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The current body of literature indicates that the utilization of emerging digital safety technologies has the potential to enhance the efficacy of safety management in construction significantly. Nevertheless, there has been limited uptake of digital safety technologies within the construction industry in developing countries. This study is focused on evaluating the adoption of digital safety technologies in construction specifically from the perspective of developing countries. Questionnaire data were gathered from project management professionals in China and subjected to analysis using mean ratings, factor analysis, and fuzzy composite evaluation. The developed model for assessing safety technology adoption comprises four primary criterion groups about factors influencing adoption, namely organizational, technological, individual, and external categories. The study results indicate that factors within the technology category exert the most significant influence on the adoption assessment model, followed by those in the external and organizational categories, and finally by individual category factors. These findings contribute to advancing the theory of digital technology adoption in construction safety management research within developing countries. Practitioners can utilize this information to effectively evaluate and compare success rates of safety technology adoption, thereby informing management decisions required for projects. The insights provided by this study will equip practitioners with scientific knowledge for more effective and sustainable program management, ultimately enhancing the success of safety technologies., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: While assessment of subcontractors' safety performance during project bidding processes are common in commercial construction, the validation of organizational surveys used in these processes is largely absent., Methods: As part of a larger research project called Assessment of Contractor Safety (ACES), we designed and tested through a cross-sectional study, a 63-item organizational survey assessing subcontractors' leading indicators of safety performance. We administered the ACES Survey to 43 subcontractors on 24 construction sites. Concurrently, we captured the safety climate of 1426 workers on these sites through worker surveys, as well as injury rates, for the duration of the project., Results: At the worksite level, higher average ACES scores were associated with higher worker safety climate scores (P < .01) and lower rates of injury involving days away (P < .001). Within subcontracting companies, no associations were observed between ACES and worker safety climate scores and injuries., Conclusions: These results suggest the overall and collective importance of the construction project and its worksite in mediating worker experiences, perhaps somewhat independent of the individual subcontractor level., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Proximity warning systems for construction sites do not consider whether workers are already aware of the hazard prior to issuing warnings. This can generate redundant and distracting alarms that interfere with worker ability to adopt timely and appropriate avoidance measures; and cause alarm fatigue, which instigates workers to habitually disable the system or ignore the alarms; thereby increasing the risk of injury. Thus, this paper integrates the field-of-view of workers as a proxy for hazard awareness to develop an improved hazard proximity warning system for construction sites. The research first developed a rule-based model for the warning generation, which was followed by a virtual experiment to evaluate the integration of worker field-of-view in alarm generation. Based on these findings, an improved hazard proximity warning system incorporating worker field-of-view was developed for field applications that utilizes wearable inertial measurement units and localization sensors. The system's effectiveness is illustrated through several case studies. This research provides a fresh perspective to the growing adoption of wearable sensors by incorporating the awareness of workers into the generation of hazard alarms. The proposed system is anticipated to reduce unnecessary and distracting alarms which can potentially lead to superior safety performance in construction.

Introduction . Navigated safety inspection based on task-specific checklists can increase the hazard detection rate, theoretically with interference from scene complexity. Visual clutter, a proxy of scene complexity, can theoretically impair visual search performance, but its impact on the effect of safety inspection performance remains to be explored for the optimization of navigated inspection. This research aims to explore whether the relationship between working memory and hazard detection rate is moderated by visual clutter. Methods . Based on a perceptive model of hazard detection, we: (a) developed a mathematical influence model for construction hazard detection; (b) designed an experiment to observe the performance of hazard detection rate with adjusted working memory under different levels of visual clutter, while using an eye-tracking device to observe participants' visual search processes; (c) utilized logistic regression to analyze the developed model under various visual clutter. Conclusion . The effect of a strengthened working memory on the detection rate through increased search efficiency is more apparent in high visual clutter. This study confirms the role of visual clutter in construction-navigated inspections, thus serving as a foundation for the optimization of inspection planning.

Introduction: Safety management in construction is complicated due to the complex "nature" of the construction industry. The aim of this research was to identify safety management factors (e.g., risk management and site management), contextual factors (e.g., organisational complexity) and combinations of such factors connected to safety performance., Method: Twelve construction projects were selected to compare their safety management and safety performance. An analytical framework was developed based on previous research, regulations, and standards where each management factor was defined. We employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to produce case knowledge, compare the cases, and identify connections between the factors and safety performance. The material collected and analyzed included, for example, construction planning documents, reports from OHS-inspections, safety indicators, and interviews with project leaders and OHS experts., Results and Conclusions: The research showed that: (a) the average score on 12 safety management factors was higher among projects with high safety performance compared to projects with low safety performance; (b) high safety performance can be achieved with both high and low construction complexity and organizational complexity, but these factors complicate coordination of actors and operations; (c) it is possible to achieve high safety performance despite relatively poor performance on many safety management factors; (d) eight safety management factors were found to be "necessary" for high safety performance, namely roles and responsibilities, project management, OHS management and integration, safety climate, learning, site management, staff management, and operative risk management. Site management, operative risk management, and staff management were the three factors most strongly connected to safety performance., Practical Implications: Construction stakeholders should understand that the ability to achieve high safety performance in construction projects is connected to key safety management factors, contextual factors, and combinations of such factors., (Copyright © 2019 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The fact that safety climate impacts safety behavior and delivers better safety outcomes is well established in construction. However, the way workers safety perception is inclined and developed is still unclear., Method: In this research, the influence of supervisors' developing safety climate and its impact on workers' safety behavior and their conceptualization of safety is explored through the lens of the 'Psychological Contract' (PC). More specifically, it is argued that 'Psychological Contract of Safety' (PCS) is a vital factor in explaining how workers attach meaning to a supervisor behavior. Extant research suggests: (a) safety climate is based on the perception of workers regarding safety; and (b) PCS is based on perceived mutual obligations between workers and supervisors. As a result, this research argues that if PCS or mutual obligations between workers and supervisors are fulfilled, then safety climate of the workers will be positively influenced. A model is presented depicting PCS as an alternative intervention in understanding how safety climate could be influenced and predicted by the level of fulfillment of mutual safety obligations. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) the model of the PCS is validated with data collected from a mega-construction project in Australia., Results: The results suggest that to have a positive and strong safety climate, top-level managers must ensure that mutual safety obligations between supervisor and workers are fulfilled. This enables the PCS to be introduced as a new 'predictor' of safety climate. Practical applications: The novel outcome of the research could be considered as a management intervention to modify supervisors' behavior to produce better safety outcomes., (Copyright © 2018 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study characterizes safety prequalification surveys currently in use in the construction industry to identify approaches that include leading indicators of worker safety performance. We collected prequalification surveys available in the public domain from internet searches, construction company websites, published literature, and construction industry partners. We utilized a conceptual framework, based on safety theory and best practices, to categorize survey questions. Fifty-two prequalification surveys were identified containing 112 unique questions. Most included questions related to lagging indicators (83 percent), safety management leadership (75 percent), and worker training (60 percent). Safety management system elements such as hazard prevention and control, program evaluation and improvement, and coordination and communication were notably absent in 90 percent of the surveys. There was little consistency in the surveys available concerning leading indicators of safety. Only a small number of surveys currently in use incorporate all the elements of best practices associated with robust safety management systems.

Safety communication among construction workers is fundamental to effective safety management. However, evidence suggests that poor safety communication is a common problem in construction workplaces. In fact, previous research has unveiled a number of systemic barriers to effective safety communication in the construction industry. When workers do not sufficiently communicate relevant safety hazards and appropriate injury prevention measures, unexpected injuries can follow. Therefore, research examining factors that promote or impede effective safety communication is necessary. Towards achieving this goal, the purpose of the current research was to evaluate the effect of safety climate and crew cohesion on the demonstrated safety communication levels. The goal was achieved by gathering empirical data from 57 construction workplaces in the United States. More specifically, the participating construction workplaces were visited, and data pertaining to the safety climate and crew-level cohesion were first collected using questionnaire surveys. Next, a safety communication survey instrument was administered, and the data necessary to compute network density-a social network metric that is indicative of safety communication levels was gathered. The analysis of the data suggested that a positive relationship exists between safety climate and safety communication levels. Likewise, construction crews that demonstrated higher levels of cohesion exhibited superior safety communication levels. Finally, evidence also suggested that a synergetic effect exists between safety climate and crew cohesion in improving safety communication levels.

The construction industry plays a significant role in contributing to the economy and development globally. During the process of construction, various hazards coupled with the unique nature of the industry contribute to high fatality rates. This review refers to previous published studies and related Malaysian legislation documents. Four main elements consisting of human, worksite, management and external elements which cause occupational accidents and illnesses were identified. External and management elements are the underlying causes contributing to occupational safety and health (OSH), while human and worksite elements are more apparent causes of occupational accidents and illnesses. An effective OSH management approach is required to contain all hazards at construction sites. An approach to OSH management constructed by elements of policy, process, personnel and incentive developed in previous work is explored. Changes to the sub-elements according to previous studies and the related Malaysian legislation are also covered in this review.

The construction industry is known as one of the most dangerous industries, which not only requires sound operation of executive laws and regulations, but also necessitates the safety culture of all workers at workshops. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the factors of safety culture and ranking occupations in jobsites based on those factors in order to proactively improve the safety culture of construction projects and subsequently promote safety conditions and worksites. In this study, safety culture criteria are weighted by a combination of Fuzzy Decision Trail and Evaluation Laboratory and Fuzzy ANP methods. Next, different job positions in high-rise projects are ranked using the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method. Findings demonstrated that the project manager, site superintendent and supervisor occupations had the highest and labourers had the lowest level of safety culture in the high-rise construction industry. Furthermore, factors such as safety supervision and training must be considered more seriously in order to create a positive safety culture among workers.

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM). Top management commitment (TMC) and supervisors' expectation (SE) were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC) and supervisor safety climate (SSC), respectively, and coworkers' caring and communication (CCC) and coworkers' role models (CRM) were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC). SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Design for safety (DfS) (also known as prevention through design, safe design and Construction (Design and Management)) promotes early consideration of safety and health hazards during the design phase of a construction project. With early intervention, hazards can be more effectively eliminated or controlled leading to safer worksites and construction processes. DfS is practiced in many countries, including Australia, the UK, and Singapore. In Singapore, the Manpower Ministry enacted the DfS Regulations in July 2015, which will be enforced from August 2016 onwards. Due to the critical role of civil and structural (C&S) engineers during design and construction, the DfS knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of C&S engineers have significant impact on the successful implementation of DfS. Thus, this study aims to explore the DfS KAP of C&S engineers so as to guide further research in measuring and improving DfS KAP of designers. During the study, it was found that there is a lack of KAP studies in construction management. Therefore, this study also aims to provide useful lessons for future applications of the KAP framework in construction management research. A questionnaire was developed to assess the DfS KAP of C&S engineers. The responses provided by 43 C&S engineers were analyzed. In addition, interviews with experienced construction professionals were carried out to further understand perceptions of DfS and related issues. The results suggest that C&S engineers are supportive of DfS, but the level of DfS knowledge and practices need to be improved. More DfS guidelines and training should be made available to the engineers. To ensure that DfS can be implemented successfully, there is a need to study the contractual arrangements between clients and designers and the effectiveness of different implementation approaches for the DfS process. The questionnaire and findings in this study provided the foundation for a baseline survey with larger sample size, which is currently being planned. In contrast to earlier studies, the study showed that the responding C&S engineers were supportive of the DfS. The study showed that the key to improving the DfS KAP of C&S engineers is by improving clients' motivation for DfS., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

One of the key challenges in improving construction safety and health is the management of safety behavior. From a system point of view, workers work unsafely due to system level issues such as poor safety culture, excessive production pressure, inadequate allocation of resources and time and lack of training. These systemic issues should be eradicated or minimized during planning. However, there is a lack of detailed planning tools to help managers assess the impact of their upstream decisions on worker safety behavior. Even though simulation had been used in construction planning, the review conducted in this study showed that construction safety management research had not been exploiting the potential of simulation techniques. Thus, a hybrid simulation framework is proposed to facilitate integration of safety management considerations into construction activity simulation. The hybrid framework consists of discrete event simulation (DES) as the core, but heterogeneous, interactive and intelligent (able to make decisions) agents replace traditional entities and resources. In addition, some of the cognitive processes and physiological aspects of agents are captured using system dynamics (SD) approach. The combination of DES, agent-based simulation (ABS) and SD allows a more "natural" representation of the complex dynamics in construction activities. The proposed hybrid framework was demonstrated using a hypothetical case study. In addition, due to the lack of application of factorial experiment approach in safety management simulation, the case study demonstrated sensitivity analysis and factorial experiment to guide future research., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Construction safety management involves complex issues (e.g., different trades, multi-organizational project structure, constantly changing work environment, and transient workforce). Systems thinking is widely considered as an effective approach to understanding and managing the complexity. This paper aims to better understand dynamic complexity of construction safety management by exploring archetypes of construction safety. To achieve this, this paper adopted the ground theory method (GTM) and 22 interviews were conducted with participants in various positions (government safety inspector, client, health and safety manager, safety consultant, safety auditor, and safety researcher). Eight archetypes were emerged from the collected data: (1) safety regulations, (2) incentive programs, (3) procurement and safety, (4) safety management in small businesses (5) production and safety, (6) workers' conflicting goals, (7) blame on workers, and (8) reactive and proactive learning. These archetypes capture the interactions between a wide range of factors within various hierarchical levels and subsystems. As a free-standing tool, they advance the understanding of dynamic complexity of construction safety management and provide systemic insights into dealing with the complexity. They also can facilitate system dynamics modelling of construction safety process., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In the construction industry, despite the development of technology and the efforts of companies, safety accidents are frequent, and the types of accidents are also diversified. In particular, when looking at the accident rates of the construction industry, the number of deaths from fall accidents accounts for a very high proportion. To resolve this, various measures to prevent fall, such as installation of safety railings and safety nets, have been proposed at the national level, but the effect is very insignificant. Therefore, it is necessary to establish measures for safety management and to propose prevention techniques by in-depth analysis of the causes of fall accidents through actual accident cases at the construction sites. The purpose of this study is to assess the risk of the cause of fall accidents for sustainable safety management at construction sites. To this end, data collection of fall accident cases at domestic construction sites, risk assessment by cause, and fall accident prevention techniques are conducted in order. This study was conducted on fall accident cases that occurred at a height of more than 2m. The results of this study will contribute to substantially reducing fall accidents at construction sites in South Korea. Additionally, it is used as basic data for improving Korea's construction safety management system.

• Crisis management strategies for worksite fatalities. • Discuss consequences of construction fatalities. • Identify stakeholders impacted by worksite fatalities. • Identify barriers to crisis management implementation in construction. • Two crisis communication models created for construction industry. Introduction : The construction industry is high risk and unpredictable, requiring extensive safety preparation, practices, and effectiveness on worksites. While preventative measures are important and well documented, the industry, in general, lacks effective crisis management strategies when safety measures fail. The focus of this study was to evaluate dominant crisis communication and management best practices and adopt those methods into models that could be used following a construction worksite fatality. Methods: Through literature review, this study acknowledged barriers to crisis management implementation within the construction industry, defined worksite fatalities as a preventable crisis type, identified major organizational implications of a crisis event, determined applicable response strategies following a worksite fatality, and identified major stakeholder groups impacted by fatality events. Prominent communication theories and models that have been used in multiple industries were identified and researched for this study. The literature review revealed general crisis communication theories and models that could be adapted specifically to the construction industry. Results: Two proactive communication models were created from the collected research. These models were designed to be adapted and utilized by construction organizations as a fundamental crisis communication tool and as a basis for individualized crisis management strategies following emergency events. Conclusions: This study concludes that worksite fatalities are considered a preventable crisis type, with the risk of legal, financial, and reputational damage to an organization. Appropriate response methods include ingratiation, mortification or corrective action strategies which are dependent on an organization's stakeholders, perceived responsibility, reputation, and crisis history. Practical Applications: Construction organizations could apply the models proposed in this study as foundational building blocks in alignment with strategic crisis management planning and safety failure preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vision-based monitoring depends on ladder safety rules. • Worker height estimated by bounding box height ratio. • Correlation of keypoints enhances helmet identification. • Improved regression loss boosts unsafe behavior detection. Introduction: Fatal fall from height accidents, especially on construction sites, persist, underscoring the importance of monitoring and managing worker behaviors to enhance safety. Deep learning showed the possibility of substituting the manual work of safety managers. However, applying detection results to determine compliance with safety regulations has limitations. Method: This study estimated the actual working height depending on the height of the object detection bounding box by specifying the consistent hinge part as a target marker based on ladder manufacturing regulations. Furthermore, an attempt was made to improve the separation between workers, coworkers, and persons unconnected to ladder activities by applying an optimized loss function alongside an attention mechanism. Results: The experimental results showed that an average precision increased from 87.60% to 90.44%. The performance of the monitoring unsafe behavior of ladder worker following the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) guide was evaluated by 91.40 F1-Score, which accumulated sorted according to the working height. Conclusions: Experimental results show the feasibility of the real-time automate safety monitoring in ladder work. Practical Applications: By linking the estimated working height and deep learning multi-detection results to established safety regulations, the proposed method shows the potential to automatically monitoring unsafe behaviors in construction site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: With the development of science and technology and the intelligence of the construction industry, the traditional extensive construction method can no longer meet the social demand for safety, which requires the construction enterprises and construction units to constantly change the safety management mode. With the advancement of urbanization, intelligent management and control has become the future development direction of the construction industry, and BIM software has also become an important synchronization platform, which will continuously improve the promotion of the overall project and the management of construction safety. Research methods: This paper mainly uses literature survey, quantitative and qualitative analysis, empirical analysis and other methods, which can study the construction safety management and intelligent management and control as a whole. Through literature survey, this paper has obtained a large amount of literature, which can enrich theoretical analysis and comprehensively understand the current construction safety management mode and intelligent management and control mode. Through relevant theories, this paper can fully demonstrate the follow-up research and empirical analysis. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis method, this paper can use statistical analysis method to analyze construction safety accident data, which will analyze the internal relationship through relevant software. Therefore, the quantitative and qualitative analysis method provides important data support for the subsequent research, which can provide statistical methods for the analysis of building safety hazard sources. Through the empirical simulation method, this paper can analyze specific projects with real cases, which will truly simulate the intelligent monitoring system. Through the empirical simulation method, this paper can verify the scientific nature of the algorithm, and can also demonstrate the management and control mode of the intelligent monitoring system. Research conclusion: Through BIM and RFID, this paper builds an intelligent monitoring system, which also builds the information collection, processing and application stages of the overall framework, and realizes the intelligent management and control of the future construction safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction : Construction practitioners are at a disproportionately higher risk of fatal and nonfatal injuries compared to practitioners from other industries. The absence of and inappropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), hereinafter referred to as PPE non-compliance, are major causes of fatal and nonfatal injuries at construction workplaces. Method: Accordingly, a robust 4-step research methodology was employed to investigate and assess factors that contribute to PPE non-compliance. As a result, 16 factors were identified utilizing literature review and ranked utilizing fuzzy set theory and K-means clustering. Top among them: inadequate safety supervision, poor risk perception, lack of climate adaptation, lack of safety training, and lack of management support. Results: Managing construction safety in a proactive manner is vital to eliminate or minimize construction hazards and improve overall site safety. Thus, proactive measures to address these 16 factors were identified utilizing a focus group methodology. The validation of the statistical findings with that of the focus groups of industry professionals provides validation of the findings as both practical and actionable. Practical Applications: This study significantly contributes to construction safety knowledge and practice which, in turn, aids academic researchers and construction practitioners in their continuous efforts to reduce fatal and nonfatal injuries among construction workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current practice, an essential element of safety management systems, Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), is performed manually, relying on the safety personnel's experiential knowledge and observations. This research was conducted to create a new ontology that comprehensively represents the JHA knowledge domain, including the implicit knowledge. Specifically, 115 actual JHA documents and interviews with 18 JHA domain experts were analyzed and used as the source of knowledge for creating a new JHA knowledge base, namely the Job Hazard Analysis Knowledge Graph (JHAKG). To ensure the quality of the developed ontology, a systematic approach to ontology development called METHONTOLOGY was used in this process. The case study performed for validation purposes demonstrates that a JHAKG can operate as a knowledge base that answers queries regarding hazards, external factors, level of risks, and appropriate control measures to mitigate risks. As the JHAKG is a database of knowledge representing a large number of actual JHA cases previously developed and also implicit knowledge that has not been formalized in any explicit forms yet, the quality of JHA documents produced from queries to the database is expectedly higher than the ones produced by an individual safety manager in terms of completeness and comprehensiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was recognized as a worldwide epidemic and classed as a high risk in early 2020, affecting people's health, economies, and business sectors considerably. This pandemic has had an impact on people's lifestyles and work processes in a multitude of sectors. The construction industry is one such industry that has had a substantial influence on it. However, this influence needs to be measured in different areas. This study aims to measure the effects of the COVID-19 on the 7 core safety elements and their 24 procedures that are derived from the recommended practices for safety and health programs in construction that is issued by OSHA to see whether their priorities have been changed or not. The data were collected and then analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII) to study the changes in their priorities; and using t-test to study the significance of the changes before and after COVID-19 pandemic.

Inadequate compliance with safety practices is a major hurdle in the construction industry, and a single-level source of input to assess safety culture is a major limitation of the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to capture multi-level employees' (top management, middle management and workers) perceptions to assess multi-level safety culture (organizational level, project level and personnel level) in the construction industry. This study considered the Indian construction industry as the study area and used a questionnaire survey and interview technique as research instruments. In total, 184 responses were collected from multi-level employees. Data analysis was performed using a descriptive statistical method and hypothesis testing using the Mann–Whitney U test followed by the Kruskal–Wallis and post hoc tests. Findings highlighted inadequate safety compliances and significant (p < 0.05) perception differences among multi-level employees. Further, root cause analysis for observed perception differences was performed, and managerial implications were discussed from implementation perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety is a well-researched yet underperforming management aspect of the construction industry. Building information modeling (BIM) can help, and some frameworks have addressed safety management in limited phases of the project lifecycle. This study positions BIM centrally in the safety management process and develops a safety management framework that covers the entire lifecycle of a construction project in the context of developing countries. A systematic literature review is conducted to identify the safety factors and BIM features that are synthesized to devise BIM-based safety improvement strategies. The strategies are presented to construction management professionals from developed and developing countries through an online questionnaire survey, and their level of agreement is identified. Afterward, construction safety experts are engaged to integrate these strategies into appropriate lifecycle phases. Additionally, these experts are also engaged to develop an automated hazard recognition process to leverage BIM potential in safety management. The integration of strategies into project lifecycle phases resulted in a comprehensive safety implementation framework leveraging the BIM platform. This framework takes a lead from the experience of developed countries and considers the limitations of developing countries in terms of resources and technology. Furthermore, a BIM-based process map for hazard identification is developed. The process map takes the BIM model as input and provides a detailed safety report. The process map can be automated to enhance effective safety management. This study expands the body of knowledge through a BIM-driven lifecycle safety management framework for developing countries where BIM adoption is still in its early stages. It is a fresh take on safety automation to make the construction industry safer and more reliable. However, it is limited due to inadequate safety reporting and documentation in developing countries. Future research can improve upon this limitation by positioning in a safety-compliant culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High occupational injury and fatality rate in the construction industry is a serious global concern. Recognizing AI as a solution to enhance safety performance, this study reviews 153 papers to assess and categorize current AI applications in construction, focusing on text, visual, and audio data, while also identifying challenges and future research opportunities. Real-time monitoring, hazard detection, and information extraction are identified as key areas where AI is applied, with a notable reliance on deep neural networks, object recognition, and Natural Language Processing. The review highlights major challenges, including the need for high-quality data management, semantic feature representation, and occluded object detection. Additionally, it underscores the untapped potential of audio-based AI and the advancements possible with Large Language Models for text interpretation. The findings emphasize the need for integrated, multi-faceted AI systems and advocate for responsible AI deployment to mitigate safety risks on construction sites. [Display omitted] • Poor Safety remains a global challenge for construction. • AI emerges as an effective approach for enhancing safety. • Study reviews and categorizes AI applications in construction safety. • The key insights, opportunities, and challenges for AI integration are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tower cranes (TCs) are vital equipment highly sought after on construction sites due to their efficiency in handling and lifting heavy loads. Nevertheless, the use of TCs on construction sites is riddled with significant safety issues, resulting in numerous accidents across the globe. This study uniquely focuses on the emerging tower crane safety technologies (TCST) field and makes vital contributions by investigating and analyzing TCST research. It aims to explore knowledge gaps and propose future research directions through a systematic review. The uniqueness of this study is its comprehensive examination of TCST, which encompasses not only academic research but also industrial technologies and products. TCST has been categorized based on their purposes and specific aspects of crane management, leading to four key categories: (1) proactive preconstruction crane management technologies; (2) monitoring technologies during construction; (3) anti-collision technologies during construction; and (4) stability control technologies during construction. This study makes a threefold contribution. First, it identifies six crucial knowledge gaps, three in academia and three in the industrial sector. These gaps relate to data completeness, data scope, real-world application, post-construction dismantling, accuracy and data reliability, and data security. Second, it outlines future research opportunities in both academic and industrial contexts, providing a clear path to address these gaps and improve tower crane (TC) operation safety and efficiency. Lastly, it delivers valuable insights to industry practitioners by presenting the latest TCST applications in real-world scenarios, thereby promoting safer and more effective construction practices. • Tower cranes enhance construction efficiency but pose safety challenges. • Comprehensive systematic review of TCST conducted in academia and industry. • Four TCST categories identified: preconstruction, monitoring, anti-collision, stability. • A total of six critical knowledge gaps found in academia and industry. • Offers insights and future research directions for safer construction practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious injuries and fatalities (SIF) continue to be an enigmatic problem in the construction industry. Researchers have begun to explore new ways of preventing these incidents by developing and testing leading indicators, precursor analysis, and risk assessment supported by data analytics. These recent themes suggest a new paradigm in safety prediction. Aligned with this trajectory, the objectives of this study were to (1) identify a comprehensive list of potential predictors of SIFs in construction, including business factors, project characteristics, and crew demographics; (2) quantitatively prioritize potential predictors; and (3) develop a rank-ordered list of factors that could be tested for predictive validity and practically deployed on site. An expert panel of 22 industry practitioners generated 254 potential predictors of construction SIFs through structured brainstorming. To prioritize these potential predictors, the expert panel rated the extent to which each is measurable, predictive, simple, and actionable. Finally, a weighted sum method and a maximin approach was used to identify the predictors with the greatest practical potential for predicting SIF events, including brand-new concepts that have not yet been considered in the associated safety literature. Most previous research has focused on one specific form of safety prediction at a time (e.g., leading indicators), whereas this research effort is a first step toward a unified model with high feasibility and practical relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Definition of safety leading indicators has evolved over the years in construction. • Transition from lagging to leading safety indicators in construction. • Trending development of safety culture/climate in construction organizations. • Complex relationship between safety leading indicators and safety performance. • Potential effectiveness of using safety leading indicators in construction projects. Safety leading indicators have gained attention as an emerging field within the construction industry. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the fundamental aspects of leading indicators, including their definitions, effectiveness, and implementation. This study aims to extract the evolved definition of safety leading indicators, identify trends, and shifts in their context, investigate the relationship between these indicators and safety management factors, and evaluate the effectiveness of their implementation in construction projects. A total of 728 journal articles were selected using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta -analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. These articles were analyzed to present a comprehensive overview of the body of knowledge on safety leading indicators. The analysis focused on identifying key themes, trends, and insights related to these indicators in the construction industry. The research findings emphasized the continuous development and refinement of the definition of safety leading indicators over time. Moreover, the study identified four emerging trends, revealing the evolving nature of safety management practices. Furthermore, it underscored the challenge of establishing direct links between these indicators and other safety management elements due to the intricacy of factors contributing to safety performance. Lastly, the study assessed the effectiveness of implementing safety leading indicators in construction projects, providing valuable insights on their actual impact. This study contributes to the field by providing a comprehensive review of safety leading indicators in the construction industry. This knowledge adds value by offering guidance for future research endeavors related to safety leading indicators in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction workplaces still report an unacceptable number of safety incidents every year. To tackle these disproportionate incident rates, safety training interventions are adopted widely in construction workplaces. Despite their adoption, poor safety performance continues to be a universal and global problem in the industry. In fact, recent research has called into question the effectiveness of training programs that are commonly adopted in the industry. There is also evidence that suggests that training interventions, in many cases, do not yield tangible benefits and may sometimes simply reduce to wasted resources. Therefore, it is important for industry stakeholders to possess a good understanding of the characteristics of training interventions that translate to superior safety performance. Towards achieving this goal, the present article concisely summarizes specific safety training intervention elements, which when integrated into training programs, can translate into superior safety performance and outcomes. The objectives of the research were achieved by performing a review of the construction safety training literature from diverse sources. The findings demonstrate that training interventions that integrate visual cues to guide hazard recognition, immersive experiences in virtual environments, andragogical training principles, personalization of training experiences, testing and feedback, and other elements can improve training effectiveness and outcomes. The article will serve as a resource for industry professionals that seek to address the weaknesses of existing training interventions. Researchers may also use this as a resource to inform the development of the next generation of safety training interventions. Together, the presented research can be leveraged to reduce the number of undesirable safety incidents experienced in construction workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Navigated inspection seeks to improve hazard identification (HI) accuracy. With a tight inspection schedule, HI also requires efficiency. However, lacking quantification of HI efficiency, navigated inspection strategies cannot be comprehensively assessed. This work aims to determine inspection efficiency in navigated safety inspection, controlling for HI accuracy. Based on a cognitive method of the random search model (RSM), an experiment was conducted to observe the HI efficiency in navigation, for a variety of visual clutter (VC) scenarios, while using eye-tracking devices to record the search process and analyze the search performance. The results show that the RSM is an appropriate instrument, and VC serves as a hazard classifier for navigation inspection in improving inspection efficiency. This suggests a new and effective solution for addressing the low accuracy and efficiency of manual inspection through navigated inspection involving VC and the RSM. It also provides insights into the inspectors' safety inspection ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, a large number of safety hazards remain unrecognised in construction workplaces. These unrecognised safety hazards are also likely to remain unmanaged and can potentially cascade into unexpected safety incidents. Therefore, the development of hazards recognition skill – particularly among the next-generation of construction professionals – is vital for injury prevention and safe work-operations. To foster the development of such skill, the current investigation examined the effect of administering a hazard recognition intervention to students seeking to enter the construction workforce. First, prior to introducing the intervention, the pre-intervention hazard recognition skill of the participating students was measured. Next, the intervention that included a number of programme elements was introduced. The programme elements included (1) visual cues to promote systematic hazard recognition, (2) personalised hazard recognition performance feedback, (3) visual demonstration of common hazard recognition search weaknesses, and (4) diagnosis of hazard search weaknesses using metacognitive prompts. Finally, the post-intervention skill demonstrated by the student participants was measured and compared against their pre-intervention performance. The results suggest that the intervention was effective in improving the hazard recognition skill demonstrated by the next-generation of construction professionals. The observed effect was particularly prominent among those that demonstrated relatively lower levels of skill in the pre-intervention phase. The research also unveiled particular impediments to hazards recognition that the participants experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor hazard recognition skill is a widespread issue in the construction industry. Therefore, an understanding of factors that influence the development of hazard recognition skill among workers is fundamental to effective safety management. Based on social learning theory which suggests that individuals learn efficiently by observing, interacting, and emulating others in workplaces, the current article reports findings from a larger study that examined the effect of safety climate and social-network safety communication patterns on the hazard recognition skill demonstrated by workers. More specifically, building upon previously reported findings presented in Pandit et al. which suggests that maintaining a more positive safety climate can lead to superior hazard recognition levels, the current article presents additional results examining the effect of safety climate and social-network safety communication patterns—maintained by workers—on the demonstrated hazard recognition skill. The study involved recruiting construction crews from 57 projects in the United States where safety climate and social-network safety communication data were gathered using questionnaire surveys—which was then followed by a hazard recognition activity. The results suggest that, apart from the safety climate, social-network safety communication patterns are positively related to the demonstrated hazard recognition skill. In addition, evidence of an interaction effect was found—suggesting that establishing a positive safety climate and maintaining higher levels of safety communication can yield synergistic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the factors affecting occupational safety in construction projects. Previous literature has been explored and a field study to explore the opinions, proposals and directions of the relevant experts in the field of safety in construction projects. Questionnaire forms of 25 questions have been distributed among 60 experts. The SPSS program has been used to analyze the questionnaire forms to test the hypotheses of the research. Statistical methods that fit with nature and methodology of this study have been used. Kendall's W Test has been used to assess the agreement between experts. Mean rank has been used to prioritize the importance of safety factors. It has been found out that the first aid should be provided for the project, maintenance of safety equipment, follow-up of its use, assignment of employment according to their experience, safety management programs, training of workers and the inclusion of safety requirements in contracts for construction projects are the important factors respectively. Kruskal-Wallis test has been carried out to check the concordance between the experts according to their academic standing and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction workplaces still report an unacceptable number of safety incidents every year. To tackle these disproportionate incident rates, safety training interventions are adopted widely in construction workplaces. Despite their adoption, poor safety performance continues to be a universal and global problem in the industry. In fact, recent research has called into question the effectiveness of training programs that are commonly adopted in the industry. There is also evidence that suggests that training interventions, in many cases, do not yield tangible benefits and may sometimes simply reduce to wasted resources. Therefore, it is important for industry stakeholders to possess a good understanding of the characteristics of training interventions that translate to superior safety performance. Towards achieving this goal, the present article concisely summarizes specific safety training intervention elements, which when integrated into training programs, can translate into superior safety performance and outcomes. The objectives of the research were achieved by performing a review of the construction safety training literature from diverse sources. The findings demonstrate that training interventions that integrate visual cues to guide hazard recognition, immersive experiences in virtual environments, andragogical training principles, personalization of training experiences, testing and feedback, and other elements can improve training effectiveness and outcomes. The article will serve as a resource for industry professionals that seek to address the weaknesses of existing training interventions. Researchers may also use this as a resource to inform the development of the next generation of safety training interventions. Together, the presented research can be leveraged to reduce the number of undesirable safety incidents experienced in construction workplaces.

Active leading indicators (ALIs) have the potential to identify safety hazards and prompt immediate actions to prevent incidents. Currently, there is a major gap in research that incorporates a fully automated ALI system because implementation has been hindered by a lack of established industry thresholds of measurable performance that would trigger an actionable response. Therefore, this paper addresses this gap by presenting a new method that utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect quantifiable data which can trigger an actionable response in real time based on established thresholds. This novel method integrates the Construction Industry Institute (CII) active leading indicator framework with a prototype IoT-based system. Significantly, the ALI provides the physical-virtual feedback loop, which is an essential aspect of the IoT system because it provides real-time feedback to both the users and systems. This paper also identifies potential inputs to the ALI framework from emerging IoT-enabled systems. A case study was presented to initially validate the IoT-based ALI framework. Bluetooth-enabled heart rate monitors were issued to workers in a hazardous and critical mining construction site. The ALIs that were recorded included heart rate and body temperature. Thresholds were established that alerted the monitoring safety staff when a worker exhibited potentially unsafe conditions. The results of the study demonstrated the feasibility of the system. Additionally, other results included worker resistance; non-disclosing of medical conditions, and limitations for IoT connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Poor hazard and the underestimation of safety risk can lead to safety incidents. • A positive safety climate can improve hazard recognition performance. • A positive safety climate can lead to higher levels of perceived safety risk. • Superior hazard recognition can lead to higher levels of perceived safety risk. Abstract Poor hazard recognition and the underestimation of safety risk can lead to catastrophic safety incidents. Unfortunately, past research has demonstrated that a large number of safety hazards remain unrecognized in construction workplaces. Likewise, evidence also suggests that the underestimation of safety risk is a widespread issue in the construction industry. Therefore, to improve safety performance, a proper understanding of workplace factors that affect hazard recognition and safety risk perception is fundamental. To begin achieving this goal, the current study evaluated the effect of safety climate – a validated leading indicator of safety performance – on hazard recognition and safety risk perception levels. This was accomplished by gathering empirical data from over 280 workers employed in 57 construction workplaces in the United States. More specifically, after gathering safety climate data from the participating workers, the workers were engaged in a hazard recognition and safety risk perception activity. The study findings revealed that workers representing workplaces with a more positive safety climate demonstrate higher levels of hazard recognition and safety risk perception. In addition, the effect of safety climate on safety risk perception was mediated by hazard recognition performance. In other words, safety climate affected hazard recognition performance, which in turn affected safety risk perception levels. Apart from the indirect effect of safety climate on safety risk perception through hazard recognition performance, safety climate also affected safety risk perception independently of hazard recognition performance. The findings of the study will be useful to practicing professionals seeking to improve safety performance in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apart from struck-by safety incidents, fall-related injuries are a major concern in bridge maintenance work. To protect against falls from bridge decks, maintenance workers largely rely on existing bridge guardrails. However, a large number of bridge guardrails do not comply with the regulatory height requirement of 42 ± 3 in. for sufficient fall protection – although appropriate for vehicular traffic. To address this fall protection issue, a few departments of transportation (DOTs) have adopted Fall Protection Supplementary Devices (FPSDs). These devices are temporarily installed on existing bridge guardrails to sufficiently increase the barrier height while work is performed on bridge decks. However, not all FPSDs are compatible with every bridge guardrail. Therefore, to provide sufficient protection, DOT decision makers are tasked with identifying FPSDs that are compatible for each guardrail application. This generally has involved physically installing FPSDs and assessing compatibility on a trial-and-error basis. The use of such inefficient techniques have resulted in significant errors, wasted resources, productivity losses, and an increased likelihood of struck-by safety incidents. To address this issue, the objective of this study is to propose an efficient, cost-effective, and safe approach to assessing compatibility using virtual prototyping methods. In addition, to illustrate the use of the proposed method, a case example of the compatibility testing between two bridge guardrails in North Carolina and three separate FPSDs is presented. It is expected that the proposed method will provide a useful mechanism for DOTs to select suitable FPSDs to protect their workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]