Using Delphi Panels to Assess Construction Safety Research to Practice: A Narrative Review

Details

• Personal Author:
  Mazzucca S ; Morshed AB ; Tabak R ; Weatherly C
• Description:
  Despite ongoing efforts to improve site safety, the construction field still accounts for a disproportionate injury rate and remains one of the most dangerous industries for workers. The Delphi method is a systematic procedure that is employed to achieve a reliable consensus among a selected panel of experts. This project's purpose was to review relevant papers and research on Delphi Panels and their potential use in assessing whether construction safety and health research findings are being used by target audiences of workers and contractors to reduce injuries and illnesses (research to practice). A secondary objective of this review was to understand the parameters of panel selection, composition, and analysis. This project will help contribute to the broader dissemination and implementation field. The Delphi method was developed in the mid-1950's by a group of researchers in the fields of forecasting and planning at the RAND Corporation (Dalkey & Helmer, 1963). The method has since been applied in numerous research areas and settings including real estate, finance, environmental health, construction safety and health, and construction and engineering management (Gupta & Clarke, 1996). The method is described as a structured communication and consensus building approach among a group of qualified experts focused on a multifaceted and complex problem (Ameyaw et al., 2016). It is an iterative process where consensus is reached often through multiple rounds of feedbacks from the selected experts (Hallowell & Gambatese, 2010). Linstone (1978) identified two circumstances where Delphi techniques are most appropriate: (1) "The problem does not lend itself to precise analytical techniques but can benefit from subjective judgments on a collective basis", and (2) "Individuals who need to interact cannot be brought together in a face-to-face exchange because of time or cost constraints." The Delphi method is useful when objective data and experimental research is not possible or when empirical evidence is lacking (Hallowell & Gambatese, 2010). The Delphi method has been increasingly accepted in the field of construction research in areas as varied as procurement selection (Chan et al., 2001), measuring complexity for building projects (Xia & Chan, 2012), international construction (Gunhan & Arditi, 2005), selection of team members (Kumaraswamy & Anvuur, 2008), the role of design in construction safety (Gambatese et al., 2008), and assessing the impact of safety programs (Hallowell, 2010). This study aims to thoroughly review recent construction related papers that employ the Delphi technique and to report their methods of choosing panel experts, the number of panel members employed, the number of rounds or iterations, attitude ranking, and techniques used for achieving consensus. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communication Construction Industry Decision Making Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Communication Research Compliance Construction Construction Industry Construction Workers Decision Making Disease Prevention Feedback Controls Group Dynamics Humans Injury Prevention Professional Workers Questionnaires Research Productivity Safety Research Systematic Reviews Workers Work Practices

  More +
• Publisher:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-42
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055380
• Citation:
  Silver Spring, MD: CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 2018 Dec; :1-42
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Using Delphi panels to assess construction safety research to practice: a narrative review
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:10e98c4538689a3b21c820fae617153a1766c13098477e55f719cbba092338895b2317eeeca65c2fbaac0cb7c4211865630402421d12824ab94ac8104606a5ee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213250/cdc_213250_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 554.60 KB ]