Exploring the Potential Use of Near-Miss Information to Improve Construction Safety Performance

Evaluating the effects of safety incentives on worker safety behavior control through image-based activity classification

Introduction

Construction worker safety remains a major concern even as task automation increases. Although safety incentives have been introduced to encourage safety compliance, it is still difficult to accurately measure the effectiveness of these measures. A simple count of accident rates and lower numbers do not necessarily mean that workers are properly complying with safety regulations. To address this problem, this study proposes an image-based approach to monitor moment-by-moment worker safety behavior and evaluate the effects of different safety incentive scenarios.

Methods

By capturing workers' safety behaviors using a model integrated with OpenPose and spatiotemporal graph convolutional network, this study evaluated the effects of safety-incentive scenarios on workers' compliance with rules while on the job. The safety incentive scenarios in this study were designed as 1) varying the type (i.e., providing rewards and penalties) of incentives and 2) varying the frequency of feedback about ones' own compliance status during tasks. The effects of the scenarios were compared to the average compliance rates of three safety regulations (i.e., personal protective equipment self-monitoring hazard avoidance, and arranging the safety hook) for each scenario.

Results

The results show that 1) rewarding a good-compliance is more effective when there is no feedback on compliance status, and 2) penalizing non-compliance is more effective when there are three feedbacks during the tasks.

Discussion

This study provides a more accurate assessment of safety incentives and their effectiveness by focusing on safe behaviors to promote safety compliance among construction workers.

The structure of near misses and occupational accidents in the polish construction industry

Near misses are referred to in literature as precursors of occupational accidents. These events, and their relationships with occupational accidents in various economic sectors have been the subject of research in several countries around the world. In Poland, there has not been a lot of research with regards to near misses in the construction industry, and the published materials are of a very general nature. This article aims to fill the existing research gap regarding the relationship between near misses and occupational accidents in the Polish construction industry. The aim of the research presented in the article was to identify the qualitative and quantitative structure of hazardous events in the construction industry, and to estimate the a posteriori probability of the occurrence of such events. The research was carried out on the basis of information obtained from the hazardous event registration system from a large Polish enterprise that carried out construction works in Poland in the years 2015-2022. Identified dangerous events in the construction industry were divided into two generic groups, i.e. occupational accidents and near misses. Within each group, eight categories of hazardous events were identified, and subcategories were defined within each category. The power of each set and subset of events was then calculated. The posterior probability of the occurrence of events classified into individual sets was estimated using Bayes' theorem. Cross-validation of the obtained results was performed. Conclusions resulting from the conducted analyzes were formulated. The most common category of the analyzed dangerous events in the construction industry is "being hit by objects"; "being run over/falling over" and "work environment". Knowledge of the most common causes of near misses will allow actions that aim to reduce the number of occupational accidents to be determined.

Improving Safety Performance of Construction Workers through Learning from Incidents

Learning from incidents (LFI) is a process to seek, analyse, and disseminate the severity and causes of incidents, and take corrective measures to prevent the recurrence of similar events. However, the effects of LFI on the learner's safety performance remain unexplored. This study aimed to identify the effects of the major LFI factors on the safety performance of workers. A questionnaire survey was administered among 210 construction workers in China. A factor analysis was conducted to reveal the underlying LFI factors. A stepwise multiple linear regression was performed to analyse the relationship between the underlying LFI factors and safety performance. A Bayesian Network (BN) was further modelled to identify the probabilistic relational network between the underlying LFI factors and safety performance. The results of BN modelling showed that all the underlying factors were important to improve the safety performance of construction workers. Additionally, sensitivity analysis revealed that the two underlying factors-information sharing and utilization and management commitment-had the largest effects on improving workers' safety performance. The proposed BN also helped find out the most efficient strategy to improve workers' safety performance. This research may serve as a useful guide for better implementation of LFI practices in the construction sector.

Sharing Incident Experiences: A Roadmap towards Collective Safety Information in the Norwegian Construction Industry

This paper is a study on sharing practices after incidents across organisations in the Norwegian construction industry as a means towards improvement of occupational safety. Interviews were performed with safety personnel from different actors, including clients, contractors, and designers. The findings show that several arenas for sharing of safety-related information across actors exist, however the sharing is limited, not structured, and occurs occasionally. Furthermore, the information is not widely shared across all actors in the industry for whom the information could be valuable, e.g., early phase actors. As a willingness to share and an excitement for new technology is present, the work goes on to propose how and where the industry can improve on information sharing after incidents to move towards interorganisational learning. A roadmap for the Norwegian construction industry is suggested for collective information sharing with a focus on technological and digital solutions.

Improving Safety Management through Analysis of Near-Miss Reports—A Tanker Ship Case Study

A near-miss management system (NMMS) is a tool used for improving safety at sea if adequately implemented. Valuable knowledge to improve safety management might be gained by investigating and analysing reported events. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to report each observed near-miss event. Because tankers are generally considered dangerous, but at the same time safe due to stringent requirements, near-miss reports and NMMS policy were collected from one oil tanker ship. Data were pre-processed and analysed. Variables used during analysis were near-miss type, risk level, ship position, and onboard location of near-miss occurrence. Analysis of policy and reports revealed that most near misses occurred on the deck area, but higher-risk-level events were reported in the engine room and navigating bridge. Housekeeping, equipment failure, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and process-/procedure-related events were most common and generally related to lower risk levels. The most frequent corrective actions recorded were implementing safe working practices and PPE. In addition, higher-risk-level events were related to less effective corrective actions. Based on the findings, suggestions for improvements include promoting safe behaviour and adequate PPE usage through additional training, ensuring proper housekeeping, regular maintenance of shipboard equipment and spare parts management, and toolbox meetings and risk assessments that include conclusions of near-miss investigations and analysis.

Construction safety: an analysis of the cross-influence of economic, construction, and accident death factors

To explore the relations between the number of accident deaths (NCD) and various factors in construction safety, a multiple linear regression model was established, based on the panel data of economy, construction labor, and the number of accident deaths in 31 provinces (regions) of China from 2009 to 2018. The results show that the average total profits and taxes (TPAT), and the death rate of ten thousand people (DR) are positively correlated with NCD, while the labor productivity (LP) is negatively correlated with it. Under the condition that other factors remain unchanged, NCD increases by 0.02 per a hundred million CNY. However, if DR increases by one ten thousand, NCD will increase by 8.66 on average. On the contrary, when LP increases by a hundred million CNY per ten thousand people, NCD decreases by 0.19. The model also predicts NCD in different provinces and cities from 2019 to 2020 with the method of quadratic exponential smoothing. As well, practice results show that the model is effective and practical.

A Generalized Structural Equation Model Approach to Long Working Hours and Near-Misses among Healthcare Professionals in Japan

(1) Background: Near-miss incidents are the foundation of major injuries. They are warning signs that loss is imminent. Long working hours are a risk factor for near-misses along with sleep problems, job-related stress, and depressive symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the indirect effects of long working hours via mediating variables on near-miss occurrences among Japanese healthcare professionals. (2) Methods: 1490 Japanese healthcare professionals’ reports from a web-based survey of workers in October 2018 were analyzed to evaluate total, direct, and indirect effects of long working hours on near-misses. We applied a generalized structural equation model with three mediating variables: sleep problems, job-related stress, and depressive symptoms. (3) Results: The total effect and direct effect of the categories of working hours longer than 41 h per week (h/w) for occurrence of near-misses were not significantly higher than that of 35–40 h/w. However, for indirect effects on occurrence of near-misses that first passed through job-related stress, there were higher reports for each category compared to 35–40 h/w, with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of OR = 1.12, 95% CI (1.07, 1.21) for 41–50 h/w; 1.25, (1.14, 1.41) for 51–60 h/w; and 1.31, (1.18, 1.51) for ≥ 61 h/w. (4) Conclusion: The results suggest that reducing working hours might improve job-related stress, which could reduce near-misses and prevent injuries.

Identification and ordering of safety performance indicators using fuzzy TOPSIS: a case study in Indian construction company

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical framework to measure the safety performance of workers in the Indian construction industry. The key safety performance indicators are identified and ordered on the premise that the higher order assignment of an indicator implies a strong indication of an effective safety performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Various indicators of safety performance in the construction industry were identified from extant literature review combined with author's personal viewpoint. The identified variables were inquired for appropriateness for the Indian construction scenario by consultation with experts. Fuzzy Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) technique was considered for the ranking of the indicators from most to least important.

Findings

The most important highlight of the study was the importance of the role of management by participating in informing workers about the safety rules and compliance toward safety measures. Proper and timely safety training to the workers and equipping them with sophisticated safety equipment for daily activities is perceived to be highly important in ensuring a safe and healthy workplace environment. Controlling the absenteeism rate reduces the burden of extra work on the employees, thereby, encouraging safe work-related behavior.

Originality/value

Senior management should make safety induction programs compulsory at the time of joining of the employees. The guidelines for safety practices, rules and information about the safety equipment should be properly documented and arranged in safety manuals. Periodical drills involving visual demonstration of the safety practices should be followed to ensure safety at workplace.

Learning from Workers' Near-miss Reports to Improve Organizational Management

Near misses recorded and reported by workers can provide awareness to the potential causes of injury and prompt safety management initiatives. Although most companies require near-miss reporting, it is unclear what the value of these reports are, if any, and how they influence subsequent actions or controls to reduce on-the-job risks. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a case study with an aggregates company in which near-miss reports were analyzed at each of their locations over an entire quarter during the summer of 2018. Within that quarter, workers recorded 249 near misses. Of those, 167 were valid near misses that occurred at work. Researchers coded the reports using a qualitative 5 × 5 risk matrix. Of the 167 near misses, 19% were deemed low risk, 25% moderate risk, 30% high risk, and 26% critical risk. Several patterns in the near-miss incidents were documented, including classification of incidents and common corrective actions referenced (i.e., elimination/substitution, engineering control or redesign, work process/procedures, and personal protective equipment). The analysis provides insight into ways that risk communication and management programs can be improved to reengage workers and their situational awareness on the job.

Ranking of Risks for Existing and New Building Works

Site safety is one critical factor affecting the sustainability of skyscrapers and decoration, repair, and maintenance projects. Many newly-built skyscrapers exceed 50 storeys in Hong Kong and decoration, repair, and maintenance projects are widely performed to extend the lifespans of buildings. Although many cities do not contain skyscrapers at present, this will change in the future. Likewise, more decoration, repair, and maintenance projects will emerge. Thus, the present research, which compares the safety risks among the new and DSR projects, provides insights for builders, policymakers, and safety personnel. Moreover, research studies which rank and compare decoration, repair, and maintenance projects and new skyscraper constructions are scarce. The use of the evidence-based practice approach, which aims to narrow the gap between practice and academia in construction safety research, is the first of its kind. In this paper, we firstly provide a systematic literature review from 1999 to 2019 regarding construction safety, and then study the industry’s perspectives by analysing the construction practitioners’ interview results, court cases, and analytic hierarchy process survey results to compare them with the literature. It is found that the generation gap and prolonged working hours lead to accidents—a phenomenon which is unique in Hong Kong and absent from the literature. It also reveals that most accidents happen on new building sites due to tower crane failure, while those on DSR projects are linked with the circular saw. Although many of the contractors involved in new buildings are wealthier than DSR contractors, it is surprising to learn that lack of funding for safety is the most important factor linked to safety risks on the sites.