Exploring bias in incident investigations: An empirical examination using construction case studies

INTRODUCTION

Incident investigation is a foundational tool of safety management. Determining the causal factors of any incident underpins organizational learning and subsequent positive change to processes and practices. Research of incident investigation has largely focused on what information to collect, how to analyze it, and how to optimize resultant conclusions and organizational learning. However, much less attention has been paid to the process of information collection, and specifically that of subjective information obtained through interviews. Yet, as all humans are biased and can't help being so, the information collection process is inevitably vulnerable to bias.

METHOD

Simulated investigation interviews with 34 experienced investigators were conducted within the construction industry.

RESULTS

Common biases were revealed including confirmation bias, anchoring bias, and fundamental attribution error. Analysis was also able to unpack when and how these biases most often emerged in the interview process, and the potential consequences for organizational learning.

CONCLUSIONS

Being biased to a certain degree will remain inevitable for any individual, and therefore, efforts to mitigate the effects of biases is necessary.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Increased awareness and insights can support the development of processes and training for investigators to mitigate its effects and thus enhance learning from incidents in the field prevent reoccurrence.

Managing designing for safety: a framework to support whole-team decision-making and risk control

Designing for Safety (DfS) aims to make designs inherently safer to build, operate and maintain, but any residual risk must be controlled, something essential to realising the benefits of inherently safer designs. Here, a conceptual decision-making framework to support DfS, developed in conjunction with industry, is introduced. It aims to assist designers in communicating risk, residual risk and actions needed to support DfS, in a way easily understood by non-specialists such as clients and business leaders. The framework proposes a qualitative categorisation for DfS linked to a clear numerical scale, which embraces the complexity of engineering assessment across the full asset lifecycle, while using a form of language (numbers) that can be readily understood by all. The framework was empirically explored through an operational design workshop with the four engineers leading design and planning teams on the framework. It was found to bring a range of benefits for DfS at the design stage: it provided structure for the discussion of DfS, made the consideration of DfS objective, gave a new vernacular which improved the collective thought process, and made the debate and the resultant design decisions more accessible to non-specialists. The framework provides a tool to support the implementation of DfS across the entire lifecycle of an asset, enhancing DfS communication within the decision making process from the initial strategic definition stage onwards.

Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cannabis use in 15,822 US adults: cross-sectional analyses from NHANES

OBJECTIVES

The aim was to analyse the overall and sex-specific associations between cannabis use and physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional analyses from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

METHODS

Data on cannabis use and leisure time physical activity and sedentary behaviour from NHANES cycles 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 were analysed. Multivariable regression models were carried out.

RESULTS

About 15,822 participants were analysed (mean age ± standard error = 37.5 ± 0.19 years, range 20-59 years). Significantly higher odds were found for being active and ever used cannabis in the overall sample (odds ratio [OR] = 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-1.4) and in males (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1 to 1.5) and females (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.4), respectively. In respective of sedentary behaviour, ever used cannabis was associated with higher odds of TV viewing ≥2 h/day in the overall sample (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.4). However, this association was observed in males only (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.6). Ever used cannabis was associated with total sitting time (beta-coefficient = 0.3, 95%CI: 0.1-0.4), which was more evident in females (beta-coefficient = 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1-0.6).

CONCLUSIONS

Cannabis consumption was associated with higher levels of physical activity and sitting time. When intervening to reduce cannabis consumption in the US populations, it may be appropriate to promote physical activity and ensure physical activity is maintained once cannabis consumption is stopped.

Construction 4.0 and built assets in-use: creating an e-topia or dystopia?

Construction 4.0 makes many promises. The use of technologies will not only improve productivity in the construction of future built environments but will also enhance their operation and maintenance as they become smart cities. These latter stages in the built asset project life cycle are impacted by Construction 4.0 technologies able to both automate and optimise their operations, thus bringing benefits for facility management while also linking the built environment fabric to wider societal and governmental systems. However, there is growing concern that Construction 4.0 is directing the industry towards a ‘smart dystopia’, a situation with as much vulnerability as resilience, without due consideration or challenge. For example, the automation of operational processes arguably increases vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, corruptions of data or energy loss, while the constant collection of worker and citizen data by smart buildings and infrastructures raises concerns around surveillance and privacy, as well as issues of exclusion. Although Construction 4.0 has the potential to enable the industry to support the delivery, operation and maintenance of an e-topia, such ethical and social challenges should perhaps be considered before its technologies are unquestioningly embedded within built assets for use throughout the duration of their life cycles.

Construction 4.0 and its potential impact on people working in the construction industry

Construction 4.0 is bringing change to the industry through digitisation and technological innovation. Such change deliberately impacts ‘traditional’ ways of working, as it actively seeks to disrupt the norm and so enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of construction project delivery. Yet technology is not neutral; it brings with it an autonomy and an amorality that is potentially a cause for concern. The authors used Ellul’s theory of technique, as associated with technology, to unpack Construction 4.0 from critical perspectives and explore the potential it has to bring social and ethical challenges to the industry and specifically its people. For example, trade workers may become usurped by technologies that automate their work, while professionals may find their roles within the design, engineering and construction processes become more heavily influenced and shaped by the technologies themselves. Indeed, the role of the ‘technology owner’ may become more powerful than any traditional profession in the future as they become dominant actors within the construction industry space. This paper aims to stimulate discussion and debate in this area and encourage the development of a more critical voice to supplement the technocratic optimism that currently surrounds Construction 4.0.

Knowledge transfer for occupational health and safety: Cultivating health and safety learning culture in construction firms

Within the last decades the incidence of workspace injuries and fatalities in the UK construction industry has declined markedly following the developments in occupational health and safety (OHS) management systems. However, safety statistics have reached a plateau and actions for further improvement of OHS management systems are called for. OHS is a form of organizational expertise that has both tacit and explicit dimensions and is situated in the ongoing practices. There is a need for institutionalization and for the transfer of knowledge across and along construction supply chains to reduce OHS risks and facilitate cultural change. The focus of this article is the factors that facilitate OHS knowledge transfer in and between organizations involved in construction projects. An interpretative methodology is used in this research to embrace tacit aspects of knowledge transfer and application. Thematic analysis is supported by a cognitive mapping technique that allows understanding of interrelationships among the concepts expressed by the respondents. This paper demonstrates inconsistency in OHS practices in construction organizations and highlights the importance of cultivating a positive safety culture to encourage transfer of lessons learnt from good practices, incidents, near misses and failures between projects, from projects to programmes and across supply chains. Governmental health and safety regulations, norms and guidelines do not include all possible safety issues specific to different working environments and tied to work contexts. The OHS system should encourage employees to report near misses, incidents and failures in a 'no-blame' context and to take appropriate actions. This research provides foundation for construction project practitioners to adopt more socially oriented approaches towards promoting learning-rich organizational contexts to overcome variation in the OHS and move beyond the current plateau reached in safety statistics.

The antecedents and development of unsafety

The concepts of unsafe acts and unsafe conditions within incident and accident reporting processes are well established, and both play a part in safety, as seen in highly complex accident-causation models. Nevertheless, a systematic understanding of the development of unsafety to its manifestation as incidents is yet to emerge. Drawing on a large data set of nearly 4000 safety observation reports from a large infrastructure construction project, investigation of the way in which incidents are categorised is explored, and then, through content analysis of a purposive sample of individual reports, the reality of how the acts and conditions develop, combine and interrelate is evaluated. The findings reveal significant inconsistency in the application of the categorisations of ‘act’ or ‘condition’ and the utilisation of the process in apportioning individual blame through ‘unsafe acts’. It can be suggested that, within a construction context, there are relatively few precursors that produce unsafe acts or conditions, and focusing on these in practice would provide greater insights, enhancing utility without adding significant complexity. Further understanding of how the development of unsafety takes place would enable management to use reporting data, such as safety observation reports, better in the development and implementation of focused interventions.

Random Load Fatigue Damage Accumulation in Mild Steel

Using high-sensitivity eddy-current crack detection, quantitative division of fatigue life into two stages has been achieved for a variety of random and constant amplitude loading conditions. The divisions adopted were:

Stage A, microcrack initiation and propagation, and Stage B, macrocrack propagation.

The results of specimen sectioning and optical microscope work show that this behaviour is physically compatible with the observations of Forsyth (1)‡.

It is established under random loading that for a given specimen configuration, the proportion of time spent in stage A behaviour for a given fatigue life remains unaltered for changes in the waveform irregularity factor. This statement applies to two series of tests for loading waveforms of unaltered fundamental p.s.d. (power spectral density) shapes and Gaussian amplitude probability density distributions. It is suggested that the signal maximum peak/r.m.s. ratio is a significant factor in determining the proportion of life spent in crack initiation.

Cumulative damage predictions are made using Miner's hypothesis on a basis of positive peak stresses to failure for stage A and stage B lives, and overall fatigue life. The results confirm that Miner seriously underestimates the damage contribution at low stresses on fatigue life as a whole, and also for the crack initiation phase of life.

Effects of an economic downturn on construction partnering

Over the economic downturn in recent years, there has been a trend for construction clients to revert to traditional competitive procurement strategies. This is despite authoritative calls for an increase in collaborative working and partnering practices, heralded as the means to drive efficiencies and innovation. Clients may feel that the only way to assure themselves that they are not paying too much is to market-test their projects in a highly competitive environment. This study seeks to provide an insight into the effects of the recent economic downturn on collaborative working, with particular emphasis on manifestation in the practice and the positioning of trust within such relationships. Eight interviews were carried out with senior industry professionals, all experienced in partnering and collaborative working practices. Individuals have responded with a quest for job security, which has in turn developed risk-averse work practices and affected the establishment of short-term collaborative relationships. Organisations have returned to traditional competitive procurement methods, seeking to reduce risk in their practices and maintain control in uncertain times. Sceptical considerations of collaboration have re-emerged; the abuses of collaborative relationships for financial benefits, employing austerity as leverage, have become contemporary legend if not fact.

Knowledge management on site: a case study project

Construction is a knowledge-intensive industry. However, the majority of knowledge management research focuses on corporate and managerial levels rather than on constructions sites. Sites are where money is made or lost, and decisions made which impact expenditure, efficiency and productivity. To support this macro- or organisational-level research, this paper aims to develop insight at the micro or site level, to help inform knowledge management decisions made at corporate level. It reports the findings of a case study that examined knowledge management in operation on a small civil engineering project in north-west England. Data, including participant observation, unstructured interviews and project documentation, were analysed to explore the creation, flow and transfer of knowledge throughout the project. Complex relationships existed between explicit and tacit knowledge, while predicted and unpredicted knowledge gains could also be identified alongside ‘aspirational’ knowledge. A reliance on ‘pending’ knowledge to make decisions that influence project performance suggests improved knowledge management within a more integrated project team would be beneficial. Knowledge management was found to be limited by the tacit nature of much of the knowledge generated on the project, and the lack of formal feedback into an organisational knowledge management system.

Partnering in practice: an analysis of collaboration and trust

Many authoritative sources are calling for collaborative and integrated working to be used as a vehicle to obtain better value, levels of quality and service delivery. However, clients in the current economic climate may feel vulnerable about entering into arrangements built on collaborative working practices, which could be deemed as taking unnecessary risk. The effects of recent austerity on collaborative working are explored in this study, with particular emphasis on the positioning of trust within such relationships and its manifestation in practice. A qualitative research methodology approach is adopted through interviews with eight senior UK construction professionals. Findings from the research suggest that construction clients have returned to traditional competitive procurement methods based on lowest cost, seeking to reduce risk in their practices and maintain control in uncertain times. Perceptions of collaborative working have shifted within the austerity context, and individuals have responded with a quest for job security, which has in turn developed risk-averse work practices and affected the establishment of long-term collaborative relationships. Sceptical considerations of collaboration have re-emerged, the abuse of collaborative relationships for financial benefits and employing austerity as leverage. Further research is recommended to examine the repercussions of this shift in both practice and philosophy.

Parents' attitudes to developmental screening in the first year of life

It has been suggested that screening for impairment in early childhood may cause anxiety to parents. Using self-administered questionnaires, we studied the attitudes and concerns of parents of infants aged 6 months and 8-9 months. Parents were randomly allocated to one of two groups. One group completed the second questionnaire after the 8-month assessment routinely performed by health visitors, and the other group completed the second questionnaire before the assessment. We showed changes in attitude and concerns over the 2-3 month period, but these were not related to the assessment. It appeared that particular concerns and anxieties were not resolved by a recent contact with a health visitor, although a high proportion of mothers stated that they found the assessment reassuring. There was some evidence of a lack of appreciation, both of the purpose of the tests and of the implication of test failure. Screening tests performed by health visitors at an age of 8 months do not appear to generate undue anxiety in parents. However, as many of the tests used are of doubtful validity, a review of the purpose and content of this early health visitor assessment is needed.

Responding to parental concerns at the six-month stage

Health visitors who are able to respond to parental worries about their babies' specific ailments and problems may be providing a more useful service than those who focus on routine assessment of growth and development, write Frances Sherratt, Ann Johnson and Sheila Holmes. Better understanding of the particular concerns of parents of both high and low risk infants could allow more appropriate targeting of resources and improved health care planning.