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DEVELOPING FACTOR-BASED MODELS FOR MEASURING AND PREDICTING HAZARD RECOGNITION CAPABILITY OF CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS
Abstract
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The situation is uglier in developing countries
To address this problem, a plethora of research efforts in different perspectives have been made to improve safety performance of the construction industry. These efforts range from the safety management point of view, (with focus on accident cause analyses, safety climate, safety culture, workers‘ safety perception and competency, behaviour-based safety, hazard management, etc) to the technological applications (such as the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Data Mining, Geographic Information System
Hazard recognition has been identified as a fundamental requirementworkforce, the high proportion of which are unskilled and unlettered, coupled with the high labour turnover in the sector, hazard recognition must be given proper attention if the safety profile of the industry is to be improved.
hazard recognition performance of construction workers in order to improve safety management practices of the industry.
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem
hazard recognition capabilities
1.3 Aim and Objectives
1.3.1 Aim of the study
The aim of this research is to develop model for measuring and predicting hazard recognition capability of construction workers with view to improving safety performance.
1.3.2 Objectives
To identify the factors affecting hazard recognition capability of construction workersTo assess the extent to which the factors influence hazard recognition capability of construction workersTo establish the determinants of hazard recognition capability of workersTo determine the relationships among the determinants of hazard recognition capabilityTo develop factor-based models for predicting hazard recognition capability of workers based on their trades
1.4 Justification
Recognition of hazards by construction workers leads to better safety performance of projects. The evaluation of the hazard recognition capability of workers in advance will identify the areas of weaknesses which will be useful in the adoption of improvement measures prior to the occurrence of any accident. This will also lead to an effective management of safety issues and a continuous improvement of safety management practices at construction sites. Similarly, identifying hazard recognition capabilities of construction workers will enable construction managers and safety supervisors to channel safety training initiatives to specific areas of weaknesses in order to improve recognition capacities of workforce.
Most importantly, safety hazards in construction vary with different construction trades that workers engage in, therefore, linking hazard recognition to the nature of construction jobs performed by workers will provide an opportunity for the construction industry to be more effective in hazard identification and safety management in general. Hazard recognition improvement initiatives will be directed to areas of needs, in order to reduce accidents and fatality rates in construction.
1.5 Scope
This research has focused on factors influencing the ability of construction workers to recognize hazards in selected construction trades comprising excavation, roof and other works at height, and steel construction; that have already been identified among the most hazardous in construction. This formed the basis for developing the hazard recognition evaluation tool and the subsequent models.
Data for the research were collected on reasonably complex construction projects, involving a minimum of three storey buildings where all the construction trades interact in the same environment. Moreover, the models developed in this research are meant for evaluation of hazard recognition capability of construction workers in the specific trades considered for the data collection. These models yield the result of hazard recognition capability of the workers as a score approximated to either ‗yes‘ or ‗no‘. No specific grades are given. The result is therefore serving as an important guide to users in taking job assignment decisions to workers on the basis of their hazard recognition capability.
1.6 Limitations
The fact that the research variables were tested by the use of questionnaire, the validity of the data collected might have been influenced by the possible difficulty in the respondents‘ understanding of those questions, especially in the case of the workers/tradesmen whose level of knowledge might impede clear understanding in some cases. The researcher had to interpret the questions to most of them, however, the accuracy is only limited to their level of understanding of the interpretations. Similarly, their willingness to respond to those questions honestly might also affect the quality of the conclusions reached.
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