Proceedings of the 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference

G. Lim and J.W. Herrmann, eds.

Analyzing perception of safety in construction workers: A cultural

perspective

Kaveri A. Thakur and Rapinder Sawhney

Department of Industrial and Information Engineering

College of Engineering

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN, 37191, USA

Abstract

Construction industry safety has been under close scrutiny for a long time. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, the industry accounts for 16.5% of occupational fatalities in the US, even though it comprises only 5% of

the workforce. Tragically, non-native Hispanic workers fatalities are at a rate 30% greater than native Hispanics and

58% greater than white, non-Hispanic workers. Notably, Hispanic workers comprise 30% of the construction

workforce as reported by CPWR in 2010. A recently conducted analysis of the OSHA 2007 fatality database

revealed that misjudgment, misperception and faulty equipment use are among the top contributing human factors

for construction fatalities. This paper proposes a common platform to access the top contributing factors of

construction fatality and the increasing disparity between Hispanic worker fatalities. A conceptual model

understanding cultural influence is proposed to analyze the perception of safety among Hispanic and non-Hispanic

worker. The cultural influence on the perception of safety is analyzed using the Hofstede’s approach to identify

difference in cultural dimensions. This paper will introduce a new paradigm in construction fatality analysis by

providing insight into cultural influences on safety perception which can identify more effective intervention measures targeting human factors for Hispanics can have a large and favorable impact on reducing fatalities.

Keywords Construction fatality, perception of safety, Hispanic construction workers, cultural perspective

34. Introduction

Fatality rates in the construction industry have been ranked as the third highest among the nine major industrial

groups in the United States. The dynamics of safety culture is influenced by this large number of temporary

workforce in the construction industry. The work dynamics in the construction industry flows very smoothly with

the availability of temporary workforce as it gives them the flexibility to scale up and down with respect to the

demand. The construction industry inherently comprises of short term contracting, temporary employment multiple

employer worksites and multi-cultural personnel [1]. Additionally, one is six individuals in construction are self

employed as per the survey statistics. These self employed worker accidents or incidents often go unreported during the overall collected data. Addressing the safety needs of such a diverse population is a very cumbersome task. The

workforce in general is becoming more and more diverse and at a higher rate particularly in construction sector.

Notably, Hispanic workers comprise 30% of the construction workforce [2].This is the second largest percentage of

foreign workforce in an industry sector after agriculture and farming. Tragically, non-native Hispanic workers die

from falls at a rate 30% greater than native Hispanics and 58% greater than white, non-Hispanic workers [2]. The

first generations of Hispanic workers who are not born in the United States are considered as non-native Hispanic

workers. Hispanic workers who are born in the United States are considered as native Hispanic worker. A recently

conducted study of the OSHA 2007 fatality database revealed that that misjudgment, misperception and faulty

equipment use are among the top contributing human factors for construction fatalities. Prior research has also

identified the variation in perception of safety on construction sites at different types of projects and level of

operation, namely, laborers, supervisors, engineers and management [4].

This paper tries to identify the reason behind the variation in perception of safety with the help of cultural factors

like beliefs, values, group behavior and theories that influence decision making process in certain situations. This

Thakur and Sawhney

paper proposes a common platform to access the top contributing factors of construction fatality and the increasing

disparity between Hispanic worker fatalities. This paper focuses on identifying the influence of cultural values in

safety perception among Hispanic workers to reduce the disparity in the fatality rate among different cultural groups.

The cultural influence on the perception of safety is analyzed using the Hofstede, 1991 approach to identify different

cultural dimensions [5]. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are derived from his study in a multinational organization in

the late 1970s and early 1980s. The resultant cultural dimensions compare the values between different countries and regions and are subjected to vary within each country. Hofstede’s work has been reproduced by many

researchers to compare national origin differences between two countries and has also been rightly criticized on a

number of grounds. His work fits in this particular study because it is useful to understand how different members of

different societies behave in different ways under a certain situation.

2. Construction Fatality Prior Research Construction workers accounted for 1 in 5 on-the job fatalities and 1 in 10 nonfatal workplace injuries and illness as reported in year 2004 [6]. In 2009 the construction industry incurred the most number of fatal injuries in the private

sector as compared to fifteen other industrial areas [7, 8]. A large portion of the construction accident and incident

analysis research is dedicated to reporting and extracting meaningful fatality data statistics in terms of ranking,

frequency and trends from the accident report database like FARS, OSHA reports, etc. The most common causes of

major injuries were falls from height (31%); slips, trips or falls on the level (25%); and being struck by a

moving/falling object (17%). Structural work and architectural/renovation/finishing work are the factors that

accounts for 60% of the fatal accidents [9]. Similar studies repeat this information to describe the situation in other

countries [10, 11]. The accidents are also classified in-terms of immediate causes, characteristics of victims or

sequence of accidents [12-15]. The fatality report analysis has been looked at from several perspectives, namely,

different production techniques, work force turnover, crew management, available tools and workers attitude [16,

17]. Studies have reported that factors like production schedules, budget constraints also effect the project conditions and in the sense working conditions for individuals [18]. Type of work, type incident, breakdown of event, physical

conditions, worker actions, type of jobs, personal factors, types of violations, etc are all different data points

collected during several studies. However, the above mentioned approaches consider the tangible factors that affect

a worker’s actions towards safe work practices. There is a need to address the behavioral and psychological outlook

of a worker’s action when he or she decides to work in an unsafe environment.

There are some practical difficulties in conducting this type of research as construction companies have a unique

business model and are organized and managed differently [19]. Concurrently, the safety programs and culture differ

significantly in each place [4, 20]. Work force turnover, crew management, different production techniques,

available tools, and team formations at the work site influence the safety performance at a construction site [16, 17].

These differences nurture unsafe practices which often lead to accidents or incidents at the work site. Project site

conditions, schedule, budget constraints, lack or infrequent safety training, availability of PPE and wrong or no enforcement of safety rules are few of the organizational factors leading to fatalities [18, 21]. Figure 1 below

represents the current condition of the accident / incident investigating process in the construction industry. As

described earlier it considers individual’s physical characteristics, job types, working environments, organizational

culture to analyze the occurrence of an accident. The drawback of this approach is that some of the causes are

slipped through the model and remain unattended. The disparity between Hispanic and non-Hispanic worker fatality

is not explained very well by the figure below. It does not address the reason behind why a certain kind of act was

performed during the job. It only gives the description of how the action performed when an incident or an accident

occurred.

This paper recognizes the prior research on differences in worker safety perception and tries to address the gap using

cultural factors. The following section in the paper justifies the vulnerability of the Hispanic populations and their differences in cultural values with respect to the native US population.

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Figure 1: Layers of accident causes.

3. Hispanic Fatality in Construction Industry Hispanic workers comprise a significant proportion (30%) of the construction industry [22]. The United States

Census Bureau estimated that the Hispanic population has grown from approximately 35 million in year 2000 to 45

million in 2007 [23]. Hispanics make up 14.4% of the United States' general population [24]. The Pew Hispanic

Center reported that the construction industry employed 2.9 million Hispanic workers in 2006. In the same year the

Department of Labor statistics also reported that Hispanic workers incurred 917 fatal injuries. The number of fatal

injuries concerning foreign born Hispanic workers increased three times from 1992 to 2002 in construction sector. More tragically, non-native Hispanic workers die from falls at a rate 30% higher than native Hispanics and 58%

higher than white, non-Hispanic workers [2]. Approximately two-third (64%) of the Hispanic construction worker

population did not have health insurance in 2008 as compared to less than one-fourth (23%) of the white, non-

Hispanic construction worker population. Dong (2009) in their report of Hispanic workforce has identified several

issues with that specific population. The report tracks the rate of change in proportion of Hispanic population and

identifies the work group characteristics. One of the researchers in this area said that in many parts of the country

Latino immigrants are being hired because they will accept lower wages are poorer working conditions than the U.S.

born worker [25]. The rate for higher fatality among the Hispanic worker population has been consistent for more

than a decade. The Labor Statistics Bureau in 1999 and 1998 reported that, Hispanic workers had a fatality rate of

5.2 per 100,000, compared with 4.4 for white workers and 4.1 for black workers. The bureau found that 725 of the

6,023 occupational deaths reported in 1999 involved Hispanic workers.

Hispanic construction workers are at a disadvantage in many jobsite situations because they must make both cultural

and organizational adjustments, while attempting to learn safety requirements in a new language. Hispanic

immigrants are often funneled into the most dangerous construction jobs, like roofing, trench digging and carrying

heavy materials. Also, since most of them are day laborers the contractors won’t spend a day in teaching them about

safety. They are fairly new to their job environment than their other American colleagues. One of the statistics to

confirm this difference is that 12 percent of the serious injuries occurred during the workers first day or an

assignment. Falls are the leading cause of fatalities, Hispanics have higher fall fatality rates, and for these reasons,

more effective intervention measures for Hispanics have a favorably disproportionate impact on the absolute number

of fatalities.

Organizarional Factors

Environmental Factors

Job Characteristics

Worker Physical Characteristics and

Demographics

Accident

Thakur and Sawhney

4. Disparity among Cultural Values The National Institutes of Health reports a disparity between the level of severity of illness or injury on first contact

with emergency medical services between white and black/Hispanic patients, with black/Hispanic patients tending

to wait longer into an illness or injury process to summons help [26]. Research conducted in behavioral sciences

fields lists the following Hispanic cultural factors that support the last of help seeking attitude [27].

Prefer counseling than medicine on depression

Faith in God

Seeking help from Family members : Important help-seeking strategies

Structural barriers

Financial barriers

Lack of knowledge about depression care

Being ashamed of discussing emotional problems with clinicians

Marriage status

Attending church

Acculturation

Health status

The common concerns among men in the Hispanic population are family problems, economic problems, lack of

support (being alone, being away from home and family), lacking a trusted friend, physical illness, substance abuse

(alcohol, drugs, etc), and immigrant pressure and language barrier. US citizens emphasized an individualistic rights-

oriented approach and tended to be more concerned with justice than interpersonal violations [28]. Asian Indians

prioritized interpersonal concerns, perhaps due to their more interrelated choices, which is same for the Mexican

American culture. Social persuasion most strongly predicts both educational and occupational expectations among

Hispanics [29]. Self efficacy has been shown to be an important mediator between skills or other self-beliefs.

The primary reasons for lack of insurance among Hispanics were listed as cost of premiums, deductibles, or co-

payments too high, insurance not offered by employer, lost coverage due to job loss or change, cannot afford to pay

for health care without insurance, too much trouble to understand plans, forms, ineligible because of part-time status,

healthy and doesn’t feel he or she needs insurance, have access to free or inexpensive care without insurance. The

above mentioned issues can be aligned with the cultural dimensions described in Hofstede’s research and further

describe the perception of safety.

5. Cultural Dimensions Our approach will introduce a new paradigm in fatality reduction by providing insight into the impact of ethnic

cultural influences on safety perception among construction workers. Since bridging cultural differences to improve

construction safety has not been investigated in the United States, our research will fill the need to identify cultural

(human) factors that will lead to bridging the gap between social environments. This will enable Hispanic workers to

learn safety practices in a new, unique, and effective manner. Human behavior based on cultural factors has received

great attention in international business literature [30]. Research reveals the importance of national cultural on group

formation, group performance, group evolution, mode of termination, and portfolio complexity [30]. These research

areas correspond to the following situations at the construction job site: planning work tasks, determining equipment

needs, forecasting the perception of risk in the next task, determining the complexity of work, and evaluating the tradeoff between safety and job retention. The cultural influence on the perception of safety can be tested using the

Hofstede approach [5]. These dimensions include individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance,

masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation. Hofstede’s dimensions are originally based on Hall’s

research on time oriented communication structure of cultures [31-33]. Even though many researchers have

criticized Hofstede’s work, it is the most general classification of group characteristics that is applicable to different

countries.

The extent to which the less powerful member of the institution and organization within a country accepts the power

is distributed equally is defined as Power Distance. Individualism is the society in which one thinks of just him and

not his society as a whole. Collectivism as it’s opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are

integrated into strong, cohesive society. Masculinity indicates the extent to which the dominant values of a society

are "masculine" (e.g., assertive and competitive) and where gender roles are very distinct. Femininity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap i.e., both men and women are supposed to be modest, caring, and

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concerned with the quality of life. The extent to which a person feels threatened by uncertain or an unkown situation

is called Uncertainty avoidance. Long-term vs. short-term orientation in life is the general perception of goals in life.

The involvement of cultural factors in the investigation or analysis of accidents and incidents will allow it to have a

additional layer of question to capture the contributing factors. This will help in implementing the correct

countermeasures to reduce fatality rates among different groups. There is evidence which says that certain decision making process will connect the individual values to their beliefs about risk and related facts [34]. These

experiments suggest that individuals selectively credit or dismiss information or procedures in the manner to

reinforce their beliefs and ease their work [35]. A worker neglecting to wear the basic safety measures like PPE and

checking for vehicle rear before reversing (accounted for 42% of accidents) can be traced to the way he has been

doing things overtime based on his values. Accidents which are caused by improper use of equipment can also be

traced to a particular cultural group of people who perceive the equipments operation differently.

Figure 2: Describes the stepwise evaluation process of the cultural dimensions and construction factors

Figure 2 describes a stepwise procedure to evaluate the influence of cultural dimensions on difference in perception

of safety among Hispanic and non-Hispanic construction workers. The cultural dimensions are first validated based

on Hofstede’s research. The next step is to identify difference in perception of safety among Hispanic and non-

Hispanic worker. The last step is to identify the significance of cultural variables in explaining the perception of

safety among construction workers. An US worker may not prefer to work in a environment with substandard

physical condition, where as a Hispanic worker may not identify it as an hazard. Similarly the Hispanic workers are

not known to question their supervisor for lack of safety equipments or accident prone conditions. Literacy plays a

significant role in the compliance with written procedures. The construction industry is attractive to individuals who

may not have completed basic education skills. Identifying these differences based on cultural disparity will help

steer the safety training for Hispanic workers in a right direction.

Cultural

Dimensions

Perception

of Safety

Hispanic/

non-Hispanic

Other

Construction

Related Factors

Ste

p 1

Step 2

Step 3

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Figure 3: Modified model with cultural factors in the Layers of accident causes.

6. Conclusion and Future Research Perceptions and attitudes are not fixed, instead they are transformed by the experiences individuals have through the

course of their illness [30]. It is important to understand whether there is a difference in the way the Hispanic

population evaluates a particular risky scenario. Insight into the configuration of the thought process will enable

policy makers to establish training and work conditions to change the evaluation process and facilitate safe choices. The future work with this concept would be collecting data from Hispanic and non Hispanic construction workers

and compare the effect of cultural dimension on the perception of risk between different tasks.

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