Using Personal Case Studies to Raise Construction Safety Awareness among Construction Management Students.

The development of effective strategies in preventing work accidents in the construction industry is an important topic not only for the industry sector but also for higher education programs. The current literature supports the view that training is a major factor in sustaining and improving safety performance. Particularly, learning is an important dimension of training. Traditional students, due to their youth and inexperience, often believe that they are invincible and that accidents will not happen to them. Construction Management and Civil Engineering programs are faced with the challenge of raising awareness among students about the frequency and severity of construction accidents and increasing their knowledge regarding social responsibility towards safety. In order to raise awareness about construction accidents, student enrolled in a Construction Safety Management course completed two case studies exercises. The first one was an in-class case studies group activity and the second an individual case study report including a presentation. For the in-class case studies group activity, the students were divided into four groups (6 students per group). Each group was required to review four case studies and they were instructed to discuss the physical and psychological effects of the accident on the injured, their family and coworkers. At the end of the activity, the instructor facilitated a general discussion in which the last group that had each case study commented on the answers provided by the whole class. The individual case study assignment examines students' personal experiences with construction related accidents. Students were asked to write a case study of a construction accident that they had experienced or witnessed. Students were also given the choice to interview somebody that had either experienced or witnessed a construction accident. The objective of the assignment was to increase awareness about the magnitude and frequency of accidents among people that they personally know who are involved in construction (co-workers, professors, family members, etc.). The assignment consisted of two parts: a written report and an oral presentation in the class. The interview and written report allowed the students to have in-depth knowledge about at least one construction accident that had involved somebody that the students personally know. After both the group and individual case studies were completed, the students were asked to complete a survey about their perceptions of the assignment's effectiveness in increasing their knowledge of social responsibility towards safety. The results of the survey indicate that students perceived that the second case study was more effective increasing their knowledge regarding social responsibility towards safety. The personal connection in the individual case study is essential for students to understand that accidents can happen to anyone. Also, having to present the results of these cases studies to the class provides more opportunities to students to reflect about the incident or accident. Particularly, students reflect during their oral presentation about incident/accident impact and how it could have been prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]