Abstract
Working within one of the most stressful industries, construction workers face intensive stress loads that adversely affect safety and productivity. While different factors induce stress, time pressure and mental demand are two industry characteristics that can trigger workers’ occupational stress. Although previous studies demonstrated the adverse effects of time pressure and mental demand on workers’ safety performance, no study has empirically investigated the direct impacts of such factors as task stressors on workers’ arousal and stress levels. Further, little is known about the impacts of imposed stress on workers’ situational awareness and risk decision-making. Accordingly, this study evaluates changes in individuals’ situational awareness and decision dynamics when working under stress imposed by time pressure and mental demand. The study simulated a high-risk electrical activity within a multimodel mixed-reality environment and captured participants’ physiological and cognitive responses to measure their stress levels and cognitive processes while completing the electrical task under normal and stressful conditions. Results showed high stress levels triggered by task stressors adversely affect one’s cognitive processes, including attentional distribution: Excessive stress led subjects to miss surrounding hazards, leading to impaired risk perception and increased risk-taking behaviors. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into how the occupational stress imposed by task stressors can disturb workers’ cognitive processes, reduce their situational awareness, and give rise to high-risk behaviors.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No. 2049711) and Electri International are thanked for supporting the research reported in this paper. Any opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF, Electri International, and supporting electrical contractors.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 8 • August 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 15, 2022
Accepted: Mar 7, 2023
Published online: May 22, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 22, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Employment
- Geotechnical engineering
- Human and behavioral factors
- Job satisfaction
- Labor
- Occupational safety
- Personnel management
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Safety
- Stress (by type)
- Stress analysis
- Stress distribution
- Structural analysis
- Structural engineering
- Tunneling
- Tunnels
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