Effect of Distraction on Hazard Recognition and Safety Risk Perception

Abstract

Both hazard recognition and safety risk perception are fundamental to effective safety management. When construction hazards remain unrecognized or the associated safety risk remains unperceived, the likelihood of human errors and injuries increases. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that a large number of construction hazards remain unrecognized in typical workplaces. Likewise, past research has demonstrated that safety risk is widely underestimated in construction. Therefore, to improve safety performance, a proper understanding of factors that influence hazard recognition and safety risk perception is vital. Toward achieving this goal, the objective of the current study is to evaluate the effect of distractions—which are ubiquitous in construction environments—on the hazard recognition performance and safety risk perception of workers. The study goals are accomplished through an experimental effort involving 7 construction workers representing various specialty trades. The workers were randomly assigned to a distracted or undistracted condition, and their hazard recognition performance and safety risk perception levels were measured using construction case images. The study findings revealed that the distracted workers recognized a smaller proportion of hazards compared with undistracted workers. However, there were no significant differences in the level of perceived safety risk between the two groups. A closer examination of the data revealed that the safety risk perception levels for the undistracted workers are positively related to their hazard recognition performance. In other words, when undistracted workers recognize a larger proportion of hazards, they also perceive higher levels of safety risk. However, no such relationship was observed for the distracted workers, suggesting that the perceived risk was unrelated to or not dependent on their hazard recognition performance. The findings suggest that workplace distractions can adversely affect hazard recognition, safety risk perception, and safety performance. Given that constuction workers are already exposed to numerous distractors in typical workplaces, contractors seeking to introduce emerging technologies such as drones, mobile devices, and smart robots must be cognizant of their potential distracting effects. The current study represents the first empirical effort investigating the effect of workplace distraction on construction hazard recognition and safety risk perception.