Effect of Previous Accidents and Near-Miss Incidents on Risk Perceptions of Construction Workers

Abstract

ABSTRACT The construction industry suffers from a high number of occupational fatalities and injuries, despite ongoing efforts by practitioners and researchers to improve. Overall, the safety improvement approaches in the industry have been reactive with reliance on historical data. Recently, the focus of safety improvement has shifted to being proactive using leading indicators such as risk perception and safety control. The leading indicators are perception-based and limited empirical investigation has been conducted on the impact of previous accidents on the safety perceptions of the construction workers. This quantitative study used survey questionnaires to collect data from workers of multiple healthcare projects in the Southwestern region of the US. The survey questionnaires were developed based on existing instruments and gathered data was analyzed to test hypotheses related to the impact of previous incident experience on the safety perceptions of the construction workers. Analyses revealed a significant correlation between previous incident experience and workers’ perception of safety risk. The study did not find a significant association between workers’ previous incident experience and their perception of safety control. This suggests that workers’ perception of their capability to control safety risks may not be significantly influenced by their past experiences of accidents or near-miss incidents.