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Advances in Construction Safety Management Practices

A topical collection in Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This collection belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Viewed by 43634

Editors

Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Technology/Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu 64002, Taiwan
Interests: construction safety; critical success factors analysis; organization/project performance assessment; value engineering and application; construction cost/time relationship
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu 64002, Taiwan
Interests: construction management; safety; decision optimization in engineering and management
Department of Civil Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan
Interests: sustainable development; construction safety and risk management; construction semantics snalysis and modeling application

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

Internationally, the construction industry is one of the most dangerous fields when it comes to worker safety and is often over represented when it comes to serious injuries, work-related illness and fatalities. Further to the impacts on construction worker safety, these also contribute to indirect losses such as schedule delays and increased project costs. The substantial social and economic impacts associated with worksite injury and fatalities has resulted in significant international research interest in understanding the underlying factors influencing construction safety management over the past few decades. Despite the current understanding of construction safety management, poor levels of such management are still commonly observed in the construction industry internationally. Improving the safety and wellbeing of workers in the construction industry requires advancing the current understanding of the current and future needs for ensuring the safe and successful management of construction projects in an environment characterised by competing objectives.

This Collection welcomes original articles that address the challenges and opportunities for enhancing construction safety management in all its facets. Submissions could relate, but are not limited, to the following topics related to science, technology and the management of worker and construction safety:

  • Social, policy and organizational aspects.
  • The effectiveness of risk control and management techniques for improving safety performance.
  • Advances in technologies related to the assessment, control, management and communication of risks.
  • Human factors and safety.
  • Policy, planning and decision-making in safety.
  • The interface between technology, people, environment and organizations.

Prof. Dr. Wei Tong Chen
Prof. Dr. Ying-Hua Huang
Assoc. Prof. Han-Hsiang Wang
Collection Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • construction safety
  • performance evaluation
  • control and management
  • decision-making
  • safety improvement
  • risk management

Published Papers (16 papers)

2023

Jump to: 2022, 2021

24 pages, 7127 KiB  
Review
A Bibliometric Review on Safety Risk Assessment of Construction Based on CiteSpace Software and WoS Database
by Yin Junjia, Aidi Hizami Alias, Nuzul Azam Haron and Nabilah Abu Bakar
Sustainability 2023, 15(15), 11803; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511803 - 01 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1250
Abstract
As urbanization continues to grow around the world, the risks associated with construction are increasing. Scientific and practical risk assessments help reduce safety risks and achieve healthy, long-term growth, so there has been much research in this field. Through a review of the [...] Read more.
As urbanization continues to grow around the world, the risks associated with construction are increasing. Scientific and practical risk assessments help reduce safety risks and achieve healthy, long-term growth, so there has been much research in this field. Through a review of the literature, this study aims to reveal the state and trends of research in the field of safety risk assessment. We searched 473 articles on construction risk assessment from the Web of Science (WoS) in the last decade, bibliometrically analyzed them, and then uncovered their significance using CiteSpace software (6.1. R6 (64-bit) Basic). The primary topics of conversation are countries, institutions, authors, and keywords, followed by references. According to the co-authorship analysis, the current research in this field is mainly from China, the USA, and Australia. Most influential authors currently have teaching or research positions at educational institutions; the most notable of which include Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Tsinghua University. They form a relatively close network of institutional cooperation. Based on the results of the co-term analysis, this study found that the current research hotspots are mainly focusing on “multi-objective optimization”, “risk management”, “mechanical characterization”, “mental fatigue”, “accident prevention”, and many others. Data-driven, AI-assisted, and multi-stakeholder participation are the future trends in this field. Full article
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19 pages, 43536 KiB  
Article
Construction Site Hazards Identification Using Deep Learning and Computer Vision
by Muneerah M. Alateeq, Fathimathul Rajeena P.P. and Mona A. S. Ali
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2358; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032358 - 28 Jan 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3637
Abstract
Workers on construction sites face numerous health and safety risks. Authorities have made numerous attempts to enhance safety management; yet incidents continue to occur, impacting both worker health and the project’s forward momentum. To that end, developing strategies to improve construction site safety [...] Read more.
Workers on construction sites face numerous health and safety risks. Authorities have made numerous attempts to enhance safety management; yet incidents continue to occur, impacting both worker health and the project’s forward momentum. To that end, developing strategies to improve construction site safety management is crucial. The goal of this project is to employ computer vision and deep learning methods to create a model that can recognize construction workers, their PPE and the surrounding heavy equipment from CCTV footage. Then, the hazards can be discovered and identified based on an analysis of the imagery data and other criteria including weather conditions, and the on-site safety officer can be contacted. Our own dataset was used to train the You Only Look Once model, version 5 (YOLO-v5), which was put to use as an object detection model. The detection model’s performance in tests showed promise for fast and accurate object recognition in the field. Full article
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2022

Jump to: 2023, 2021

17 pages, 929 KiB  
Review
A Review of Ontology-Based Safety Management in Construction
by Wei Tong Chen and Theresia Avila Bria
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 413; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010413 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2330
Abstract
The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries in terms of safety performance, with practitioners and experts actively developing various solutions to reduce accident frequency and severity. However, accident information is collected in a wide range of formats by various elements [...] Read more.
The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries in terms of safety performance, with practitioners and experts actively developing various solutions to reduce accident frequency and severity. However, accident information is collected in a wide range of formats by various elements in the construction industry, leading to interoperability issues and poor productivity due to the difficulties of sharing and reusing information. To improve the management of various types of safety management (SM) records in the construction industry, practitioners and researchers have adopted ontological methods. This paper summarizes the SM trends in construction management, along with gaps and opportunities for future work. A data processing framework is developed with a phase research for objective and subjective topic analysis from a collection of articles from 2012–2022 on topics relevant to the use of ontology in SM. The analysis focuses on the ontological life cycle (development, integration, and application), revealing an increasing trend of ontology-based SM (ObSM) research in the SM maintenance phase. Increasing case size and system automation is needed for future ontology-based SM optimization. The findings of the study will help to gain a thorough knowledge of ObSM, which will increase interest in effectiveness and the use of engineering and analytical techniques in SM. Full article
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21 pages, 938 KiB  
Article
Safety Evaluation of Subway Tunnel Construction under Extreme Rainfall Weather Conditions Based on Combination Weighting–Set Pair Analysis Model
by Ping Liu, Yu Wang, Tongze Han, Jiaming Xu and Qiangnian Li
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9886; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169886 - 10 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1898
Abstract
Regional extreme rainfall events have occurred frequently in China, and subway tunnel construction faces possible threats under extreme weather conditions. Thus, in this study, we used the set pair analysis (SPA) approach to the construction safety evaluation of subway tunnels and developed a [...] Read more.
Regional extreme rainfall events have occurred frequently in China, and subway tunnel construction faces possible threats under extreme weather conditions. Thus, in this study, we used the set pair analysis (SPA) approach to the construction safety evaluation of subway tunnels and developed a construction safety evaluation model under extreme rainfall circumstances. Firstly, based on careful consideration of the complex construction environment of subway tunnels under extreme rainfall weather conditions, a construction safety evaluation system of subway tunnels was developed considering four aspects: rainfall, hydrogeology, construction design, and management. Moreover, the weighting analysis of each index factor was carried out using the improved analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) method, the entropy weight method (EWM), and the linear weighting method. Secondly, considering the uncertainty of subway tunnels’ construction safety evaluation system and the fuzzy nature of evaluation-level classification, a construction safety evaluation system of subway tunnels based on the multivariate linkage number and set pair analysis theory was established. Finally, we applied the model to a subway tunnel construction case. The results show that the evaluation results are consistent with the actual engineering survey results, which verifies the practicality and effectiveness of the model in evaluating subway tunnel safety. We also determined the primary factors and risk development trends that affect the safety of subway tunnel construction under extreme rainfall weather conditions to guide the safety risk management of subway tunnel construction. Full article
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12 pages, 3157 KiB  
Article
Improving Construction Safety: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 in the United States
by Chien-Ho Ko and Hani A. Abdulmajeed
Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7137; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127137 - 10 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2634
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, construction accidents in the United States (US) dropped dramatically compared to previous years. This research uses Saunders’ research onion approach to conduct a deep and systematic analysis of pre- and post-COVID-19 data to understand this phenomenon. The proposed research [...] Read more.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, construction accidents in the United States (US) dropped dramatically compared to previous years. This research uses Saunders’ research onion approach to conduct a deep and systematic analysis of pre- and post-COVID-19 data to understand this phenomenon. The proposed research framework examines safety and prevention measures implemented by the US government, using data collected from various US government agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and US Bureau of Labor Statistics. COVID-19’s effects on construction site health and safety were analyzed and ranked in order of efficacy in a hierarchy of control, and findings reveal a number of safety measures that can potentially be implemented to promote improved construction safety even after COVID-19 is over. Full article
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25 pages, 563 KiB  
Article
Characteristics and Causes of Construction Accidents in a Large-Scale Development Project
by Albert P. C. Chan, Yang Yang, Tracy N. Y. Choi and Janet Mayowa Nwaogu
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4449; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084449 - 08 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2666
Abstract
The airport at the Kai Tak district was relocated to Chek Lap Kok in 1998. The Hong Kong Government endeavors to redevelop Kai Tak into a mixed-use community. A total of eight fatal construction accidents have happened since the Kai Tak Development (KTD) [...] Read more.
The airport at the Kai Tak district was relocated to Chek Lap Kok in 1998. The Hong Kong Government endeavors to redevelop Kai Tak into a mixed-use community. A total of eight fatal construction accidents have happened since the Kai Tak Development (KTD) commenced in 2013, and seven of them occurred between 2020 and 2021. The alarming figures call for an in-depth investigation of fatal accidents, hence the aim of the current research. Detailed accident investigation reports that outlined accident causation and preventive measures for the eight accidents were collected. With a detailed examination of validity and reliability, the modified loss causation model was applied to analyze the situational variables, incident sequences, and causes of accidents. The results showed that “fall” and “struck by” were the most common accidents in the KTD. Several risk factors for fatal accidents were identified, including “aging workers”, “new to a construction site”, “ethnic minority”, “illegal worker”, “working on weekends”, and “subcontracting companies”. Preventive measures were offered to help government authorities and construction practitioners enhance the safety performance of the ongoing KTD projects. This study contributes to the knowledge of construction safety by identifying safety issues of mega interfacing projects. The practice of learning from accidents should be promoted in order to prevent similar accidents from occurring again. Full article
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17 pages, 297 KiB  
Article
A Fuzzy Risk Assessment Model for Small Scale Construction Work
by Sabriye Topal and Emine Atasoylu
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4442; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084442 - 08 Apr 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1934
Abstract
Occupational risk assessment is important for providing employees with a safe and healthy work environment. When compared with other industries, the construction industry poses a higher risk for accidents due to the variety and complexity of skills required for different types of work [...] Read more.
Occupational risk assessment is important for providing employees with a safe and healthy work environment. When compared with other industries, the construction industry poses a higher risk for accidents due to the variety and complexity of skills required for different types of work in the sector. Small-sized construction sites have a higher risk of occupational injury. Countries without occupational safety and health (OSH) enforcement pose an additional risk increasing the need of an effective and easy-to-apply risk assessment approach. This research aims to develop and study an easy to apply risk assessment model for small-scale construction sites. The method includes opinions from experts on safety, checklists to estimate the possibility of occurrence of accidents, the identification of current site-specific safety levels, the severity of risk, and safety barriers. The model uses both historical data and fuzzy approaches to calculate risk level and was applied to four different construction sites in North Cyprus. Results reveal the risk level for each accident type and the aggregate safety level of the construction sites. Falling from height was identified as the most common accident type with the highest risk level. This study contributes to the development of sustainable OSH management systems for construction companies by highlighting the measures that must be taken to reduce occupational accidents. Full article
9 pages, 1303 KiB  
Article
Exploring Empirical Rules for Construction Accident Prevention Based on Unsafe Behaviors
by Han-Hsiang Wang, Jieh-Haur Chen, Achmad Muhyidin Arifai and Masoud Gheisari
Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4058; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074058 - 29 Mar 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2370
Abstract
This paper is aimed at exploring rules for construction accident prevention based on unsafe behaviors. The literature review demonstrates a clear connection between construction accident prevention and unsafe behaviors, followed by a 2-year field investigation resulting in 2207 observations based on convenient sampling [...] Read more.
This paper is aimed at exploring rules for construction accident prevention based on unsafe behaviors. The literature review demonstrates a clear connection between construction accident prevention and unsafe behaviors, followed by a 2-year field investigation resulting in 2207 observations based on convenient sampling with 95% confidence and 5% limit of errors in the 50–50 category. There are 80.43% unsafe behaviors categorized into “Regulations for the Occupational Safety and Health Equipment and Measures”, where there are 66.37% of regulations and law VII violations, linking fall prevention with the most cases (94.48%) of Fall Protection and Structure Strengthening. The Apriori yields 13 association rules, where the top 3 rules show that 44.11% of the Passage and lighting category is linked to construction equipment inspections; 29.41% of the high-pressure gas category is linked to construction equipment inspections; 100% of the fire prevention category is linked to fire protection unsafe behavior. The findings clarify the association rules that can prevent workers from accidents in construction sites. Full article
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18 pages, 1090 KiB  
Article
Bolstering Measures for Combating the Challenges of Safe Working Cycle Implementation in Hong Kong’s Construction Industry
by Daniel W. M. Chan and Douglas O. Aghimien
Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3772; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073772 - 23 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1497
Abstract
To heighten the safety performance of construction projects, multitudinous safety initiatives or measures have been promulgated in Hong Kong over the past three decades. These initiatives have led to the drastic reduction in construction site accidents. However, implementing these safety initiatives, such as [...] Read more.
To heighten the safety performance of construction projects, multitudinous safety initiatives or measures have been promulgated in Hong Kong over the past three decades. These initiatives have led to the drastic reduction in construction site accidents. However, implementing these safety initiatives, such as the Safe Working Cycle (SWC), does not go without facing challenges. This paper illustrates the survey findings from an evaluation of the challenges encountered with the execution of SWC in construction projects in Hong Kong and proffers possible bolstering improvement measures for its successful implementation. The study was quantitative in nature and data were gathered from construction participants involved in projects adopting SWC. The data gathered were analysed using diverse descriptive, inferential and first-generation multivariate analyses. The study findings revealed that the effective implementation of SWC is still deterred by several major challenges that can be grouped into: (1) tight project schedule and limited site space; and (2) lack of promotions and support for SWC implementation. To address these profound challenges, the study recommended some essential improvement measures including: (1) adequate budget allocation and reasonable project schedule; (2) establishment of a reward system towards construction workers; and (3) development of a tailor-made SWC system for each specific construction site. The study has provided useful guidelines and insightful recommendations for both the client organisations and construction firms and their site management staff in developing their site safety policies and adopting SWC for improving the existing site safety performance of various construction projects. Full article
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17 pages, 1788 KiB  
Article
Safe Working Cycle: Is It a Panacea to Combat Construction Site Safety Accidents in Hong Kong?
by Daniel W. M. Chan and Douglas O. Aghimien
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 894; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020894 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2260
Abstract
In Hong Kong, the accident statistics of the construction industry is still comparatively higher than other industries. However, accident rates within the industry have significantly decreased, starting from the implementation of diverse safety initiatives, including the Safe Working Cycle (SWC). In this study, [...] Read more.
In Hong Kong, the accident statistics of the construction industry is still comparatively higher than other industries. However, accident rates within the industry have significantly decreased, starting from the implementation of diverse safety initiatives, including the Safe Working Cycle (SWC). In this study, a post-positivist philosophical stance was adopted, and a questionnaire survey was launched to gather empirical data on the application of SWC in construction projects, the effectiveness of the safety initiative, and the benefits thereof. The data gathered from 197 construction participants were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean score, Mann–Whitney U-Test, Kendall’s concordance analysis, Chi-square value, Spearman rank-order correlation test and exploratory factor analysis. The findings revealed significant adoption of SWC in the Hong Kong construction industry. Furthermore, daily, weekly, and monthly inspections and supervisions and safety committee meetings are effective items of this safety initiative. The benefits of adopting SWC can be grouped into the safety of frontline workers and increase in the organisation’s safety commitment and reputation. This study has created an excellent theoretical platform for future research work on the usefulness of the SWC in the construction industry at large. Full article
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2021

Jump to: 2023, 2022

24 pages, 2823 KiB  
Article
Influence of Sociodemographic Factors on Construction Fieldworkers’ Safety Risk Assessments
by Abdullahi Ibrahim, Chukwuma Nnaji and Mahmoud Shakouri
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010111 - 23 Dec 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2477
Abstract
Construction operations are hazardous, leading to thousands of accidents, injuries, and fatalities annually. Safety risk assessment (SRA) is a key component necessary to respond to hazards effectively. Individuals have different perceptions of the riskiness of construction hazards, and studies have shown that different [...] Read more.
Construction operations are hazardous, leading to thousands of accidents, injuries, and fatalities annually. Safety risk assessment (SRA) is a key component necessary to respond to hazards effectively. Individuals have different perceptions of the riskiness of construction hazards, and studies have shown that different sociodemographic factors among employees can alter their SRA skills. However, their role in the US construction industry has been understudied, and this analysis investigates this topic further. Following a detailed systematic review of the relevant literature, quantitative data were collected from 181 construction fieldworkers in the United States using images integrated into an interactive questionnaire survey. Responses on the severity and frequency of seven potential accident causes were captured and analyzed. Findings from the literature review revealed six key sociodemographic factors—age, education, training, gender, ethnicity, and work type—that could impact fieldworkers’ SRA. However, a quantitative analysis suggests that only education is a significant influence, and sociodemographic factors had a statistically significant impact on less than five percent of the assessments. Therefore, the present study proposes that future investigation within the SRA domain should complement sociodemographic factors with critical behavioral factors that are rarely discussed, such as cognitive biases, personality traits, and safety behavior. As a foundational study for safety researchers and practitioners, the results provide information on SRA that can help enhance the safety and workforce sustainability of construction companies with a diverse workforce. Full article
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37 pages, 5271 KiB  
Review
Current Status and Future Directions of Deep Learning Applications for Safety Management in Construction
by Hieu T. T. L. Pham, Mahdi Rafieizonooz, SangUk Han and Dong-Eun Lee
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13579; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413579 - 08 Dec 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4265
Abstract
The application of deep learning (DL) for solving construction safety issues has achieved remarkable results in recent years that are superior to traditional methods. However, there is limited literature examining the links between DL and safety management and highlighting the contributions of DL [...] Read more.
The application of deep learning (DL) for solving construction safety issues has achieved remarkable results in recent years that are superior to traditional methods. However, there is limited literature examining the links between DL and safety management and highlighting the contributions of DL studies in practice. Thus, this study aims to synthesize the current status of DL studies on construction safety and outline practical challenges and future opportunities. A total of 66 influential construction safety articles were analyzed from a technical aspect, such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and general neural networks. In the context of safety management, three main research directions were identified: utilizing DL for behaviors, physical conditions, and management issues. Overall, applying DL can resolve important safety challenges with high reliability; therein the CNN-based method and behaviors were the most applied directions with percentages of 75% and 67%, respectively. Based on the review findings, three future opportunities aiming to address the corresponding limitations were proposed: expanding a comprehensive dataset, improving technical restrictions due to occlusions, and identifying individuals who performed unsafe behaviors. This review thus may allow the identification of key areas and future directions where further research efforts need to be made with priority. Full article
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22 pages, 4779 KiB  
Article
Developing a Construction Safety Standard System to Enhance Safety Supervision Efficiency in China: A Theoretical Simulation of the Evolutionary Game Process
by Wenxin Su, Xin Gao, Yukun Jiang and Jinrong Li
Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 13364; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313364 - 02 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2430
Abstract
Labor safety is one of the most fundamental indicators to improve contractors’ sustainability. Safety supervision plays a crucial role in affecting the safety performance of infrastructure projects. However, studies of standards development to enhance safety supervision efficiency are far from complete. Safety standards [...] Read more.
Labor safety is one of the most fundamental indicators to improve contractors’ sustainability. Safety supervision plays a crucial role in affecting the safety performance of infrastructure projects. However, studies of standards development to enhance safety supervision efficiency are far from complete. Safety standards define safe behaviors for construction workers and hazard control processes in the workplace, and they are usually considered as an important part of safety control. In addition, the systematic reform of construction safety standards in China provides an innovative perspective to enhance safety supervision efficiency by linking standards to supervision. For this purpose, this paper proposes the concept and framework of the “Construction Safety Standard System (CSSS)” through expert interviews. CSSS hierarchically classifies safety standards and integrates similar standards. Its implementation will significantly influence the behavioral decisions of safety supervision stakeholders. Evolutionary game (EG) theory is applied to demonstrate the decision-making procedure in CSSS establishment and application. Furthermore, system dynamics (SD) is utilized to model and analyze equilibrium states under different supervision strategies. Meanwhile, case studies are implemented to assess the CSSS’s effectiveness in reality. The numerical results indicate that through CSSS implementation, the strategy choice fluctuation of supervisors and contractors is suppressed and a more desirable stable equilibrium is reached. The government tends to supervise and contractors tend to obey safety standards consciously. The findings reveal that CSSS can enhance safety supervision efficiency and have meaningful implications for theoretical study on safety supervision and construction safety management practice. Full article
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18 pages, 942 KiB  
Article
Relationships among Perceived Control, Safety Attitude, and Safety Performance: A Case Study on Wastewater Treatment Plant Workers
by Chung-Fah Huang, Yu-Long Tsai and Wen-Hua Lu
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12573; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212573 - 14 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2650
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are an indispensable part of the infrastructure of modern cities. However, because of the existence of many confined working spaces in them, they also pose significant risks of occupational hazards for workers. Therefore, this study was conducted on WWTP [...] Read more.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are an indispensable part of the infrastructure of modern cities. However, because of the existence of many confined working spaces in them, they also pose significant risks of occupational hazards for workers. Therefore, this study was conducted on WWTP workers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to explore the connections among the perceived control, safety attitude, and safety performance of WWTP workers. In total, 123 valid questionnaires were returned for descriptive statistical analysis, variance analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. According to the analysis results, the WWTP workers in this study indicated a mid to high level of perceived control, and they generally believed they were also responsible for industrial safety management. The variance analysis results showed that workers of a different gender, age, service unit, and seniority had significantly different safety attitudes. The hierarchical regression analysis results indicated that the perceived control of the WWTP workers had a significant influence on their safety performance through their safety attitude, which served as a mediator between perceived control and safety performance. It is hoped that these findings can provide references for WWTP managers and workers in their daily communication, operation, and safety management system introduction to ensure better safety. Full article
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18 pages, 326 KiB  
Article
Perceptions of Safety Climate in Construction Projects between Workers and Managers/Supervisors in the Developing Country of Iran
by Daniel W. M. Chan, Matteo Cristofaro, Hala Nassereddine, Nicole S. N. Yiu and Hadi Sarvari
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10398; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810398 - 17 Sep 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3185
Abstract
What are the different perceptions on safety climate (SC) by workers and managers/supervisors engaged in the construction industry of developing countries? Reconciling these two differing views is pivotal for mitigating and avoiding both the injured and fatal accidents in the construction industry, especially [...] Read more.
What are the different perceptions on safety climate (SC) by workers and managers/supervisors engaged in the construction industry of developing countries? Reconciling these two differing views is pivotal for mitigating and avoiding both the injured and fatal accidents in the construction industry, especially in those developing countries where safety conditions are poor and unpredictable, and safety measures are inadequate in most cases. To answer this research question, the collective perceptions of 118 construction workers and 123 managers/supervisors on the SC in construction projects in Iran were gleaned and investigated. In particular, these perceptions were initially collected by two different empirical surveys validated by a sample of university professors and construction managers and then analyzed through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s test of sphericity under factor analysis, together with a one-sample t-test. Results indicated that “workers’ attitudes and perceptions”, “safety knowledge and training”, “working relationships and roles of colleagues”, and “workers’ risk perceptions” are important categories of SC factors perceived by construction workers, whereas “safety rules and management practices” is the essential category of SC factors discerned by managers/supervisors. The difference in perceptions between workers and managers/supervisors is considered to be beneficial for an overall understanding of SC in general and for developing countries in particular. Moreover, a series of effective suggestions for improving SC in the construction industry of developing countries are provided with reference to each category. The views of SC factors are reinforced as a social process combining the synergies of workers and managers/supervisors, as well as proper safety training to be pushed forward as an essential activity that should be incorporated in human resources development of construction organizations so as to improve the existing level of SC, leading to fewer accidents at the industry level. Full article
18 pages, 786 KiB  
Article
Relationships between Social Support, Social Status Perception, Social Identity, Work Stress, and Safety Behavior of Construction Site Management Personnel
by Ying-Hua Huang, Chen-Yu Sung, Wei Tong Chen and Shu-Shun Liu
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3184; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063184 - 14 Mar 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4063
Abstract
The occupational injury death rate and mortality ratio owing to cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in the construction industry are the highest among all industries in Taiwan. Reducing work stress and improving safety behavior is a must for reducing occupational disasters and diseases. Construction [...] Read more.
The occupational injury death rate and mortality ratio owing to cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in the construction industry are the highest among all industries in Taiwan. Reducing work stress and improving safety behavior is a must for reducing occupational disasters and diseases. Construction site management personnel’s safety behavior is an important paradigm for construction workers. This study explored the relationships among work stress, safety behavior, professional identity, social status perception, and social support for construction site management personnel by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that low work stress can lead to favorable safety behavior. Greater company support, family support, and professional identity reduce work stress. Social status perception negatively influences work stress indirectly through the mediation of professional identity. The results revealed that construction site management personnel working within an exempt employee system (i.e., no overtime pay and compensatory leave) exhibited a significantly higher effort/reward ratio than those without this system. Gender, headquarter location, and site location also significantly influenced the on-site management personnel’s effort/reward ratio. Full article
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