Analysis of Difference/Similarity Between Construction Project Participants’ Work Health and Safety (WHS) Risk Perceptions

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blismas N ; Kleiner B ; Lingard H ; Wakefield R ; Zhang P
• Description:
  This research aims to analyse the within- and between-group similarity/difference in WHS risk perceptions of construction project participants. This study employs Q-methodology with an innovative photographic data collection method to explore construction project participants' WHS risk perceptions. Specifically, a set of photos were selected to represent a range of commonly used construction methodologies/building systems. Participants invited from four professional groups were requested to 'sort' the set of photos according to their judgements of the likelihood and magnitude of WHS risks associated with constructing these different systems. This paper reports a preliminary analysis of the within- and between-group similarity/difference in WHS risk perceptions related to constructing different façade systems and roof systems. Nonparametric statistic methods, i.e. Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance (W) and Spearman's Rank Order Correlation (rs), were used to analyse the data. This study finds that professional groups' risk perceptions can be influenced by the different levels of complexity inherent in constructing different building elements. Professional groups share lower within-group and between-group similarities in the judgement of likelihood of risks than in the judgement of severity of risks. Professional groups' risk perceptions are also largely affected by a wide range of social factors such as personal experience, attitude, beliefs and contextual environment. Therefore, participants from the same professional group may show different risk perceptions, while participants from different professional groups may share similar risk perceptions. This research provides the basis for developing an image-based tool in the planning and design stage of a construction project to engage all project team members in discussion about the WHS implications of their decision making. The tool will help construction participant groups to understand each other's WHS perspective. This will facilitate the development of a shared mental model of WHS within construction projects and create a strong and positive safety culture. This research is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to employ Q-methodology in studying construction participants' OSH risk perceptions. It provides a new starting point for other researchers to study risk perception in the construction management area. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Work Health And Safety Construction Construction Industry Construction Workers Occupational Safety And Health Q-methodology Risk Management Risk Perception Worker Safety
• ISBN:
  9789176230053
• Publisher:
  International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  441-452
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061990
• Citation:
  Proceedings of CIB W099 International Conference: Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety, June 2-3, 2014, Lund, Sweden. Aulin R, Ek A eds. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, 2014 Jun; :441-452
• Editor(s):
  Aulin R; Ek A
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of CIB W099 International Conference: Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety, June 2-3, 2014, Lund, Sweden
• End Date:
  20150131
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:115e2e4237a3c4c861e7ca4c8a8f892b7dbf70e25187c589613e894992845a9cc8875bc354b43e6e0cebf076b98de4d1eec99d451e5d05acbff05f35c78b596b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225318/cdc_225318_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.25 MB ]