Risk Perception of Construction Personnel: A Social Construct Outlook

Safety risk perception is an important determinant of risk-taking behavior in construction. The amount of risk-taking an individual chooses to take with respect to safety influences the overall safety outcome of an activity. Risk perception can be influenced by a shared culture, where previous studies contend that individuals working for the same company share similar norms and values with respect to safety. As such, cognate perceptions of risk associated with a certain situation among employees is expected. However, this theory has yet to be tested and evaluated in construction. The objective of the present study is to evaluate social theories of risk perception by cross-examining field workers and their management personnel in four different aspects of risk in construction (pending danger, slow killer, cost-benefit ratio, and avocational thrill). To collect the necessary data for the study, in-person interviews were carried out across multiple construction sites with over 30 workers and construction managers along with an on-line survey of workers. Statistical and graphical analyses were used to examine the connection between types of safety risk and cultural perspectives. The study findings indicate that sharing a similar risk perception between field workers and their direct managing personnel depends on the type of risk in question. Workers within the same construction site who were found to have similar views on risk as a slow killer have contradicting views on pending danger risk. The present study provides empirical evidence that individuals working for the same company may not necessarily share similar safety norms and values especially if they occupy different positions.