HOW CAN EXTERNALSTRESSORS AFFECT WORKERS’ PRODUCTIVITY AND SAFETYPERFORMANCE?

Working within one of the most stressful industries, construction workers face intensive stress that adversely affects their safety and productivity. These high-risk situations expose workers to various mental and physical stressors that can lead to severe injuries and even death. Specifically, several external factors such as task, environmental, and social stressors might impact different levels of SA and increase human errors. This seminar will draw on examples from research studies to highlight theoretical foundations and empirical evidence of changes in workers’ decision dynamics and performance in the construction industry when exposed to task-related (e.g., productivity pressure and mental demand), environmental (e.g., heat stress) and social (e.g., peer pressure) stressors. The significant contributions of these studies will be discussed in terms of their translational impacts on how the construction industry should approach and maintain controls after providing required safety interventions.

Sogand Hasanzadeh, Ph.D. is director of I2SAFE (Intelligent-Inclusive-Safe) lab and an Assistant Professor at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering & CEM at Purdue University. She received Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Civil Engineering. Her research focuses on advancing smart safety and building smart communities through the application of digital twins, advanced sensing, XR/VR/AR/MR, and artificial intelligence. Her interdisciplinary work is looking for creating a shared language between civil engineering, data science, computer science, human factor, and cognitive/behavioral psychology that leads to more informed engineering solutions in response to the current and future challenges in complex construction projects. Her research studies are supported by NSF, several DOTs, construction companies, and Electri International. Her work also has repeatedly been recognized nationally and internationally.

Shiva Pooladvand is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering at Purdue University. She also received her MSc in Construction Engineering and Management from the University of Tehran, Iran. Her research focuses on incorporating immersive technologies, namely VR/AR/MR, wearable sensing, and human factors concepts to advance safety and productivity. She works on several funded projects by NSF, Electri International, and INDOT resulted in several journal publications and conference presentations. Her exceptional work received the Oral Excellence Award from the Society of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in 2022, Research Finalist Award from the IEEE Industrial Applications Society in 2022; Industrial Choice Award from the Construction Industry Institute (CII) in 2022; and her journal paper is awarded as the “Editorial Choice Paper” in ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management.