Risk perception of construction equipment operators on construction sites of Turkey

•Risk perception of construction equipment operators in Turkey was evaluated.•198 heavy equipment operators from 51 construction projects participated in a survey.•Frequency distribution of parameters was observed with statistical analysis.•Statistical tests sought meaningful differences in risk perception of operators.•Safety training and working with flaggers positively affects risk perception.

Turkey has been an attractive country for construction industry in the last decade. Many large-scale construction projects, which have been realized by both international and local construction firms, helped the economy and provided employment opportunities for many. At the same time, many construction workers have been losing their lives on construction sites, which involve the usage of heavy equipment on a daily basis.Past research studies suggest that employee participation and their perception of safety risks could be valuable for determining and eliminating hazards on construction site. Therefore, this study aimed to determine and evaluate the risk perception of construction equipment operators in Turkey. The study is mainly based on a questionnaire survey performed in 51 construction projects that involved 198 heavy equipment operators. A statistical analysis was first performed on the results of the survey to observe the frequency distribution of parameters, such as safety and health training, using flagger, experience, type of equipment, working conditions and other project related data. Then, statistical methods such as, t-test, ANOVA analysis, Kruskall–Wallis one way analysis of variance, and Mann–Whitney U test were performed to seek statistically meaningful differences in risk perception of operator groups with different attributes.Results revealed the importance of safety and health training as well as working with an assistant, such as a flagger. It was observed that operators who took safety and health training and operators who worked with flaggers perceived risk differently than others. It was also found that the project type influences the risk perception of equipment operators due to diversity of construction equipment activities performed, as well as number of incidents occurred in those projects.Relevance to industryThe authors expect this research to lead to discussion and further research on risk assessment for construction industry. The risk assessment findings of this study, in particular, could help the safety professionals detect possible unforeseen risks and design safety and health plans for construction sites that require usage of heavy equipment on a daily basis. Heavy equipment manufacturers could also devise a similar research that involves operators’ risk perception to design more ergonomic and safe equipment.