Improving Construction Safety by Providing Positive Feedback on Backup Alarms
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 121, Issue 2
Abstract
Federally mandated backup alarms and safety management have been unable to eliminate fatalities and injuries due to maneuvering trucks and mobile equipment on construction sites. Workers appear to ignore the alarms as part of the general noise level. When reversing, drivers and equipment operators tend to depend on the alarm's effectiveness to clear areas in which drivers have limited visibility. Using human factors analysis, the problem was recognized as one of decremented vigilance, a person's natural inability to sustain attention without positive feedback. This paper presents experimental data on the use of a simulated, discriminating, personal alarm activated by a short range, directional transmitter to encourage safe behavior. During the experiment there was a significant increase in response time, as expected, for the conventional backup alarm and a decrease in response time for the discriminating personal alarm. The proposed backup alarm system has the potential to eliminate on-site vehicle/equipment accidents.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Baker, C. H. (1959). “Attention to visual displays during a vigilance task. II: Maintaining the level of vigilance.”British J. of Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Vol. 50, 30–36.
2.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1992). “Occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States by Industry, 1990.”Bull. 2399, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C.
3.
Craig, A. (1978). “Is the vigilance decrement simply a response adjustment towards probability matching?”Proc. 22nd Annu. Meeting, Vol. 20, Human Factors Soc., Santa Monica, Calif., 447–451.
4.
Dawson, S., Poynter, P., and Stevens, D.(1982). “Strategies for controlling hazards at work,”J. of Safety Res., 13(3), 95–112.
5.
Duchon, J. C., and Laage, L. W. (1986). “The consideration of human factors in the design of a backing-up warning system.”Proc., 30th Annu. Meeting, Vol. 1, Human Factors Soc., Santa Monica, Calif., 261–264.
6.
Heinrich, H. W., Petersen, D., and Roos, N. (1980). Industrial accident prevention. A safety management approach . McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N.Y.
7.
Helander, M. G.(1991). “Safety hazards and motivation for safe work in the construction industry.”Int. J. of Industrial Ergonomics, 8(3), 205–223.
8.
Komaki, J., Barwick, K. D., and Scott, L. R.(1978). “A behavioral approach to occupational safety; pinpointing and reinforcing safe performance in a food manufacturing plant.”J. of Appl. Psychology, 63(4), 434–445.
9.
Kryter, K. D. (1970). The effects of noise on man . Academic Press, New York, N.Y.
10.
Saarl, J., and Nasanen, M.(1989). “The effect of positive feedback on industrial housekeeping and accidents; a long-term study at a shipyard.”Int. J. of Industrial Ergonomics, 4(3), 201–211.
11.
Stearn, W. T. (1992). Stearn's dictionary of plant names for gardeners . Cassell Publishers Ltd., London, England.
12.
Sulzer-Azaroff, B.(1978). “Behavioral ecology and accident prevention.”J. of Organizational Behavioral Mgmt., 2(1), 11–44.
13.
Treisman, A.(1969). “Strategies and models of selective attention.”Psychological Rev., 76(3), 282–299.
14.
Warm, J. S. (1984). Sustained attention in human performance . John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y.
15.
Watson, C. E.(1986). “Does behavior based safety management work?”Profl. Safety, 31(9), 20–25.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 121 • Issue 2 • June 1995
Pages: 166 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jun 1, 1995
Published in print: Jun 1995
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.