mineworker factors including risk attitude, work experience, and safety training on hazard recognition accuracy. The results of this study show that mineworker risk attitude and safety-specific work experience affect hazard recognition performance while hazard-specific safety training does not. These results suggest that some of these individual factors can be overcome through experience and training. Potential strategies that can be used to address these factors are also discussed.