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Article
Publication date: 12 April 2022

Pinsheng Duan and Jianliang Zhou

Near misses are important references for the construction industry to move toward zero injuries, and are of great significance in reducing accidents and improving safety…

Abstract

Purpose

Near misses are important references for the construction industry to move toward zero injuries, and are of great significance in reducing accidents and improving safety education. To fully improve the construction industry's understanding and standardize the management process of near-miss events, this paper describes a systematic review of the research front and intellectual basis of near-miss events based on scientometric technique and CiteSpace.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors reviewed and summarized the research wave and definitions of near-miss events in construction. The science mapping approach is used to conduct quantitative analyses of 120 relevant articles published between 2009 and 2019. Three research themes are identified via author analysis, keyword analysis and co-citation analysis: the construction of near-miss management systems, near-miss events research and characteristic research.

Findings

It is found that improving the data collection method to maximize the quality of near-miss reports, optimizing and verifying the event analysis model considering the characteristics of near-miss events in construction, establishing a more comprehensive framework for the analysis of near-miss events and building a highly inclusive technology integration platform are the four main development directions for the future.

Originality/value

According to Heinrich's law, incidents are mainly blamed on near-miss events such as workers' unsafe behaviors. Due to the complexity and variability of the construction site, near-miss events in construction may have different features. This article helps promote the understanding of near misses in academia, standardizing the management process of near-miss events, which is conducive to mining the potential value of such events in practice. Some insights into the research front and the intellectual base of near-miss research in construction are proposed.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2002

ALEXANDER MUERMANN and ULKU OKTEM

Over recent decades, banks and bank regulators have devoted substantial resources to managing market risk and credit risk. More recently industry and regulatory focus has shifted…

1350

Abstract

Over recent decades, banks and bank regulators have devoted substantial resources to managing market risk and credit risk. More recently industry and regulatory focus has shifted to the mitigation of operational risk. This article addresses the Advanced Measurement Approaches under which banks would be allowed to determine capital requirements, based on their own internal assessment of operational risk, according to standards set by the Basel Committee. The authors propose adopting the concept of “nearmiss” risk assessment employed in the chemical, health, and airline industries to internally evaluate operational risk.

Details

The Journal of Risk Finance, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1526-5943

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2023

Xiaoyu Liu, Feng Xu, Zhipeng Zhang and Kaiyu Sun

Fall accidents can cause casualties and economic losses in the construction industry. Fall portents, such as loss of balance (LOB) and sudden sways, can result in fatal, nonfatal…

Abstract

Purpose

Fall accidents can cause casualties and economic losses in the construction industry. Fall portents, such as loss of balance (LOB) and sudden sways, can result in fatal, nonfatal or attempted fall accidents. All of them are worthy of studying to take measures to prevent future accidents. Detecting fall portents can proactively and comprehensively help managers assess the risk to workers as well as in the construction environment and further prevent fall accidents.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focused on the postures of workers and aimed to directly detect fall portents using a computer vision (CV)-based noncontact approach. Firstly, a joint coordinate matrix generated from a three-dimensional pose estimation model is employed, and then the matrix is preprocessed by principal component analysis, K-means and pre-experiments. Finally, a modified fusion K-nearest neighbor-based machine learning model is built to fuse information from the x, y and z axes and output the worker's pose status into three stages.

Findings

The proposed model can output the worker's pose status into three stages (steady–unsteady–fallen) and provide corresponding confidence probabilities for each category. Experiments conducted to evaluate the approach show that the model accuracy reaches 85.02% with threshold-based postprocessing. The proposed fall-portent detection approach can extract the fall risk of workers in the both pre- and post-event phases based on noncontact approach.

Research limitations/implications

First, three-dimensional (3D) pose estimation needs sufficient information, which means it may not perform well when applied in complicated environments or when the shooting distance is extremely large. Second, solely focusing on fall-related factors may not be comprehensive enough. Future studies can incorporate the results of this research as an indicator into the risk assessment system to achieve a more comprehensive and accurate evaluation of worker and site risk.

Practical implications

The proposed machine learning model determines whether the worker is in a status of steady, unsteady or fallen using a CV-based approach. From the perspective of construction management, when detecting fall-related actions on construction sites, the noncontact approach based on CV has irreplaceable advantages of no interruption to workers and low cost. It can make use of the surveillance cameras on construction sites to recognize both preceding events and happened accidents. The detection of fall portents can help worker risk assessment and safety management.

Originality/value

Existing studies using sensor-based approaches are high-cost and invasive for construction workers, and others using CV-based approaches either oversimplify by binary classification of the non-entire fall process or indirectly achieve fall-portent detection. Instead, this study aims to detect fall portents directly by worker's posture and divide the entire fall process into three stages using a CV-based noncontact approach. It can help managers carry out more comprehensive risk assessment and develop preventive measures.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 June 2022

Kerim Koc, Ömer Ekmekcioğlu and Asli Pelin Gurgun

Central to the entire discipline of construction safety management is the concept of construction accidents. Although distinctive progress has been made in safety management…

1042

Abstract

Purpose

Central to the entire discipline of construction safety management is the concept of construction accidents. Although distinctive progress has been made in safety management applications over the last decades, construction industry still accounts for a considerable percentage of all workplace fatalities across the world. This study aims to predict occupational accident outcomes based on national data using machine learning (ML) methods coupled with several resampling strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Occupational accident dataset recorded in Turkey was collected. To deal with the class imbalance issue between the number of nonfatal and fatal accidents, the dataset was pre-processed with random under-sampling (RUS), random over-sampling (ROS) and synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE). In addition, random forest (RF), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-Nearest neighbor (KNN) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed as ML methods to predict accident outcomes.

Findings

The results highlighted that the RF outperformed other methods when the dataset was preprocessed with RUS. The permutation importance results obtained through the RF exhibited that the number of past accidents in the company, worker's age, material used, number of workers in the company, accident year, and time of the accident were the most significant attributes.

Practical implications

The proposed framework can be used in construction sites on a monthly-basis to detect workers who have a high probability to experience fatal accidents, which can be a valuable decision-making input for safety professionals to reduce the number of fatal accidents.

Social implications

Practitioners and occupational health and safety (OHS) departments of construction firms can focus on the most important attributes identified by analysis results to enhance the workers' quality of life and well-being.

Originality/value

The literature on accident outcome predictions is limited in terms of dealing with imbalanced dataset through integrated resampling techniques and ML methods in the construction safety domain. A novel utilization plan was proposed and enhanced by the analysis results.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 May 2018

Jayden Khakurel, Helinä Melkas and Jari Porras

The purpose of this paper is to expand current knowledge about the recent trend of wearable technology to assess both its potential in the work environment and the challenges…

14684

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to expand current knowledge about the recent trend of wearable technology to assess both its potential in the work environment and the challenges concerning the utilisation of wearables in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

After establishing exclusion and inclusion criteria, an independent systematic search of the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases for relevant studies was performed. Out of a total of 359 articles, 34 met the selection criteria.

Findings

This review identifies 23 categories of wearable devices. Further categorisation of the devices based on their utilisation shows they can be used in the work environment for activities including monitoring, augmenting, assisting, delivering and tracking. The review reveals that wearable technology has the potential to increase work efficiency among employees, improve workers’ physical well-being and reduce work-related injuries. However, the review also reveals that technological, social, policy and economic challenges related to the use of wearable devices remain.

Research limitations/implications

Many studies have investigated the benefits of wearable devices for personal use, but information about the use of wearables in the work environment is limited. Further research is required in the fields of technology, social challenges, organisation strategies, policies and economics to enhance the adoption rate of wearable devices in work environments.

Originality/value

Previous studies indicate that occupational stress and injuries are detrimental to employees’ health; this paper analyses the use of wearable devices as an intervention method to monitor or prevent these problems. Introducing a categorisation framework during implementation may help identify which types of device categories are suitable and could be beneficial for specific utilisation purposes, facilitating the adoption of wearable devices in the workplace.

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2023

Emmanuel Kodwo Amoako, Saviour Ayertey Nubuor, Abdul-Razak Suleman, Amin Abdul Bawa and Bridget Akwetey-Siaw

The study aims to investigate the impact of anxiety and depression (dimensions of mental health) on mineworkers' safety behaviors (safety compliance and safety participation…

137

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to investigate the impact of anxiety and depression (dimensions of mental health) on mineworkers' safety behaviors (safety compliance and safety participation) while examining the moderating role of safety climate on these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative research approach with an explanatory cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. A total of 274 purposively selected mineworkers participated in the study. Responses were obtained from participants through a structured questionnaire which was analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling.

Findings

Anxiety had a significant negative effect on safety compliance but not participation. However, depression was found to have a significant negative effect on both mineworkers' safety compliance and participation behaviors. The findings of the study also show that safety climate moderates the relationships between the dimensions of mental health and mineworkers' safety behavior except for the relationship between anxiety and mineworkers' safety participation behavior.

Originality/value

The study offers an account of the negative effect of mental health on mineworkers' safety behavior whiles highlighting that safety climate is an important construct to mitigate the negative effects of mental illness on the safety behaviors of mineworkers.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2023

Esra Dobrucali, Emel Sadikoglu, Sevilay Demirkesen, Chengyi Zhang, Algan Tezel and Isik Ates Kiral

Construction is a risky industry. Therefore, organizations are seeking ways towards improving their safety performance. Among these, the integration of technology into health and…

1037

Abstract

Purpose

Construction is a risky industry. Therefore, organizations are seeking ways towards improving their safety performance. Among these, the integration of technology into health and safety leads to enhanced safety performance. Considering the benefits observed in using technology in safety, this study aims to explore digital technologies' use and potential benefits in construction health and safety.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive bibliometrics analysis was conducted to reveal which technologies are at the forefront of others and how these technologies are used in safety operations. The study used two different databases, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, to scan the literature in a systemic way.

Findings

The systemic analysis of several studies showed that the digital technologies use in construction are still a niche theme and need more assessment. The study provided that sensors and wireless technology are of utmost importance in terms of construction safety. Moreover, the study revealed that artificial intelligence, machine learning, building information modeling (BIM), sensors and wireless technologies are trending technologies compared to unmanned aerial vehicles, serious games and the Internet of things. On the other hand, the study provided that the technologies are even more effective with integrated use like in the case of BIM and sensors or unmanned aerial vehicles. It was observed that the use of these technologies varies with respect to studies conducted in different countries. The study further revealed that the studies conducted on this topic are mostly published in some selected journals and international collaboration efforts in terms of researching the topic have been observed.

Originality/value

This study provides an extensive analysis of WoS and Scopus databases and an in-depth review of the use of digital technologies in construction safety. The review consists of the most recent studies showing the benefits of using such technologies and showing the usage on a systemic level from which both scientists and practitioners can benefit to devise new strategies in technology usage.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 31 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2021

Vigneshkumar Chellappa, Vasundhara Srivastava and Urmi Ravindra Salve

Construction workers’ health and safety (CWHS) research in India has not gained much attention among researchers. This study aims to review articles related to CWHS research in…

Abstract

Purpose

Construction workers’ health and safety (CWHS) research in India has not gained much attention among researchers. This study aims to review articles related to CWHS research in India using a science mapping approach.

Design/methodology/approach

A total number of 64 journal articles published between 2004 and 2019 were extracted from the Scopus database using keywords including “construction safety,” “occupational health,” “ergonomics in construction,” etc. VOSviewer software was used to examine the influential keywords, documents, sources and authors in the field of CWHS.

Findings

The study found that most of the current work focuses on safety management, safety climate, safety performance, musculoskeletal disorders and behavior-based safety. The result indicates no theoretical basis for the theories and learning methods for the existing studies.

Practical implications

The findings open up a research gap that researchers explore to enhance workers’ health and safety within the Indian construction environment.

Originality/value

The paper is the first article to provide a better understanding of current research in the field of CWHS in India by analyzing its growth through the science mapping approach.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2020

Fanning Yuan, Miaohan Tang and Jingke Hong

The objective of this study is to evaluate the overall technical efficiency, labor efficiency, capital efficiency and equipment efficiency of 30 Chinese construction sectors to…

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this study is to evaluate the overall technical efficiency, labor efficiency, capital efficiency and equipment efficiency of 30 Chinese construction sectors to foster sustainable economic growth in the construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (SE-DEA) and artificial neural network model (ANN) to evaluate the industrial performance and improvement potential of the Chinese regional construction sectors from 2000 to 2017.

Findings

Results showed that the overall technical and capital efficiencies displayed relatively stable patterns. Equipment efficiency presented a relatively huge fluctuation during the sample period. Meanwhile, labor, capital and equipment efficiencies could potentially improve in the next five years. A spatial examination of efficiencies implied that the economic level was still a major factor in determining the efficiency performance of the regional construction industry. Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang were consistently the leading regions with the best performance in all efficiencies. Shandong and Hubei were critical regions with respect to their large reduction potential of labor, capital and equipment.

Research limitations/implications

The study focused on the regional efficiency performance of the construction industry; however, it failed to further deeply discover the mechanism that captured the regional inefficiency. In addition, sample datasets used to predict might induce the accuracy of prediction results. Qualitative policy implications failed to regress the efficiency performance of the industrial policy variables. These limitations will be discussed in our further researches.

Practical implications

Enhancing the overall performance of the Chinese construction industry should focus on regions located in the western areas. In comparison with labor and capital efficiencies, equipment efficiency should be given priority by eliminating outdated equipment and developing high technology in the construction industry. In addition, the setting of the national reduction responsibility system should be stratified to account for regional variations.

Originality/value

The findings of this study can provide a systematic understanding for the current and future industry performance of the Chinese construction industry, which would help decision makers to customize appropriate strategies to improve the overall industrial performance with the consideration of regional differences.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 27 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2013

Michele Clark, Marion Gray and Jane Mooney

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of near‐misses and mistakes among new graduate occupational therapists from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ), and…

1175

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of near‐misses and mistakes among new graduate occupational therapists from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ), and their knowledge of current incident reporting systems.

Design/methodology/approach

New graduate occupational therapists in Australia and Aotearoa/NZ in their first year of practice (n=228) participated in an online electronic survey that examined five areas of work preparedness. Near‐misses and mistakes was one focus area.

Findings

The occurrence and disclosure of practice errors among new graduate occupational therapists are similar between Australian and Aotearoa/NZ participants. Rural location, structured supervision and registration status significantly influenced the perceptions and reporting of practice errors. Structured supervision significantly impacted on reporting procedure knowledge. Current registration status was strongly correlated with perceptions that the workplace encouraged event reporting.

Research limitations/ implications

Areas for further investigation include investigating the perceptions and knowledge of practice errors within a broader profession and the need to explore definitional aspects and contextual factors of adverse events that occur in allied health settings. Selection bias may be a factor in this study.

Practical implications

Findings have implications for university and workplace structures, such as clinical management, supervision, training about practice errors and reporting mechanisms in allied health.

Originality/value

Findings may enable the development of better strategies for detecting, managing and preventing practice errors in the allied health professions.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

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