•Safety indicator data was analysed to examine the relationships between indicators over time.•Indicators presumed to be leading both led and lagged the total recordable injury rate.•Complex ...inter-relationships were found between different safety indicators.•A reciprocal relationship between safety activity and the total recordable injury rate was found.
Safety performance data collected over a five year period, at a large Australian infrastructure project was analysed. The analysis examined the temporal relationships between the safety performance indicators measured at the project, including traditional lagging indicators, as well as expected leading indicators. The purpose of the research was to uncover time dependent relationships and explore causal relationships between indicators. The analysis revealed complex interactions between safety indicators over time. Notably, the expected leading indicators behaved as both leading and lagging indicators in relation to the project total recordable injury frequency rate. This finding suggested a cyclical relationship between management actions relating to safety and the rate of safety incidents. This cyclical relationship is unlikely to produce long term sustained improvement in safety performance. The expected leading indicators of safety were also inter-related with one another in complex ways. The results indicate that assumptions underpinning the use of leading indicators should be reconsidered. In particular, the findings challenge the assumption that leading indicators measured at one point in time can predict safety outcomes at a subsequent point in time. The collection and use of different types of safety indicator data should be reconsidered.
Personal protective clothing (PPC) is mandatory in hazardous industrial workplaces, but can increase thermophysiological strain, causing fatigue, reduced productivity, illness and injury. We ...systematically reviewed the literature on PPC and heat stress, focusing on research relating to working conditions of high temperature and humidity. PPC must protect industrial workers from a wide variety of hazards, including sun damage, abrasion, chemical spills and electrical burns; these competing demands inevitably compromise thermal performance. Fiber type, textile material construction and treatment need to be considered alongside garment fit and construction to design functional PPC providing wearers with adequate protection and comfort. Several approaches to materials and PPC testing—objective benchtop evaluation, mathematical modelling, and physiological testing—can be combined to provide high-quality thermal and vapor performance data. Our review provides a foundation and directions for further research in low-level risk PPC, where current research in fabrics and clothing in this category is very limited, and will help designers and manufacturers create industrial workwear with improved thermal management characteristics.
Occupational stress affects the health and wellbeing of people who work, and the construction industry is recognized as a high-stress working environment. The relationship between job demands, job ...control, workplace support, and experiences of stress in the South African construction context is investigated, using hierarchical regression, factor analysis and structural equation modeling to explore the strength of thirteen factor relationships with perceived stress. Data were gathered from an on-line questionnaire survey response sample of 676 architects, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, and project and construction managers. Predictors displaying a significant relationship with occupational stress are the presence of work–life imbalance, the need to ‘prove’ oneself, hours worked per week, working to tight deadlines, and support from line managers in difficult situations at work. Existing theories of occupational stress are confirmed but not completely supported. The construction industry should give attention to how the need to work long hours is justified. Organizations should look to improving managerial and collegial support for construction professionals, but be careful in engaging in socializing and project team-building activities. Further research will need to focus more deeply on construction-specific job demand factors; explore why women professionals appear to experience more stress than men; and aim to develop reliable early-warning detection techniques for construction professionals.
•Investigates occupation stress and job demand, control and support factors.•Uses hierarchical regression, factor analysis and structural equation modelling.•Identifies job demand factors as the most critical job stressors.•Calls for research into gender differences and management intervention techniques.
Construction workers are a high risk group for poor health and occupational disability. A participatory action research (PAR) project was undertaken at construction sites in Queensland, Australia. ...Using the PAR framework, a needs-based health promotion planning model was implemented. Health promotion measures were designed to address the 'SNAPO' health risk factors (i.e. smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption, insufficient physical exercise and overweight/obesity). At the largest site participating in the research, preliminary health assessments revealed levels of physical health that were comparable with those of the general Australian population. The construction workers' mental health was poorer than that of the general Australian population. A consultation workshop with a representative group of workers at the site identified healthy eating, smoking cessation and physical exercise as priority areas for intervention. Several health promotion measures addressing these issues were implemented, including a quit smoking programme, a 'healthy options' menu in the site canteen, healthy eating and cooking workshops and onsite yoga and stretching sessions. A subset of workers at the site reported their health behaviour in weekly 'logs'. The log data revealed fluctuations in health behaviour over a 14-week period. Evaluation interviews and a focus group revealed environmental impediments to the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviours. Workers identified the need to provide a work environment that is supportive of healthy behaviour as critical to the effectiveness of specific health promotion measures.
Fundamental questions remain about the practical value and generalizability of accident causation frameworks for explaining construction accidents. Relevant causality literature is reviewed; three ...research projects compared and implications of accident causation theories for accident investigation and analysis discussed, particularly for accidents with differing consequences and in different national contexts. The effectiveness of the UK accident causality framework ConAC (Construction Accident Causality) in identifying occupational accident causes in different industry contexts (Australia and the USA) is evaluated; and the implications of the choice of theoretical framework in the analysis of construction accident causation considered. The ConAC framework was developed from a real-time analysis of 100 relatively minor construction accidents. The Australian study used this framework to analyse the National Coroners reports of 258 construction fatalities and the USA study used it to develop research instruments for interviews regarding 27 construction accidents of varying consequences. The results suggest that the ConAC framework is helpful for the analysis of the causes of accidents with outcomes of differing severity. The studies also suggest that it has international applicability despite differing occupational health and safety legislative contexts and industrial arrangements. Furthermore, significant learning can be obtained from considering underlying causes of accidents.
A cross section of participants representing a ‘vertical slice’ of the construction industry workforce were interviewed to: (i) understand the way that long hours are experienced by project-based ...workers and the factors contributing to the long hours culture, and (ii) explore the factors motivating a ‘whole of industry’ cultural reform initiative focused on reducing work hours in the Australian construction industry. Deeply entrenched systems of work within the construction industry, including competitive tendering processes and the imposition of financial penalties for time overruns, contribute to long work hours that are detrimental to workers' health and wellbeing. Moreover, construction companies develop project programs on the basis of assumptions that projects will run smoothly in all respects. Risks associated with program ‘slippage’ are passed down the supply chain to subcontractors. The problem of long work hours in construction project work means that a single organisation (whether client or constructor) cannot adequately address the issue. This has led to public sector client organizations and private sector construction organizations to engage in a unique collaborative initiative to reduce work hours and, in doing so, enable health, wellbeing and gender diversity in the Australian construction industry.
•Working hours should promote time for life, gender inclusion, health and wellbeing.•Harmful working time practices have been resistant to change in construction projects.•Whole-of-industry reform is needed to modify working time in construction projects.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a risk assessment model to assess the occupational safety and health (OSH) risks presented by different construction approaches, ...namely traditional and industrialised building system (IBS). The development process applies the concept of argumentation theory, which helps construction designers integrate the management of OSH risk into the design process. In addition, an energy damage model is used as an underpinning framework for developing the model.Design/methodology/approachDevelopment of the model was achieved through two phases. Phase I involved collection of data on the activities involved in the construction process and their associated OSH risks, derived from five different case studies, field observation and interviews. Knowledge of design aspects that have the potential to impact on OSH was obtained from document analysis. Using the knowledge obtained in phase I, a model was developed in the form of argument trees (Phase II), which represent a reasoning template with regard to options available to designers when they make judgements about aspects of their designs. Inferences from these aspects eventually determined the magnitude of the damaging energies for every activity involved. Finally, the model was validated by panels of experts, and revisions and amendments were made to the model accordingly.FindingsThe risk assessment model development revealed that the concept of argumentation theory and energy damage model is suitable to represent design safety risk knowledge and effectively address the designer's role in making decisions in their designs and further illuminate the level of OSH risk their designs pose.Practical implicationsThe developed model provides best-practice reasoning support for construction designers, which help them to understand the impact of their designs decisions on worker's safety and health, and thereby assist them to further mitigate the risk to an acceptable level.Originality/valueThis study departs from the existing tool in that the model was developed based upon the combination of argumentation theory and energy damage model. The significance of the model is discussed.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among young men. Help-seeking is known to be poor among this group, and little is known about what interventions are most successful in improving suicide ...prevention literacy among young men. This research aims to examine: (1) age differences in beliefs related to suicide prevention literacy and attitudes to the workplace in addressing mental health among male construction workers; (2) age differences in response to a workplace suicide prevention program. Pre- and post-training survey data of 19,917 male respondents were obtained from a workplace training program database. Linear regression models and predictive margins were computed. Mean differences in baseline beliefs, and belief change were obtained for age groups, and by occupation. Young men demonstrated poorer baseline suicide prevention literacy but were more likely to consider that mental health is a workplace health and safety issue. There was also evidence that young men employed in manual occupations had poorer suicide prevention literacy than older men, and young men employed in professional/managerial roles. The youngest respondents demonstrated the greatest intervention-associated change (higher scores indicating more favourable belief change) to
(predicted mean belief change 0.47, 95% CI 0.43, 0.50 for those aged 15⁻24 years compared to 0.38, 95% CI 0.36, 0.41 for men aged 45 years and over), and to
(predicted mean belief change 0.17, 95% CI 0.15, 0.20 for those aged 15⁻24 years compared to 0.12, 95% CI 0.10, 0.14 among men aged 45 years and over). Results indicate that while suicide prevention literacy may be lower among young men, this group show amenability to changing beliefs. There were some indications that young men have a greater propensity to regard the workplace as having a role in reducing suicide rates and addressing mental health, highlighting opportunity for workplace interventions.
PDF
