Comparing the safety awareness of workers on the virtual and real construction site using eye-tracking technology

Because the construction industry inherently contains dangerous practices, safety training has a critical role in preventing accidents and mitigating hazardous outcomes.However, due to the inefficiency of traditional safety training methods and the riskiness of hands-on training, virtual safety practices have great potential to train construction workers.Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of virtual safety exercises, comparing the workers' safety awareness on real and virtual construction sites utilizing eye-tracking technology.Eye-tracking data collected from eleven workers during the experiments in the real and virtual construction sites were analyzed using three main eye-tracking metrics, namely total fixation duration, first fixation duration, and time to the first fixation.The result of the study showed that the workers' time to first fixation duration in the real site is significantly lower than in the virtual environment (Z=-4.18,ρ<0.05), which means that participants noticed risk sources in the actual construction site more quickly compared to the virtual environment.On the other hand, total fixation duration (Z=-3.99,ρ<0.05) and first fixation duration (Z=-3.99,ρ<0.05) in the virtual environment were significantly higher than in the actual construction site, indicating that participants had higher attention level and higher risk perception during the virtual tour.The results support the effectiveness of a risk-free virtual environment by showing the participants' high level of attention and increased risk perception.By creating the most appropriate virtual environment for the relevant construction task, workers' safety awareness can be enhanced utilizing non-hazardous and effective Virtual Reality (VR) safety tools.