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Construction is one of the most high-risk industries in the world. The safety records of the construction sector report that, construction workers are approximately over three times more likely to be exposed to serious accidents comparing to other industries. In addition to these injuries and fatalities, work-related accidents also cause financial damage, conflictual cases and pecuniary penalties for the construction companies. Therefore, the significance of the safety management process has been increasing in the construction industry. However, since the majority of the construction activities are complex and require collaboration between the workers, the provision of the safety has become one of the challenging tasks. So, the behavior-based skills of the workers play a crucial role in the safety management. Traditional safety training methods have been merely focusing on information-based techniques such as lectures, videos, written materials, etc. On the other hand, previous research has indicated that adequate safety training should also involve behavioral modeling and hands-on training, together with traditional learning methods. Due to the nature of the construction projects, hands-on training in the construction field is not practicable. In this sense, using virtual environments is an effective method that enables a safe environment for the users without being exposed to adverse effects of the failed tasks. Thus, virtual environments allow visual simulation that is helpful for the improvement of the trainees’ behavior-based skills. Therefore, virtual environments provide an important opportunity to advance the level of safety training. The main aim of the study is to describe the developed virtual safety training environment called V-SAFE (Virtual Safety Analysis For Engineering applications), which involves methods to simulate, and visualize construction operation scenarios. V-SAFE is based on the Unreal game engine for the visualization of the environment, and USARSim is used for the high-fidelity simulation of the robot behavior and environment mapping. V-SAFE is projected to establish a base to identify construction-specific safety risks and to improve the behavior-based skills of the construction project participants. In brief, V-SAFE has high potential to improve the risk recognition capability, and situational awareness of the construction managers, workers, safety managers, field engineers. So, V-SAFE could be beneficial for the construction organizations aim to advance the effectiveness of the safety training.

PurposeThis study aims to observe the impact of peripheral vision on construction safety. The study further intends to create awareness of eye diseases in construction safety, an important root cause for most construction-related hazards and accidents.Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on the impact of peripheral vision in terms of construction site safety. Experiments were conducted with construction employees with different qualifications, ages, expertise and previous safety training experience. The experiments were conducted with an experiment set consisting of a tangent screen to measure the peripheral angle of the participants. The study measured peripheral vision, which helped determine the vision field accordingly. In this context, a total of 32 participants were investigated in terms of their peripheral visual angle and the field of vision. The data collected were analyzed in terms of several statistical tests such as One-Sample t-test, multivariate ANOVA and multiple linear regression.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that there are significant differences in peripheral vision in terms of age of participants, work qualification, work experience, area of expertise and previous safety training experience. The study further revealed that most of the participants failed to satisfy both OSHA requirements about peripheral vision, and normal limits defined in the previous literature. The study further implies that participants, who reported previous sight problems or eye diseases are more vulnerable to construction site accidents.Originality/valueConstruction site safety remains a major concern for most construction companies despite the latest developments in technology. Several companies are struggling with poor safety performance, occupational injuries and illnesses, and work-related accidents resulting in fatalities. However, the root causes behind several construction accidents are still vague due to different dynamics in the construction industry. Among these root causes, poor sight, vision and or eye diseases constitute an important part. Hence, the study provides empirical evidence with the workers checked for eye health to help policymakers and industry practitioners in terms of developing awareness for eye-related injuries and accidents and review their safety programs accordingly.

Construction is a hazardous industry. The project-based nature and fragmentation in the industry lead to change and uncertainty requiring special expertise. To handle those, construction firms must develop strategies and action plans along with the experience gained from lessons learned. Among the risks, safety risks are of critical importance leading to accidents. Hence, firms need to strengthen their safety programs, review their strategies for safety management, and develop effective safety training sessions to protect their workers. This study focuses on the success factors promoting safety performance. In this respect, a questionnaire was designed and administered to the Engineering News-Record (ENR) 2020 Top 400 Contractors. The questionnaire data was utilized in conducting a factor analysis to group and name the factors considering the total variance. The analysis of the factors resulted in six-factor groups; namely, project and firm-related factors, demographic factors, practical factors, motivational factors, organizational factors, and humanrelated factors. Project and firm-related factors were found to be the most essential factor group in terms of promoting the effectiveness of safety training. The results of this study are expected to guide industry practitioners in terms of reviewing and revising their safety training programs. WOS:000642786300001 Q2