Strategies for construction hazard recognition
Keywords: Hazard recognition Safety training Construction safety hazard identification augmented virtuality INTRODUCTION
Download 2.75 Mb. View original pdf
|
| Keywords: Hazard recognition Safety training Construction safety hazard identification augmented virtuality INTRODUCTION Alarming workplace incident rates, especially in the construction sector, continues to be of global concern. In 2011 the construction industry accounted for 16% of fatal occupational injuries in the US, while only employing 4% of the workforce (BLS 2013). Similarly, in the UK, the construction sector was responsible for 22% of fatal injuries, while only employing 5% of the workforce (HSE 2013). Such disproportionate fatality rates indicate that construction workers are particularly susceptible to being killed on-the job (Aneziris et al. 2012). Safety management processes rely on the ability of workers to sense, analyze, and extract physical stimuli that indicate the presence of a hazardous condition amidst irrelevant noise in complex and dynamic construction environments (Adbelhamid et al. 2011). This skill is known as hazard recognition or signal detection and is a critical prerequisite for successful perception, comprehension, and action when workers encounter safety risks (Lu et al. 2011). Unfortunately, recent research has shown that individuals are unable to identify hazards in dynamic and unpredictable environments (Carter and Smith 2006). Bahn (2012), for example, revealed that novice employees failed to detect an average of 57% of hazards in occupational environments. In another study on three construction projects, Carter and Smith (2006) concluded that between 10% and 33.5% of hazards remain undetected by workers. This lack of hazard recognition skill maybe largely responsible for disproportionate injury rates and an excellent opportunity for dramatic safety improvement. 41 In an effort to improve hazard recognition skills employers provide new and experienced workers with frequent safety training in commercial, industrial and heavy sectors. Unfortunately, traditional methods often do not achieve desired goals because they are poorly designed and executed. Safety training programs are generally designed under the assumption that knowledge transfer will occur efficiently in an instructor-centric classroom setting (Wilkins 2011). Also, current forms of training largely ignore the essential distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge despite the fact that hazard recognition skills are largely tacit in nature and, by principle, cannot easily be verbalized and transferred through passive forms of training (Cavusgil et al. 2003). Finally, existing training methods such as static classroom presentations fail to engage workers, which impede the retention and retrieval of critical safety concepts (Haslam et al. 2005). Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no correlation between traditional safety training and safety performance (Li et al. 2012) and workers lack essential hazard recognition skills (Carter and Smith 2006; Bahn 2012). Because of the weaknesses with current hazard recognition training methods, it is essential that research be conducted to design and test novel approaches. The present study addressed this need. Download 2.75 Mb. Share with your friends:
|