An image-based tool for work health and safety (WHS) risk perception communication

Risk perception is an antecedent to the conceptualisation of a risk control strategy. If project stakeholders do not perceive risks in a similar way, it is likely that they will have disagreement about how risks should be controlled and /or the adequacy of strategies developed to control these risks. If the disagreement is not understood and remains unresolved, the effectiveness of the strategies implemented for work health and safety (WHS) risk management would be hindered. It is important that WHS experiences and perceptions of all relevant project stakeholders be communicated and considered in decision-making. This would give rise to more comprehensive and accurate assessments of WHS risks. This paper introduces a practical image-based tool that can be used in a workshop to engage relevant project stakeholder groups to discuss WHS risks inherent in design and construction processes, and bring to light the different ways that project stakeholders think about WHS risks. The communication process would enable project stakeholders to understand WHS risks from other project participants' perspectives and inform the development of more equitable and effective risk management strategies in a construction project. This paper demonstrates the timing and procedures to use the image-based tool, the techniques to effectively engage project stakeholders into a consultative process and the approaches to document the discussion outcomes.