The Effect of Fatigue on Safety Attitude, Hazard Recognition and Safety Risk Perception among Construction Workers

According to the National Job Institution, each year about 360 million job accidents happen all around the world which leads to the loss of lives of over two million people. About 50% of these accidents are related to the construction sector which causes physical, mental, and monetary damages. Therefore, to prevent and decrease incidents in construction environments, it is essential to explore the factors that influence safety attitude, hazard recognition performance, and safety risk perception of construction workers. One of these factors is fatigue, which has a negative effect on the safety performance of construction workers but has not been empirically investigated before. To study the impacts of fatigue on the safety performance of construction workers and achieve the research goals, 135 construction workers were recruited. After collecting fatigue data and safety attitudes of the participating workers, their hazard recognition and safety risk perception were evaluated using pre-evaluated case images all captured from real construction projects. The results of the study revealed that (1) in comparison with high fatigue levels, low fatigue levels are associated with a more positive safety attitude and higher hazard recognition, and (2) the effect of fatigue on safety risk perception was mediated by hazard recognition performance and safety attitude. The findings of this study help the construction industry to improve safety performance by mitigating the negative aspects of fatigue among workers.