Worker’s Attitudes Towards Safety in the Construction Field Safety in the workplace is a rather large and very important topic. In these days of lawsuits, large insurance premiums, and malpractice, people are concerned about safety, if not for the humanitarian reasons, then for the monetary ones, the “bottom line.” That’s what it all comes down to, the ‘mighty’ dollar. In my research I attempted to address a side of safety in the workplace that I feel is often overlooked, namely, the worker’s attitudes towards safety. I will concentrate on the workers who do not always follow the rules and guidelines that have been instituted for their own benefit.The research for this paper involved personal experience, interviews, and published material. First let me expound on my experience with this subject, that brought me to further look into this.In my experience, I have seen great evidence of workers’ and management’s viewpoint of safety. I work as a Safety Engineer for a General Contractor on a NYC Transit Authority project, and have been working on construction sites for over 3 years. In addition to the normal dangers inherent to any construction project, on the project I am currently on, there are the dangers associated with working on a subway system. It has been my experience that workers are often upset or annoyed by having to follow safety guidelines. Much time is spent on a construction site making sure that workers wear a Hard-hat, one of the most basic of protective gear. Everyone realizes the obvious dangers of having a heavy object, such as a 5 lb. brick, fall on your head from 40 feet above you, but still you must tell a worker to wear his hat. As a worker once told me, “It messes up my hair.” Could it be something as trivial as that? Sometimes, I believe, the reason could be, but many times it is misinformation, or misconception. When discussing fall pr...
