Role of Safety Training: Impact on Hazard Recognition and Safety Risk Perception

Hazard recognition and the accurate perception of safety risk are fundamental to the success of any safety program. When hazards remain unrecognized, or the associated safety risk is underestimated, the likelihood of catastrophic and unexpected injuries dramatically increase. Unfortunately, recent research has found that a large number of hazards in construction remain unrecognized. Likewise, past studies have demonstrated that safety risk is widely underestimated within construction. To improve hazard recognition and the accurate perception of safety risk, employers adopt a wide variety of training programs. However, the prevalent use of ineffective and unengaging training methods have significantly impeded training efforts in construction. The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of safety training on two objective training outcomes: hazard recognition performance and safety risk perception. The research objectives were accomplished by gathering empirical data from 51 active projects in the United States. Specifically, data pertaining to the training method (i.e., high-engagement versus low-engagement training) adopted at the project level were gathered, following which the hazard recognition ability of representative workers and their safety risk perception levels were measured. The results of the study revealed that (1) compared to low-engagement training, high-engagement training is associated with higher levels of hazard recognition and safety risk perception; and (2) the effect of training on safety risk perception is mediated by hazard recognition performance. Therefore, workers representing projects that offered high-engagement training were able to identify a larger proportion of hazards, and consequently perceived that safety risk was relatively higher. The findings of this study will be useful to practicing professionals seeking to improve training delivery, hazard recognition performance, and the perception of safety risk within construction. This study represents the first formal attempt to empirically evaluate the holistic relationship between training, hazard recognition, and safety risk perception in the construction context.