Case studies of occupational falls from heights: cognition and behavior in context.

PROBLEM The aim of this study was to examine individual workers' cognitive, behavioral, and motivational processes leading up to occupational falls from heights. METHOD The study is based on 26 semistructured personal interviews and on-site investigations with male workers who reported to an emergency department for treatment of injuries due to falls from heights. RESULTS A greater number of workers carrying out nonroutine compared to routine tasks perceived, identified, interpreted, and attempted to control a fall hazard. Two cases are presented illustrating how cognition and behavior in context progresses from a lesser to a greater active role in the incident processes. SUMMARY AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The addition of full-scale investigations of how and why workers thought and behaved the way they did in a particular situation can give important clues as to whether preventive measures will be effective in a similar situation in the future.

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