Influence of Safety Experience and Environmental Conditions on Site Hazard Identification Performance

Abstract

Improving the hazard identification ability of workers is an important way to reduce safety accidents at construction sites. Although previous studies have succeeded in improving hazard identification performance, an important gap is that they consider only two factors, the worker’s safety experience and objective environmental conditions, to analyze the impact on hazard identification performance. To fill the above gap, a visual cognitive model of hazard identification was established. Sixteen field scenes were selected to represent construction sites in each environmental condition. Eye-movement data were extracted through eye-tracking experiments, and the differences between experts’ and novices’ gazes during danger recognition in these scenes were analyzed. The results indicate the following: bright construction sites can significantly improve the correct recognition rate and information processing in hazard identification; tidy construction sites can improve the search efficiency and correct recognition rate of hazard identification; safety experience can improve workers’ correct recognition rates and information processing; and reducing distractions can effectively improve the correct identification rate of hazards. Overall, optimal site brightness needs to be further studied to improve the efficiency of hazard search and reduce the distraction effect. This study provides recommendations for the direction of safety training and safety management on site.