• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.361-369
• /
• 2022

Unsafe actions and behaviors of workers cause most accidents at construction sites. Nowadays, occupational safety is a top priority at construction sites. However, this problem often requires money and effort from investors or construction owners. Therefore, decreasing the accidents rates of workers and saving monitoring costs for contractors is necessary at construction sites. This study proposes an unsafe behavior detection method based on a skeleton model to classify three common unsafe behaviors on the scaffold: climbing, jumping, and running. First, the OpenPose method is used to obtain the workers' key points. Second, all skeleton datasets are aggregated from the temporary size. Third, the key point dataset becomes the input of the action classification model. The method is effective, with an accuracy rate of 89.6% precision and 90.5% recall of unsafe actions correctly detected in the experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 2018

This study was carried out to obtain baseline data on the causes of industrial accidents and their prevention by investigating structural models between the Shipyard workers' egogram ego-states (CP: Critical Parent, NP: Nurturing Parent, A: Adult, FC: Free Child, AC: Adapted Child), safe and unsafe behaviors, and industrial accidents (frequency/severity). In order to achieve this goal, 378 workers from 3 locations of major corporations in Geojedo Island and Ulsan took a questionnaire, which was then analyzed with a structural equation model using the SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 24 statistics package, and the main results of the study are as follows. First, NP and A's ego-states had a positive influence on safe behavior, AC's ego-state had a negative influence on safe behavior, and A's ego-state had the largest influence on safe behavior. Second, CP and AC's ego-states had a positive influence on unsafe behavior, and A's ego-state had a negative influence on unsafe behavior. AC's ego-state had the largest influence on unsafe behavior. Third, safe behavior did not have a significant influence on industrial accidents. However, unsafe behavior had a positive influence on industrial accident frequency and industrial accident severity, both sub-factors of industrial accidents. This study, despite its limitations, such as sampling limitations, has the following significance. First, this study verified that ego-state, a psychological characteristic, is an important factor for predicting unsafe behavior that induces industrial accidents. Second, in order to reduce industrial accidents, there is a need to stimulate the A ego-states, and promote continuous safety management and safety education to neutralize the AC ego-state. Third, previous studies were limited in the area of practical methods for reducing unsafe behaviors, but this study presents practical methods for reducing unsafe behaviors by verifying the structural relationship between safe/unsafe behaviors and industrial accidents by selecting ego-gram ego-states, variable personality theory, as an independent variable.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.10
• /
• pp.3628-3638
• /
• 2023

This paper uses 135 Licensed Operator Event Reports (LOER) from Chinese nuclear plants to analyze how safety culture affects unsafe behaviors in nuclear power plants. On the basis of a modified human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) framework, structural equation model (SEM) is used to explore the relationship between latent variables at various levels. Correlation tests such as chi-square test are used to analyze the path from safety culture to unsafe behaviors. The role of latent error is clarified. The results show that the ratio of latent errors to active errors is 3.4:1. The key path linking safety culture weaknesses to unsafe behaviors is Organizational Processes → Inadequate Supervision → Physical/Technical Environment → Skill-based Errors. The most influential factors on the latent variables at each level in the HFACS framework are Organizational Processes, Inadequate Supervision, Physical Environment, and Skill-based Errors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.552-562
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Adolescents who engage in unhealthy behaviors are particularly vulnerable to anxiety. We hypothesized that participation in physical activity could influence the relationship between anxiety and unhealthy behaviors in adolescents. These behaviors include smoking, alcohol consumption, and unsafe sexual activity. Methods: This study included 50 301 students from the first year of middle school to the third year of high school, all from Korea. The unhealthy adolescent behaviors examined included current alcohol consumption, current smoking, and unsafe sexual behavior. Anxiety levels were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire (GAD-7). Results: The participants had a mean age of 15.19 years and an average GAD-7 score of 4.23. No significant differences were observed in GAD-7 score among exercising participants when categorized by smoking status (p=0.835) or unsafe sexual behavior (p=0.489). In contrast, participants in the non-exercise group who engaged in these behaviors demonstrated significantly higher GAD-7 scores (p<0.001 and 0.016, respectively). The only significant interaction was found between unsafe sexual behavior and exercise (p=0.009). Based on logistic regression analysis, within the non-exercise group, significant positive associations were observed between current smoking and anxiety (odds ratio [OR], 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18 to 1.57), as well as between unsafe sexual behavior and anxiety (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.73). However, within the exercise group, no significant association was found between anxiety and either smoking or unsafe sexual behavior. Furthermore, no significant interaction was observed between unhealthy behaviors and exercise. Conclusions: These findings are insufficient to conclude that physical activity influences the relationship between unhealthy behaviors and anxiety.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.38-48
• /
• 2017

Finding causes of workers' unsafe behaviors is important to prevent construction accidents because 80 percent of accidents occur by workers' unsafe behaviors. In this regard, this research aims to investigate possible reasons of workers' unsafe behaviors based on workers' cognitive process model using System dynamics. This study is based on two ways of workers' cognitive process which are in relation to hazard perception and failure of hazard perception. Based on existing literature, causal loops for workers' cognitive process are developed to explain workers' habituation by staying out of accidents, safety learning by experience, failure of hazard perception, and attitude change by accidents. The interactions between the developed loops provide managerial insights to reduce workers' unsafe behaviors from a safety manager's perspective including increasing the probability of workers' hazard perception through knowledge management, maintaining workers' positive attitude toward safety, and controlling first-line supervisors to eliminate workers' unsafe behavior. The research allows us to better understand the causes and solutions of workers' unsafe behaviors in workers' cognitive perspectives.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 2010

This study compared the effects of praise and punishment for improving safety behaviors. Participants were 30 volunteer undergraduate students and they were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: (1) praise under which positive feedback was delivered for safe behaviors, (2) punishment under which negative feedback was delivered for unsafe behaviors. A simulated computerized work task was developed specifically for this study. Participants had to work on the work task and follow seven safety rules while working. When they follow all the seven safety rules, their behaviors were considered safe. If they did not follow any one of the rules, their behaviors were considered unsafe. Results showed that the percentage of safe behavior under group of praise feedback was significantly higher than under group of punish feedback.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.909-916
• /
• 2022

To study the developments and variations of unsafe behaviors in nuclear power plants thus reduce the possibility of human-related accidents, this paper, based on the Game Theory, focused on the changes in benefits of the Department of Management, Operational and Emergency in a nuclear power plant, and established the expected revenue functions of these departments. Additionally, the preventive measures of unsafe behaviors in nuclear power plants were also presented in terms of these 3 departments. Results showed that the violations of the Operation Department (OD) and the Emergency Department (ED) were not only relevant with the factors such as their own risks, costs, and the responsibility-sharing due to accidents, but also affected by the safety investments from the Management Department (MD). Furthermore, results also showed that the accident-induced responsibility-sharing of both the OD and the ED would rise, if the MD increased the investments in safety. As a result, the probability of violation behaviors of these 3 departments would be attenuated consciously, which would reduce the unsafe behaviors in the nuclear power plants significantly.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.300-309
• /
• 2024

Background: Risk perception plays a crucial role in workers' unsafe behaviors. However, little research has explored why workers generate biased risk perceptions, namely underestimating or overestimating the risks of unsafe actions. Cognitive biases in risk perception arise from uncertainties about the dangers of unsafe behaviors. As a typical heuristic strategy, the anchoring effect is critical in decision-making under uncertain conditions. Consequently, this study empirically analyzed the influence of anchoring effects on workers' risk perception. Methods: In 2022, a survey was conducted with 1,418 coal mine workers from Shanxi Province, China. The survey instruments assessed workers' risk perception of unsafe behavior, anchoring effects, need for cognition, and safety knowledge. Multivariable linear regression models were employed to analyze the associations among these variables. Results: The findings verified the proposed anchoring effects. Specifically, experimenter-provided high-risk anchors led workers to overestimate unsafe behavior risks, thus reducing their tendency to engage in such behavior. In contrast, experimenter-provided low-risk anchors and accident-injury experiences (self-generated anchors) decreased workers' risk perception, increasing their propensity to engage in unsafe behavior. Additionally, workers' safety knowledge and need for cognition significantly affected anchoring effects. Conclusion: This research enhances workplace safety studies by applying the anchoring effect from psychology to risk perception research. Suggestions for improving risk perception encompass implementing hazard warnings, fostering safety education, and providing training. Furthermore, managers should give special attention to workers with accident-injury experience and promptly correct their accident fluke mentality, thereby improving overall risk awareness.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.91-98
• /
• 2023

Construction accidents result from a combination of factors, including both the actions of workers and the safety conditions on site. Despite advancements in enhancing construction site safety, there remains a gap in comprehending the cognitive processes underlying workers' unsafe behavior. This paper investigates and validates a qualitative model that delves into the potential causes of workers' unsafe actions by examining their cognitive processes, employing a system dynamics approach. By analyzing the interplay of various loops within this model, it offers both short- and long-term safety strategies for managers intent on minimizing unsafe behavior among workers. Specifically, safety managers should prioritize increasing workers' awareness of hazards through education and fostering a positive safety mindset. Moreover, they should task frontline supervisors with directly addressing and rectifying instances of unsafe behavior by workers. Lastly, construction safety managers ought to formulate safety strategies that take into account the cognitive states of workers to mitigate any adverse consequences of biased safety management. The outcomes of this research contribute to our comprehension of methods to enhance hazard perception among workers, curtail unsafe actions, and ultimately reduce construction accidents from a cognitive standpoint.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2019

This paper presents a method that identifies the unsafe behaviors at the level of near-misses using image analysis. The method establishes potential collision hazardous area in earthmoving operation. It is implemented using a game engine to reproduce the dangerous events that have been accepted as major difficulty in utilizing computer vision technology to support construction safety management. The method keeps realistically track of the ever-changing hazardous area by reflecting the volatile field conditions. The method opens a way to distinguish unsafe conditions and unsafe behaviors that have been overlooked in previous studies, and reflects the causal relationship which causes an accident. The case study demonstrate how to identify the unsafe behavior of a worker exposed to an unsafe area created by dump trucks at the level of near-misses and to determine the hazardous areas.