A preliminary study of factors facilitating risk-taking behaviors or safety behaviors for construction workers

Abstract

Various engineering and administrative measures have been implemented at construction sites. However, these are not sufficient to prevent workers’ intentional risk-taking behaviors. It is necessary to quantitatively examine the factors that facilitate risk-taking behaviors or safety behaviors of workers, and to consider effective safety measures based on these factors. This study interviewed 18 experienced construction workers about their risk-taking behaviors in stepladder work to extract factors that facilitate risk-taking behaviors or safety behaviors as a preliminary study.Four categories of factors facilitating risk-taking behaviors were extracted for both experienced and novice workers: internal factors, experiential factors, situational factors, and influence of other people. However, more subcategories were identified for novice workers than for experienced workers. On the other hand, the factors facilitating safety behaviors were not characterized by work experience, and seven categories of factors were extracted: knowledge and skills related to safety and work, awareness of one's own ability and position, awareness of the effects of injuries and accidents, awareness of work, proactive involvement in work, experience and specific actions, and support and influence of other people. In future, based on these findings, we will quantitatively examine a cognitive-behavioral model focusing on workers' safety behavior and propose effective safety measures.