BACKGROUND: Advancements in the modern construction industry have contributed to the development of a range of technology-based interventions to improve the safety behavior of front-line construction workers. Notwithstanding the extensive research on safety behavior, there is still a paucity of research on assessing technology interventions of safety behavior to provide an overview of their strengths and limitations. The present study aims to bridge this gap in the literature and identify the main trends of research.
METHODS: A systematic review and critical content analysis are adopted to capture an overview of the state of knowledge on safety behavior technologies. As a result of searching Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases in the period from Jan 2010 to Feb 2023, a total of 359 potential studies went through the systematic screening process and finally, 48 representative studies were selected followed by an assessment of the feasibility and applicability of the safety behavior technologies.
RESULTS: It was found that safety behavior technology is characterized by seven technologies including virtual-reality simulation (T1), eye-tracking technology (T2), prediction modeling of safety behavior (T3), computer-based training (T4), drone/sensor-based hazard monitoring (T5), vision-based behavior monitoring (T6), and real-time positioning (T7).
CONCLUSIONS: This research improves understanding of the status of safety behavior technologies and provides a critical review of their feasibility from the perspective of four assessment criteria including application, limitation, benefit, and feasibility.
CONCLUSIONS: The categorizations of technologies add value to the body of knowledge in terms of generic requirements for their implementation and adaptation on construction sites.

OBJECTIVE: This review comprehensively examines interventions which sought to improve the occupational safety and/or health of construction workers. Factors that explain the (in)effectiveness of interventions were also summarized.
METHODS: This review consisted of a search using two electronic databases, PubMed and Web of Science.
METHODS: Targeted workers in the construction industry; had at least one primary outcome that aimed to improve occupational safety and/or health; were published between January 01, 1990 and December 01, 2019; and were written in English.
METHODS: Two researchers independently carried out the process of reviewing the titles, abstracts and full texts, and extracted all data. If there were differences, discussions were held until a consensus was reached.
RESULTS: A total of 1297 articles were retrieved and 24 were selected for final evaluation. Seventeen studies reported significant intervention effects, while 7 found their primary outcome not significantly improved.
CONCLUSIONS: Future research should place more effort on interventions aimed at improving both occupational safety and health outcomes in an integrated manner, with environmental interventions that accompany behavioral interventions at the individual level. Besides, additional effort is also needed to ensure the involvement of relevant stakeholders in designing the intervention, avoiding contamination effects (through cluster randomization), optimizing the \"dosage\" of intervention, and improving measurement of outcomes.

The aim of this review was to assess the possible risk factors arising from working conditions, that could have an impact on the stress, fear, and anxiety of construction workers.
A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA format in the Pubmed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycInfo electronic databases on February 3, 2023, using the following key words: anxiety, stress, fear, and construction workers. Methodological quality was assessed using the critical appraisal tools of the Joanna Briggs Institute.
A total of 35 studies were included. The results showed a number of conditioning factors for stress, anxiety, and fear among construction workers such as age, inappropriate safety equipment, safety culture, high workload and long working hours, physical pain, low social support from direct supervisor or co-workers, lack of organizational justice and lack of reward, financial situation, maladaptive coping strategies, and characteristics of the pandemic.
There are a number of risk factors related to working conditions, organizations, and individuals that can affect the levels of stress, anxiety, and fear among construction workers, such as age, work hardship, safety culture and, especially, the long hours that construction professionals work. This may lead to an increase in the number of occupational accidents and higher associated fatality rates.
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022367724, identifier: CRD42022367724.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are recognized as a leading cause of nonfatal injuries in construction, but no review of existing studies has systematically analyzed and visualized the trends of WMSDs among construction workers. The current science mapping-based review summarized research published between 2000 and 2021 related to WMSDs among construction workers through co-word, co-author, and citation analysis.
A total of 63 bibliographic records retrieved from the Scopus database were analyzed.
The results identified influential authors with high impacts in this research domain. Moreover, the results indicated that MSDs, ergonomics, and construction not only had the highest occurrence of been studied, but also the highest impact in terms of total link strength. In addition, the most significant contributions to research relating to WMSDs among construction workers have originated primarily from the United States, Hong Kong, and Canada. Furthermore, a follow-up in-depth qualitative discussion was conducted to focus on summarizing mainstream research topics, identifying existing research gaps, and proposing directions for future studies.
This review provides an in-depth understanding of related research on WMSDs among construction workers and proposes the emerging trends in this research field.

Despite the significant contribution of the construction industry to national and global economies, the risk it poses to the health and safety of its workers is concerning. With substantial improvement in physical health and safety performance, especially in industrialised and developed economies, attention has shifted to the mental health of construction workers. The construction industry has implemented several worker-focused and management-oriented intervention programs, but problems related to poor mental health persist, and the industry ranks high in suicide figures. Entering the Construction 4.0 era, the use of technologies and new construction methods have been touted to have the potential to improve mental wellbeing. Therefore, this research addresses this lingering problem by: (1) identifying and classifying stressors of mental health and (2) assessing the relevance of adopting prefabricated construction to improving mental health. A two-phased PRISMA-guided systematic review was conducted due to the nonavailability of past studies that combine the concepts of prefabrication and mental health. Mental health stressors were grouped into three categories, with industry-related identified as having an influence on management/organisational and personal stressors. Prefabricated construction, on the other hand, by virtue of its benefits over traditional construction, is found to be capable of eliminating, or at least reducing, the impact of industry-related stressors and, by extension, promoting good mental health.

Construction sites continue to operate despite inclement weather, exposing workers to unpleasant working circumstances that can lead to various physical and mental health challenges. A thorough literature review yielded 21 challenges for hot weather conditions such as heat stroke, kidney disease, heat cramps, anxiety and depression, and 20 challenges for cold weather conditions like asthma, frostbite, musculoskeletal disorders and hallucination. Workers vulnerable to hot and cold weather based on demographic characteristics were identified. The study also provides 27 strategies to address the challenges experienced in hot and cold weather conditions. Some of these include ensuring that workers stay hydrated, scheduling sufficient rest periods and allowing workers to self-pace. The results of this study will help construction decision-makers and project managers understand the difficulties faced by a field workforce who labors in extreme working conditions on construction sites and will facilitate adoption of strategies that can prevent weather-related physical and mental health problems.

Unsafe behaviors of construction workers are one of the main causes of accidents at construction sites. The research on unsafe behaviors of workers helps to reduce the incidence of accidents and has attracted much attention. However, a systematic literature review in this field is still lacking, which hinders stakeholders\' comprehensive understanding of the unsafe behaviors of construction workers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to address this research gap based on retrieved literature from the Web of Science. First, the study conducted a descriptive analysis of the year, quantity, publishing organization, and keywords of the literature. In addition, three research topics were identified and discussed, including the influencing factors of construction workers\' unsafe behaviors, the formation mechanism of unsafe behaviors, and the pre-control methods of unsafe behaviors. Moreover, a research framework was proposed and future research directions were also suggested. The research findings promote stakeholders\' understanding of the influencing factors, formation mechanism, and pre-control methods of construction workers\' unsafe behaviors, and lead to future research directions in the studied field.

Mental ill health is a significant cause of suicide and disability worldwide. It has particularly affected the construction industry. The construction labor sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom have suicide rates 2 and 3.7 times higher, respectively, than their overall national averages, which has attracted the attention of researchers and the industry. However, few studies have examined the state of construction workers\' mental health. This paper systematically reviews the existing body of knowledge on mental health in the construction industry. In total, 16 journal articles met inclusion criteria, and 32 risk factors (RFs) were deduced. The foremost RFs were related to job demand and job control. A conceptual framework and checklist to aid in better understanding these RFs were developed. In assessing mental health, the primary tool used was the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. The findings of this study help to deepen the understanding of professional mental health assessment scales and relevant RFs and protective factors as used in the construction industry. The study concludes that stronger methodologies are needed for studies into RFs and protective factors in the construction industry.

Construction workers are at an elevated risk of heat stress, due to the strenuous nature of the work, high temperature work condition, and a changing climate. An increasing number of workers are at risk, as the industry\'s growth has been fueled by high demand and vast numbers of immigrant workers entering into the U.S., the Middle East and Asia to meet the demand. The risk of heat-related illnesses is increased by the fact that little to no regulations are present and/or enforced to protect these workers. This review recognizes the issues by summarizing epidemiological studies both in the U.S. and internationally. These studies have assessed the severity with which construction workers are affected by heat stress, risk factors and co-morbidities associated with heat-related illnesses in the construction industry, vulnerable populations, and efforts in implementing preventive measures.

BACKGROUND: Between 15 and 20% of prevalent cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have been attributed to occupational exposures to vapours, gases, dusts and fumes. Dust at construction sites is still a challenge, but no overview exists of COPD among construction workers.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the occurrence of COPD among construction workers.
METHODS: We performed a systematic search in PubMed and Embase between 1 January 1990 and 31 August 2016 in order to identify epidemiological studies with a risk estimate for either COPD morbidity/mortality or a spirometry-based definition of airway obstruction among workers in the construction industry. The authors independently assessed studies to determine their eligibility and performed a quality assessment of the included papers.
RESULTS: Twelve studies were included. Nine studies found a statistically significant association between COPD and work in the construction industry, although only among never-smokers in one study and only for the period after 2000 in another study. One study found that the annual decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s was significantly higher among construction workers compared with bus drivers.
CONCLUSIONS: This review suggests that COPD occurs more often among construction workers than among workers who are not exposed to construction dust. It is not possible to draw any conclusions on specific subgroups as most studies analysed construction workers as one united group. In addition, no potential exposure-effect relationship could be identified.