Are we on the same page? Exploring construction professionals’ mental models of occupational health and safety

Abstract

Photographic Q-methodology was used to explore construction professionals’ mental models of occupational health and safety (OHS). Sixty Australian construction professionals participated in the research, including 15 architects, 15 engineers, 15 constructors and 15 OHS professionals. Participants were asked to sort photographs depicting different building systems into a grid based upon their judgement of the likelihood of accidental injury resulting from the construction of each of the building systems depicted. Responses ranged from Rare (–2) to Almost certain (+2). Sorting patterns relating to eight photographs of different façade systems were analysed using Q factor analysis. Three distinct sorting pattern types were identified in the data, representing clusters of participants whose sorting patterns were similar. These sorting pattern types cut across occupational/professional groups. Interpretation of the factors revealed substantial differences between the OHS judgements made by participants in the three clusters. Qualitative explanatory information revealed participants in the three clusters used different attributes when considering the likelihood of accidental injury. These attributes shaped their sorting patterns. The results suggest shared mental models (SMMs) are unlikely to exist in construction project teams, as each individual uses their own frame of reference to understand OHS. Opportunities exist to understand these different frames of reference and create more consistent team mental models of OHS. However, incorporating a diversity of viewpoints into project decision-making is recommended in order to produce effective decision-making in the choice or specification of building systems.

Keywords:

• Distributed teams
• façade systems
• occupational health and safety
• Q-methodology
• shared mental models.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U60 OH009761, under which RMIT is a subcontractor to Virginia Tech, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC NIOSH.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.