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Understanding the Effect of Management Factors on Construction Workers’ Unsafe Behaviors Through Agent-Based Modeling

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Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Transactions of Civil Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As the information technology and its application level improve, the construction industry is transforming and upgrading from traditional construction to smart construction in recent years. However, safety issues still exist and construction accidents occur frequently. Construction workers’ unsafe behaviors are the primary reason for accidents; how to reduce workers’ unsafe behaviors by conducting safety management is an urgent and crucial subject. The study considered the intelligent video surveillance and five traditional management modes into the management system and proposed an advanced cognitive model of construction workers’ unsafe behaviors. The agent-based modeling method was adopted to explore the action mechanisms of typical management factors on the cognitive attributes of workers’ unsafe behaviors. A case study was undertaken based on a prefabricated residential building construction project, and the theoretical model was verified by comparison with empirical data. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the relative importance of different management factors. The results indicate that managers’ positive demonstration roles and behavior feedback have the best performance on preventing the spread of unsafe behaviors; daily meeting, appropriate frequency of communication, and all-directional intelligent video surveillance can effectively reduce unsafe behaviors, while frequent safety inspection has little effect on improving the safety performance. Connecting with the present development situation of construction industry, these findings are beneficial as an academic reference for transforming construction enterprises to formulate effective safety management strategies and prevent accidents.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19BGL238). Gratitude is expressed to those who offered suggestions to this paper. Sincere gratitude and respect were expressed to all reviewers.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Contributions

Lu Ying provided funding acquisition, methodology, and writing—original draft; Liu Suhui was involved in software and data curation; Li Chaozhi investigated the study.

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Correspondence to Ying Lu.

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Lu, Y., Liu, S. & Li, C. Understanding the Effect of Management Factors on Construction Workers’ Unsafe Behaviors Through Agent-Based Modeling. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 47, 1251–1263 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-022-00898-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-022-00898-7

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