Cognitive Factors Underlying Unsafe Behaviors of Construction Workers as a Tool in Safety Management: A Review

Understanding the dynamic interactions in the construction worker’s cognitive process is the key to eliminating human errors on construction sites and designing safety interventions to facilitate better safety management. However, the existing literature lacks a systematic review of the construction workers’ cognitive-related factors from the perspective of competence and their application in safety interventions. This review aims to summarize the state-of-the-art cognitive-related studies of construction employee errors and provide a guide for considering cognitive-related factors for safety management. The selection of relevant studies was through a three-step process. Key findings from these papers are organized into three areas of interest, namely (1) extractions of cognitive-related factors in the construction worker’s cognitive process, (2) determinations of the cognitive-related factors, and (3) cognitive-based safety interventions. Key conclusions include: (1) cognitive-related factors have been studied piecemeal and the ones that show a worker’s competence have been missing; (2) sensing of cognitive factors has focused on the perception stage and mixed indicator matrix to determine the worker’s cognitive status is needed; (3) safety interventions lack personalization and need to incorporate usable cognitive factors. A synthesis of the concepts underlying the reviewed studies is provided to get a sense of the strengths and gaps in the current studies, with suggestions for future research provided.

This review not only examines how cognitive-related factors are employed in causal explanations of the construction worker’s safety behavior but also surveys how these factors are measured and how these factors have been used as part of interventions in safety management. 17 indicators have been found in the studies reviewed and organized under the framework of cognitive-based competence. Usable factors in safety management can be identified based on the criteria of usability, detectability, and relatability. The organizational and managerial factors that influence the worker’s sociocognitive process can be tailored as tools in practical safety management. The design of safety interventions should not only consider the worker’s cognitive-based competence but also the methods of measurement of cognitive factors. In practical application, real-time data from sensor-based wearable devices such as smart helmets can be used together with data from psychological questionnaires to evaluate the worker’s cognitive-based competence. Safety interventions can be personalized based on the level of cognitive-based competence and personal factors such as personality traits. Personalization involves the customization of the management’s executive actions, mode of delivery, content, and delivery timing of the intervention.