Emotional States and Their Impact on Hazard Identification Skills

Every safety meeting and training program is built upon the assumption that construction workers can identify hazards. However, recent research has shown that this may not be true because construction workers and managers lack basic hazard recognition skills. Currently, there is relatively little understanding of the factors affecting hazard recognition skill. Based upon the recent discovery that emotional state impacts risk perception, this study examines the connection between emotion and hazard recognition. Using a longitudinal A+B experiment, this study measured the extent to which variability in emotional state predicts inconsistency in hazard recognition skills and subsequent safety decisions. To induce and measure the emotional state of 45 subjects, autobiographical recall was used. Subjects were asked to complete a hazard identification and a risk perception test before and after the induction. The emotional induction produced significant changes in desired emotions and the results showed that subjects induced with positive emotions showed a statistically significant decrease in hazard identification skills.