No abstract

Slips and falls are common occupational incidents worldwide. The friction on a floor surface is one of the critical environmental factors affecting the risk of a slip. In this research, we conducted friction measurements on stone and ceramic floor tiles under dry, wet, and water–detergent (WD) solution covered conditions using a horizontal pull slip meter (HPS). Our purposes were to quantify the slip resistance of commonly used stone and ceramic floors under different surface conditions and to validate the curvilinear relationship between the coefficient of friction (COF) and surface roughness of the floors proposed in the literature. The COF data were analyzed together with a surface profile parameter (Ra) of the floor samples. The results showed that the COFs of the stone floors were significantly (p < 0.0001) higher than those of the ceramic floors. All the floors under the dry conditions were slip resistant when adopting the ANSI 1264.2 criterion. Two and five ceramic floors were not slip resistant under the wet and WD solution covered conditions, respectively. Three polynomial regression equations were established to describe the relationship between the COF and Ra. The curvilinear functions of these models indicate that the three-zone (initial growth, steady-growth, and plateau) concept concerning the COF–Ra relationship in the literature was valid when static COF values measured using an HPS were adopted. In addition, the three-zone concept was valid not only on WD solution covered surfaces but also on dry and wet surfaces.

Components assembly and disassembly are fundamental tasks in manufacturing and the product service industry. Job instructions are required for novice and inexperienced workers to perform such tasks. Conventionally, job instructions may be presented via printed manual and video display. Augmented reality (AR) device has been one of the recent alternatives in conveying such information. This research compared the presentation of job instruction via AR display, video display, and a printed manual in performing computer component assembly and disassembly tasks in terms of efficiency, quality, and usability. A Microsoft® HoloLens 2 device and a laptop computer were adopted to present the job instruction for the AR and video conditions, respectively. A total of 21 healthy adults, including 11 males and 10 females, participated in the study. Our findings were that AR display led to the least efficiency but the best quality of the task being performed. The differences of the overall usability scores among the three job instruction types were insignificant. The participants felt that support from a technical person for the AR device was significantly more than the printed manual. More male participants felt the AR display was easier to use than their female counterparts.

Slips and falls are common incidences both at work and during leisure activities. Lack of friction on the floor surface has been blamed as the source of slips and falls. Friction of floor is one of the dominate factors affecting the risk of slips and falls. In general, a person is more likely to slip when walking on a floor contaminated with water or soapy solution than the dry surface. In this research, we conducted friction measurements on twelve floor tiles. The three surface conditions of the floors were dry, wet and soapy liquid contaminated conditions. The horizontal pull slip meter (HPS) was used. The measured coefficient of friction (COF) results showed that the HPS reported the COF readings on the same floor differently. It was found that floor tiles and surface condition were both significant on the measured COF. The HPS model defined in this study provides a mathematical description of the measured COF under the studied floor and surface. Index Terms-Slip and fall, risk of fall, friction, horizontal slip meter.

Occupational health and safety risks are of major concerns in construction industry. The COVID-19 outbreak provides an additional risk that could drastically affect the safety risks and health of construction workers. Understanding the factors that affect the health and safety of construction workers is significant in reducing risky behaviors and enhancing worker preventive behaviors. Via integrating the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study investigates the factors that affect preventive behaviors among construction workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 610 Thai construction workers participated in an online questionnaire survey, which consisted of nine factors with 43 questions. Structure equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to analyze the causal relationships among the latent variable. The SEM results indicated that organizational support and knowledge about COVID-19 had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influences on perceived vulnerability and perceived severity. In addition, perceived vulnerability and perceived severity had significant direct influences on perceived behavioral control. Perceived severity had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influence on attitude towards behavior. Moreover, perceived behavioral control and attitude towards behavior had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influence on intention to follow the preventive measure. Furthermore, the intention to follow the preventive measure had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influences on the COVID-19 preventive behavior. Of note, organizational support and knowledge about COVID-19 had significant (p < 0.0001) indirect influence on COVID-19 preventive behavior. The findings of this study may assist project managers/supervisors and authorities in the construction industry in understanding the challenge during COVID-19 and possible similar epidemics in the future. In addition, conducting effective strategies would improve construction industry safety and promote preventive behaviors among construction workers.