TY - GEN
T1 - The Relationship between Construction Workers' Risk Perception and Eye Movement in Hazard Identification
AU - Habibnezhad, Mahmoud
AU - Fardhosseini, Sadra
AU - Vahed, Ali Moghaddam
AU - Esmaeili, Behzad
AU - Dodd, Michael D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© ASCE.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Accidents occur at an unacceptable rate in the construction industry. Failure to notice hazards or misperceptions about their associated risks are among the most important human factors that lead to accidents. This study tests the hypothesis that workers' risk perception impacts their visual search strategies when identifying hazards. We tested this hypothesis by using eye-tracking technology - in close collaboration with the Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln - and by recruiting several workers from different construction firms located in Lincoln and Omaha. In order to measure the visual search patterns of the workers, we used various eye-tracking metrics, such as time to first fixation, first-fixation duration, dwell time (percentage), fixation count/percentage, and run count. Additionally, a survey administered at the end of the experiment measured workers' risk perception. Workers were then divided into different clusters according to their risk perception, and the differences with regard to their eye-tracking metrics were investigated statistically. The results of the analysis indicate that: (1) people with high risk perception have a lower mean dwell-time percentage regarding all types of hazards when compared to people with low risk perception; (2) people with high risk perception have a lower mean dwell-time percentage regarding ladder-included hazards when compared to people with low risk perception; and (3) people with higher risk perception have higher first-fixation duration regarding struck-by-material hazards when compared to those with lower risk perception. This study and its selected approach is unique in construction-safety research since no other study has investigated the relationship between risk perception and situational awareness using eye-tracking technology. The results of this study shed light on the causes of numerous accidents happening every day at construction sites and can enable the development of novel accident-prevention strategies.
AB - Accidents occur at an unacceptable rate in the construction industry. Failure to notice hazards or misperceptions about their associated risks are among the most important human factors that lead to accidents. This study tests the hypothesis that workers' risk perception impacts their visual search strategies when identifying hazards. We tested this hypothesis by using eye-tracking technology - in close collaboration with the Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln - and by recruiting several workers from different construction firms located in Lincoln and Omaha. In order to measure the visual search patterns of the workers, we used various eye-tracking metrics, such as time to first fixation, first-fixation duration, dwell time (percentage), fixation count/percentage, and run count. Additionally, a survey administered at the end of the experiment measured workers' risk perception. Workers were then divided into different clusters according to their risk perception, and the differences with regard to their eye-tracking metrics were investigated statistically. The results of the analysis indicate that: (1) people with high risk perception have a lower mean dwell-time percentage regarding all types of hazards when compared to people with low risk perception; (2) people with high risk perception have a lower mean dwell-time percentage regarding ladder-included hazards when compared to people with low risk perception; and (3) people with higher risk perception have higher first-fixation duration regarding struck-by-material hazards when compared to those with lower risk perception. This study and its selected approach is unique in construction-safety research since no other study has investigated the relationship between risk perception and situational awareness using eye-tracking technology. The results of this study shed light on the causes of numerous accidents happening every day at construction sites and can enable the development of novel accident-prevention strategies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976407485&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84976407485&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1061/9780784479827.297
DO - 10.1061/9780784479827.297
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84976407485
T3 - Construction Research Congress 2016: Old and New Construction Technologies Converge in Historic San Juan - Proceedings of the 2016 Construction Research Congress, CRC 2016
SP - 2984
EP - 2994
BT - Construction Research Congress 2016
A2 - Perdomo-Rivera, Jose L.
A2 - Lopez del Puerto, Carla
A2 - Gonzalez-Quevedo, Antonio
A2 - Maldonado-Fortunet, Francisco
A2 - Molina-Bas, Omar I.
PB - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
T2 - Construction Research Congress 2016: Old and New Construction Technologies Converge in Historic San Juan, CRC 2016
Y2 - 31 May 2016 through 2 June 2016
ER -