Developing safety archetypes of construction industry at project level using system dynamics

An evolutionary game-theoretic analysis of construction workers' unsafe behavior: Considering incentive and risk loss

The behavior of construction workers has a significant impact on the overall safety climate of a project. The purpose of this paper is to figure out the evolutionary pattern of workers' unsafe behavior and to minimize its occurrence. We constructed a two-sided evolutionary game model consisting of workers and managers to explore the focal point of interest, strategy equilibrium conditions, and behavior evolution process. The experimental results of stability analysis and system dynamics show that there are two stable states in all four cases, (Safe behavior, Negative management) as well as (Unsafe behavior, Negative management). The lower the initial willingness of workers to behave unsafely, the faster they reach a safe steady state. By contrast, managers' strategy choices have a certain lag. Workers are discouraged from choosing unsafe behavior under both the positive incentive of raising bonuses and the negative incentive of raising fines. And the sensitivity of the two incentives is similar. For indirect effect risk loss, when it is effectively controlled during safe construction, workers quickly gravitate toward safe behavior. These findings provide a reference for construction safety management. Several practical suggestions were proposed from three perspectives: the worker, the manager, and the site safety climate, focus on the theme of reducing unsafe behavior and achieving a virtuous cycle of safety climate.

A model for establishing resilience safety culture For construction industry

Increasing construction injury and fatality rate implies that conventional safety culture is unable to match the increasing requirement of construction industry safety. One of the promising approaches is establishing resilience safety culture for construction industry. For the aim, a hypothesized model was developed and 420 data for testing model was collected by the present study. Structural Equation Modeling technique was employed to test the hypothesized model by fitting the data into the model. Finally, a model consisting of ten dimensions with thirteen relationships was established by the present study. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process was employed to make a comparison between the proposed model and the other two prevalent models. It was concluded that the proposed model performs better in complying with real situations and considering sufficiently necessary dimensions and relationships. While it is a bit of hard to be easily and fully understood, which points out the direction of further work.

Comparative Analysis of Degree of Risk between the Frequency Aspect and Probability Aspect Using Integrated Uncertainty Method Considering Work Type and Accident Type in Construction Industry

Fatal incidents in the construction business are higher than in other industries. Previous studies concentrated on the frequency of fatal incidents based on safety management, however, the probability of fatal incidents might be more important than the frequency of fatal incidents. For instance, certain work types have low fatal incident cases but show a high probability of fatal incidents, which means they are riskier than others. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level of risk by comparing the frequency of fatal incidents and probability of fatal incidents for 27 types of work and 18 types of accidents using an uncertainty analysis. This study is carried out in five stages from the collection of data to conducting the statistical analysis. The result of the research shows the estimated rank of frequency and probability for work and accident type, respectively. For instance, ‘reinforced concrete construction work’ (66.5 fatal incidents) showed the highest frequency work type, and ‘scaffold and demolition work’ (28.65‱) showed the highest fatality rate. This research addressed the uncertainty problem using an integrated time series and estimation method to compare the degree of risk from the viewpoint of frequency and probability aspects in the construction business.

Factors Influencing Safety on Construction Projects (fSCPs): Types and Categories

Due to the fact of activity, environment and work dynamics, the construction industry is characterised by high accident rates. Different initiatives have emerged to reduce these figures, which focus on using new methodologies and technologies for safety management. Therefore, it is essential to know the key factors and their influence on safety in construction projects (fSCPs) to focus efforts on these elements. Through a systematic literature review, based on PRISMA methodology, this article identifies, describes and categorises 100 factors that affect construction safety. It thus contributes by providing a comprehensive general framework, unifying previous studies focused on specific geographic areas or case studies with factors not considered or insufficiently disaggregated, along with an absence of classifications focused on understanding where and how factors affect the different dimensions of construction projects. The 100 factors identified are described and categorised according to the dimensions and aspects of the project in which these have an impact, along with identifying whether they are shaping or immediate factors or originating influences for the generation of accidents. These factors, their description and classification are a key contribution to improving the systematic creation of safety and generating training and awareness materials to fully develop a safety culture in organisations.

A Research Framework of Mitigating Construction Accidents in High-Rise Building Projects via Integrating Building Information Modeling with Emerging Digital Technologies

The construction of high-rise building projects is a dangerous vocation due to the uniqueness and nature of the activities, as well as the complexity of the working environment, yet safety issues remain crucial in the construction industry. Digital technologies, such as building information modeling (BIM), have been identified as valuable tools for increasing construction productivity, efficiency, and safety. This research aimed to mitigate the accident safety factors in high-rise building projects via integrating BIM with emerging digital technologies in the construction industry, such as photogrammetry, GPS, RFID, augmented reality, (AR), virtual reality (VR), and drone technology. Qualitative research was conceived in the ground theory approach. Forty-five online interviews with construction stakeholders and qualitative data analysis were carried out using the NVivo 11 software package. According to the findings, interviewees were more motivated to use photogrammetry and drone technologies in high-rise building projects in order to increase construction safety. Positive, negative, and neutral attitudes about BIM integration with emerging digital technologies were discovered. Furthermore, a research framework was developed by consolidating research findings that articulate the measures and future needs of BIM integration with other digital technologies to mitigate construction accidents in high-rise building projects. The framework also renders practical references for industry practitioners towards effective and safer construction.

Computational modelling and systems ergonomics: a system dynamics model of drink driving-related trauma prevention

System dynamics is a computational modelling method that is used to understand the dynamic interactions influencing behaviour in complex systems. In this article we argue that the method provides a useful tool for ergonomists wishing to model the behaviour of complex systems. We present a system dynamics model that simulates the behaviour of a drink driving-related trauma system and explore the potential impact of different road safety policy interventions. The model was simulated over thirty-year periods with different policy interventions. The findings suggest that the greatest reduction in drink driving-related trauma can be achieved by policies that integrate standard road safety interventions (e.g. education and enforcement) with interventions designed to address the societal issue of alcohol misuse and addiction. In closing we discuss the potential use of system dynamics modelling in future ergonomics applications and outline its strengths and weaknesses in relation to existing systems ergonomics methods. Practitioner Summary: The outputs of systems ergonomics methods are typically static and cannot simulate behaviour over time. We propose system dynamics as a useful approach for modelling the behaviour of complex systems. Applied to drink driving-related road trauma, the method was able to dynamically model the potential impacts of different policy interventions.

Modeling the effects of production pressure on safety performance in construction projects using system dynamics

INTRODUCTION

Construction incidents occur due to system failures, not due to a single factor such as unsafe behavior or condition. Therefore, construction safety should be investigated using a systematic view capable of illustrating the complex nature of incidents. Construction projects are also often behind their planned schedule and suffer from various pressures caused by contractual deadlines or clients. Previous studies demonstrated that such pressures negatively affect safety performance; however, the process of how production pressure influences safety performance is not fully investigated.

METHOD

The present research aimed to understand the feedback mechanism of how production pressure interactively affects safety performance and safety-related managerial components in a construction project. Ground theory method (GTM) is used to create a conceptual causal loop diagram that shows the relationship between incident rate and other variables such as labor hour, actual and planned progress, safety climate, rework, and safety training. Moreover, a power plant construction project was used as a case study to practically investigate the conceptual model; a case study is employed to build a System Dynamics (SD) model. The simulation model was then validated using behavior reproduction and sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS

The results of the inequality statistics show that the simulation model can be used to forecast trends in the incident rate.

Human-based dynamics of mental workload in complicated systems

As a dynamic system in which different factors affect human performance via dynamic interactions, mental workload needs a dynamic measure to monitor its factors and evidence in a complicated system, an approach that is lacking in the literature. The present study introduces a system dynamics-based model for designing feedback mechanisms related to the mental workload through literature review and content analysis of the previous studies. A human-based archetype of mental workload was detected from the data collection process. The archetype is presented at various stages, including dynamic theory, behavior over time, leverage points and model verification. The real validation of the dynamic model was confirmed in an urban train simulator. The dynamic model can be used to analyze the long-term behavior of the mental workload. Decision-makers can benefit from the developed archetypes in evaluating the dynamic impact of their decisions on accident prevention in the complicated systems.

Integration of hazard rectification efficiency in safety assessment for proactive management

OBJECTIVE

Safety assessment is crucial for the development of continuous improvement strategies. However, most studies assess construction safety with cross-sectional information and thus management tends to be passive. This study proposes an evidence-based methodology incorporating hazard rectification efficiency for project safety assessment.

METHOD

First, we theoretically introduced hazard rectification efficiency as a proxy for hazard exposure. Later, based on set-pair analysis, we proposed a safety assessment model that incorporates hazard occurrence and rectification efficiency. Subsequently, we collected site investigation records from seven building projects in Qingdao, Shandong. The data were used to develop a safety performance index (SPI) with the proposed model and a default model. The results were compared and discussed according to industrial practices for validation purposes.

RESULTS

The proposed model provides conservative indications of project safety performance; more importantly, the index calculated with the model provides advance warning when necessary. In the proposed method, in terms of the SPI, hazard and rectification indicators provide actionable information to address failures and improve safety conditions.

IMPLICATIONS

This research describes a new perspective (rectification efficiency) for safety assessment, which supplements the current body of knowledge on safety assessment. The proposed index, SPI, promotes the adoption of proactive hazard identification, monitoring, and control in construction.