Exploring inattentional blindness in failure of safety risk perception: Focusing on safety knowledge in construction industry

Inattentional blindness (IB) is a popular human error associated with selective attention or inattention. It can be depicted as an individual's failing to notice or recognize a visual object or event due to a lack of active attention in a given situation. Dynamic situations at construction sites often can lead to IB, which can cause failure of safety risk perception (FSRP) on hazards and lead to potential accidents. Few studies have focused on the importance of the IB concept in the construction industry. To overcome this gap, 53 supervisors participated in an experiment to analyze the performance of IB in FSRP and safety knowledge-related factors that affect IB and FSRP to establish practical safety management strategies. The results show that IB accounted for 50% of FSRP, validating the importance of IB. Other factors, such as certified training and frequent exposure to accidents, also had positive impacts on reducing IB. Certification and external training showed positive impacts in the low-experience group but not on the high-experience group. Based on these findings, the IB concept should be considered when addressing construction safety management. Practical safety management strategies to improve IB should be applied differently according to the supervisor's experience.