Does company size matter? Validation of an integrative model of safety behavior across small and large construction companies

Introduction: Previous safety climate studies primarily focused on either large construction companies or the construction industry as a whole, while little is known about whether company size has significant effects on workers' understanding of safety climate measures and relationships between safety climate factors and safety behavior. Thus, this study aims to: (a) test the measurement equivalence (ME) of a safety climate measure across workers from small and large companies; (b) investigate if company size alters the causal structure of the integrative model developed by Guo, Yiu, and González (2016). Method: Data were collected from 253 construction workers in New Zealand using a safety climate measure. This study used multi-group confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA) to test the measurement equivalence of the safety climate measure and structure invariance of the integrative model. Results: Results indicate that workers from small and large companies understood the safety climate measure in a similar manner. In addition, it was suggested that company size does not change the causal structure and mediational processes of the integrative model. Conclusions: Both measurement equivalence of the safety climate measure and structural invariance of the integrative model were supported by this study. Practical applications: Findings of this study provided strong support for a meaningful use of the safety climate measure across construction companies in different sizes. Safety behavior promotion strategies designed based on the integrative model may be well suited for both large and small companies.     

The association between subcontractor safety management programs and worker perceived safety climate in commercial construction projects

Problem: Safety management programs (SMPs) are designed to mitigate risk of workplace injuries and create a safe working climate. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the relationship between contractors’ SMPs and workers’ perceived safety climate and safety behaviors among small and medium-sized construction subcontractors. Methods: Subcontractor SMP scores on 18 organizational and project-level safety items were coded from subcontractors’ written safety programs and interviews. Workers completed surveys to report perceptions of their contractor’s safety climate and the safety behaviors of coworkers, crews, and themselves. The associations between SMP scores and safety climate and behavior scales were examined using Spearman correlation and hierarchical linear regression models (HLM). Results: Among 78 subcontractors working on large commercial construction projects, we found striking differences in SMP scores between small, medium, and large subcontractors (p < 0.001), related to a number of specific safety management practices. We observed only weak relationships between SMP scales and safety climate scores reported by 746 workers of these subcontractors (β = 0.09, p = 0.04 by HLM). We saw no differences in worker reported safety climate and safety behaviors by contractor size. Discussion: SMP only weakly predicted safety climate scales of subcontractors, yet there were large differences in the quality and content of SMPs by size of employers. Summary: Future work should determine the best way to measure safety performance of construction companies and determine the factors that can lead to improved safety performance of construction firms. Practical applications: Our simple assessment of common elements of safety management programs used document review and interviews with knowledgeable representatives. These methods identified specific safety management practices that differed between large and small employers. In order to improve construction safety, it is important to understand how best to measure safety performance in construction companies to gain knowledge for creating safer work environments.     

The effect of organizational justice as perceived by occupational drivers on traffic accidents: Mediating effects of job satisfaction

Introduction: Considerable research supports a positive association between the safety climate (which is a direct organizational factor) and safety performance (such as safe driving). However, indirect organizational variables that influence safe driving have gone largely unexplored. This study contributes to safety research by examining the relationship between organizational justice, which is a distal organizational factor, and traffic accidents and the mediating role of job satisfaction. Method: 233 occupational drivers employed by taxi and bus companies in South Korea participated in the study. Regression analysis was conducted using police records on participants' on-the-job traffic accidents. Results: The analysis shows that the mediation model is statistically significant. That is, drivers with a lower level of perceived organizational justice showed a higher frequency of traffic accidents, and the mediating effect of job satisfaction was also significant. Based on the results, implications and limitations are discussed. Practical applications: The findings demonstrate that in order to decrease traffic accidents, transportation companies would benefit by examining distal factors such as organizational justice. This approach suggests that the conventional framework for safety management should be broadened to include aspects of the entire organization.     

A comparative analysis of safety management and safety performance in twelve construction projects

IntroductionSafety management in construction is complicated due to the complex “nature” of the construction industry. The aim of this research was to identify safety management factors (e.g., risk management and site management), contextual factors (e.g., organisational complexity) and combinations of such factors connected to safety performance. Method: Twelve construction projects were selected to compare their safety management and safety performance. An analytical framework was developed based on previous research, regulations, and standards where each management factor was defined. We employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to produce case knowledge, compare the cases, and identify connections between the factors and safety performance. The material collected and analyzed included, for example, construction planning documents, reports from OHS-inspections, safety indicators, and interviews with project leaders and OHS experts. Results and conclusions: The research showed that: (a) the average score on 12 safety management factors was higher among projects with high safety performance compared to projects with low safety performance; (b) high safety performance can be achieved with both high and low construction complexity and organizational complexity, but these factors complicate coordination of actors and operations; (c) it is possible to achieve high safety performance despite relatively poor performance on many safety management factors; (d) eight safety management factors were found to be “necessary” for high safety performance, namely roles and responsibilities, project management, OHS management and integration, safety climate, learning, site management, staff management, and operative risk management. Site management, operative risk management, and staff management were the three factors most strongly connected to safety performance. Practical implications: Construction stakeholders should understand that the ability to achieve high safety performance in construction projects is connected to key safety management factors, contextual factors, and combinations of such factors.     

Multi-level safety climate associations with safety behaviors in the fire service

Introduction: Limited research associated with safety climate has been completed within the fire service. Given this dearth of information, the present study sought to identify a valid and reliable measure of safety climate at both the workgroup and organizational levels within the fire service. Methods: Researchers surveyed 994 firefighters in two large metropolitan fire departments. Preliminary analyses including psychometrics, confirmatory factor analyses, and shared perception analyses were completed. A linear mixed model analysis was then completed to assess the relationships between workgroup safety climate, organizational safety climate, and safety behaviors, including both safety compliance and safety citizenship behaviors. Results: Measures of safety climate at the workgroup (WGSC) and organizational levels (OSC) were derived. WGSC factors include supervisor support (α = 0.92), vertical cohesion (α = 0.89), and horizontal cohesion (α = 0.94). OSC factors include management commitment (α = 0.91), safety programs/policies (α = 0.89), perceived fairness (α = 0.86) and incident command (α = 0.90). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed our multi-factor models were a good fit to the data. The linear mixed model analysis found that WGSC positively predicted safety compliance behavior (B = 0.13, p < .001) and safety citizenship behavior (B = 0.22, p < .001) and OSC positively predicted safety compliance behavior (B = 0.16, p < .001) and safety citizenship behavior (B = 0.15, p < .001). Conclusions: This work presents reliable and valid measures of both workgroup and organizational safety climate, which have positive relationships with safety behavior outcomes. Practical application: The measures, which were developed through an extensive multi-method process, provide a means for researchers and practitioners to assess safety climate in the fire service and provides guidance for future safety climate research, including informing intervention research, which could potentially bolster safety climate and enhance safety in the fire service.     

Change in frontline supervisors’ safety leadership practices after participating in a leadership training program: Does company size matter?

Introduction: The majority of construction companies are small businesses and small business often lack the resources needed to ensure that their supervisors have the safety leadership skills to build and maintain a strong jobsite safety climate. The Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) training program was designed to provide frontline leaders in all sized companies with safety leadership skills. This paper examines the impact of the FSL training by size of business. Methods: Leaders, defined as foremen or other frontline supervisors, from small, medium, and large construction companies were recruited to participate in a study to evaluate the degree to which the FSL changed their understanding and use of the leadership skills, safety practices and crew reporting of safety-related conditions. We used linear mixed modeling methods to analyze pre-post training survey data. Results: Prior to the training, leaders from small and medium sized companies reported using safety leadership skills less frequently than those from large ones. After the training, regardless of business size, we observed that the FSL training improved leaders understanding of safety leadership skills from immediately before to immediately after the training. Additionally, leaders reported greater use of safety leadership skills, safety practices, and crew reporting of safety-related conditions from before to two-weeks after the training. However, those from small and medium sized companies reported the greatest improvement in their use of safety leadership skills. Conclusions: The FSL training improves safety leadership outcomes regardless of the size company for which the leader worked. However, the FSL may be even more effective at improving the safety leadership skills of leaders working for smaller sized construction companies or those with lower baseline levels of safety leadership skills. Practical applications: The majority of construction companies employ a small number of employees and therefore may not have the resources to provide their frontline leaders with the leadership training they need to be effective leaders who can create a strong jobsite safety climate. The Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) training can help fill this gap.     

Perceived organizational support and perceived safety climate from the perspective of safety professionals: Testing reciprocal causality using a cross-lagged panel design

Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine the reciprocal relationship between safety professionals perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived safety climate. Safety professionals are most effective when they perceive support from management and employees and they also attribute most of their success to support from the organization. Their work directly improves safety climate, and organizations with a high safety climate show a higher value for the safety professional. The causal direction of this relationship is, however, unclear. Method: Using a sample of 162 safety professionals, we conducted a cross-lagged panel study over one year to examine whether safety professionals’ POS improves their perceived safety climate and/or whether safety climate also increases POS over time. Data were collected at two points and, after testing for measurement invariance, a cross-lagged SEM was conducted to analyze the reciprocal relationship. Results: Our findings show that safety professionals’ POS was positively related to perceived safety climate over time. Perceived safety climate, however, did not contribute to safety professionals’ POS. Conclusions: This study significantly adds to the discussion about the factors influencing safety professionals’ successful inclusion in organizations, enabling them to perform their work and, thus, improve occupational safety. Practical Applications: Since safety climate increases in organizations in which safety professionals feel supported, this study points out the kind of support that contributes to improved organizational safety. Support for safety professionals may come in classical forms such as approval, pay, job enrichment, and information on or influence over organizational policies.     

Improving construction site safety through leader-based verbal safety communication

Background

The construction industry is one of the most injury-prone industries, in which production is usually prioritized over safety in daily on-site communication. Workers have an informal and oral culture of risk, in which safety is rarely openly expressed. This paper tests the effect of increasing leader-based on-site verbal safety communication on the level of safety and safety climate at construction sites. Method: A pre-post intervention-control design with five construction work gangs is carried out. Foremen in two intervention groups are coached and given bi-weekly feedback about their daily verbal safety communications with their workers. Foremen-worker verbal safety exchanges (experience sampling method, n = 1,693 interviews), construction site safety level (correct vs. incorrect, n = 22,077 single observations), and safety climate (seven dimensions, n = 105 questionnaires) are measured over a period of up to 42 weeks. Results: Baseline measurements in the two intervention and three control groups reveal that foremen speak with their workers several times a day. Workers perceive safety as part of their verbal communication with their foremen in only 6-16% of exchanges, and the levels of safety at the sites range from 70-87% (correct observations). Measurements from baseline to follow-up in the two intervention groups reveal that safety communication between foremen and workers increases significantly in one of the groups (factor 7.1 increase), and a significant yet smaller increase is found when the two intervention groups are combined (factor 4.6). Significant increases in the level of safety are seen in both intervention groups (7% and 12% increases, respectively), particularly in regards to 'access ways' and 'railings and coverings' (39% and 84% increases, respectively). Increases in safety climate are seen in only one of the intervention groups with respect to their 'attention to safety.' No significant trend changes are seen in the three control groups on any of the three measures. Conclusions: Coaching construction site foremen to include safety in their daily verbal exchanges with workers has a significantly positive and lasting effect on the level of safety, which is a proximal estimate for work-related accidents. It is recommended that future studies include coaching and feedback at all organizational levels and for all involved parties in the construction process. Building client regulations could assign the task of coaching to the client appointed safety coordinators or a manager/supervisor, and studies should measure longitudinal effects of coaching by following foremen and their work gangs from site to site.     

How do organizational practices relate to perceived system safety effectiveness? Perceptions of safety climate and co-worker commitment to safety as workplace safety signals

Introduction: Integrating safety climate research with signaling theory, we propose that individual perceptions of safety climate signal the importance of safety in the organization. Specifically, we expect that three work-related organizational practices (training effectiveness, procedure effectiveness, and work pressure) relate to the broader risk control system in the workplace via individual perceptions of safety climate as a broad management signal. Further, we expect this broad management signal interacts with a local environmental signal (co-worker commitment to safety) to amplify or diminish perceived system safety effectiveness. Method: In a field study of oil and gas workers (N = 219; Study 1), we used mediation modeling to determine the relationships between work-related organizational practices, perceived safety climate, and perceived safety system effectiveness. In a field study of railway construction workers (N = 131; Study 2), we used moderated mediation modeling to explore the conditional role of co-worker commitment to safety. Results: We found that training effectiveness, procedure effectiveness, and work pressure predicted perceived system safety effectiveness indirectly via perceived safety climate (Studies 1 and 2) and that these indirect paths are influenced by co-worker commitment to safety (Study 2). Conclusions: Findings suggest that perceived safety climate is driven in part by work practices, and that perceived safety climate (from managers) and co-worker commitment to safety (from the local environment) interact to shape workplace safety system effectiveness. Practical applications: The insight that training, procedures, and work pressure are meaningful predictors of perceived safety climate as a signal suggests that organizations should be cognizant of the quality of work-related practices for safety. The insight we offer on the competing versus complimentary nature of managerial safety signals (perceived safety climate) and co-worker safety signals (co-worker commitment to safety) could also be used by safety personnel to develop safety interventions directed in both areas.     

A training intervention to improve frontline construction leaders' safety leadership practices and overall jobsite safety climate

Introduction: The 2.5 h Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) training program teaches construction supervisors the leadership skills they need to strengthen jobsite safety climate and reduce adverse safety-related outcomes. Methods: Using a quasi-experimental prospective switching replications study design, we examined (1) if FSL-trained jobsite safety leaders would report improved understanding and practice of the FSL leadership skills, safety practices and crew reporting of safety related conditions, and (2) if their crew perceived a change in (a) their supervisors' practices, (b) their own safety practices and reporting of safety-related conditions, and (c) overall jobsite safety climate. Twenty construction sub-contracting companies were recruited and randomly assigned to either an early or lagged-control training group. Participating supervisors and workers completed surveys at multiple time points before and after the FSL training. We used linear mixed modeling to test changes over time. Results: Only supervisors in the early group reported a statistically significant improvement in their understanding and practice of the leadership skills as well as safety practices from before to 2- and 4-weeks post-training. Overall, no significant change was detected in crew-reported outcomes from before to after their supervisors' participated in the FSL training. Conclusions: These results provide evidence that the FSL training can, at least in the short-term, improve construction frontline leaders' jobsite leadership skills. Future research could include an evaluation of FSL refresher activities and a longer-term follow-up. Practical applications: The Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) program fills an identified need for construction frontline supervisors to learn and practice critical safety leadership skills on the jobsite. It has already reached over 60,000 leaders and has the potential to reach over 100,000 each year during either an OSHA 30-h or a stand-alone course.     

Mapping safety culture attributes with integrity management program to achieve assessment goals: A framework for oil and gas pipelines industry

Introduction: The safety of oil and gas pipelines is an increasing concern for the public, government regulators, and the industry. A safety management system cannot be efficient without having an effective integrity management program (IMP) and a strong safety culture. IMP is a formal document (policies, planning, scheduling, and technical processes) while safety culture is a measure of views, beliefs, and traditions about safety. For regulatory authorities and O&G companies, assessing the effectiveness of both the IMP and safety culture through regulatory audits is a daunting task with indistinct findings. Method: An integrated framework based on regulatory audits is developed to assess the maturity of safety culture based on IMP efficacy through risk-based approach by using failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). The framework focuses on three distinct aspects, the probability of failure occurrence in case of the non-compliance of regulatory and program requirements, severity of non-compliance, and effectiveness of the corrective actions. Results: Program requirements and performance indicators are translated into assessment questions which are grouped into 18 IMP components. Subsequently, these components are linked with four safety culture attributes. Sensitivity analysis revealed that four IMP components, i.e., organizational roles and responsibilities, policy and commitment, risk assessment, and training and competency, significantly affect the safety culture maturity level. Conclusions: Individual assessment of IMP and safety culture in O&G sector consumes extensive time and efforts in the auditing process. The framework facilitates the process by pursuing common criteria between IMP and safety culture. The O&G companies and regulator can prioritize the improvement plans and guidelines using the framework's findings. Practicalapplications:The integrated framework developed in this research will improve the existing assessment mechanism in O&G companies. The framework has been effectively implemented on a case of 17 upstream O&G pipeline-operating companies in the province of British Columbia, Canada.     

Thrill and adventure seeking in risky driving at work: The moderating role of safety climate

Introduction Within many industrialized countries, the leading cause of worker fatalities and serious injuries can be attributed to road trauma. In non-occupational research, high levels of sensation seeking personality, and specifically thrill and adventure seeking, have been associated with risky driving behaviors. In work driving literature, high organizational safety climate has been associated with reduced risky driving in work drivers. However, the extent that factors such as safety climate and thrill seeking interact in regard to work driving safety remains unclear, and the current research examined this interaction. Methods A total of 1,011 work drivers from four organizations participated in the research. Surveys were distributed online and hardcopies were sent via mail. The survey included measures of thrill and adventure seeking, safety climate and work-related driving behaviors, as well as questions relating to participant demographics and information about their work driving. Results The results demonstrated that safety climate significantly moderated the effect of thrill and adventure seeking trait on driving errors, driving violations, and driving while fatigued. Conclusion These results suggest that the development of a strong safety climate has the potential to improve work driving safety outcomes by reducing the impact of particular personality traits such as thrill seeking within an organizational context. Practical application To improve work driving safety, organizations and management need to develop strategies to encourage and foster positive work driving safety climate, particularly within work settings that may attract thrill and adventure seeking employees.     

Impact of individual resilience and safety climate on safety performance and psychological stress of construction workers: A case study of the Ontario construction industry

IntroductionThe construction industry has hit a plateau in terms of safety performance. Safety climate is regarded as a leading indicator of safety performance; however, relatively little safety climate research has been done in the Canadian construction industry. Safety climate may be geographically sensitive, thus it is necessary to examine how the construct of safety climate is defined and used to improve safety performance in different regions. On the other hand, more and more attention has been paid to job related stress in the construction industry. Previous research proposed that individual resilience may be associated with a better safety performance and may help employees manage stress. Unfortunately, few empirical research studies have examined this hypothesis. This paper aims to examine the role of safety climate and individual resilience in safety performance and job stress in the Canadian construction industry.MethodThe research was based on 837 surveys collected in Ontario between June 2015 and June 2016. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to explore the impact of individual resilience and safety climate on physical safety outcomes and on psychological stress among construction workers.ResultsThe results show that safety climate not only affected construction workers' safety performance but also indirectly affected their psychological stress. In addition, it was found that individual resilience had a direct negative impact on psychological stress but had no impact on physical safety outcomes.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the roles of both organizational and individual factors in individual safety performance and in psychological well-being.Practical applicationsConstruction organizations need to not only monitor employees' safety performance, but also to assess their employees' psychological well-being. Promoting a positive safety climate together with developing training programs focusing on improving employees' psychological health — especially post-trauma psychological health — can improve the safety performance of an organization.     

Investigating ethnic minorities' perceptions of safety climate in the construction industry

IntroductionAn increasing number of ethnic minorities (EMs) have been employed in the construction industry to alleviate severe labor shortages in many countries. Unfortunately, statistics show that EMs have higher fatal and non-fatal occupational injury rates than their local counterparts. However, EMs are often underrepresented in safety climate (SC) research as they are difficult to reach and gauge their perception. A positive relationship has been widely found between SC and safety performance. Understanding the safety perceptions of EMs helps to reduce injuries and improve their safety performance.MethodBased on a sample of 320 EMs from 20 companies in the construction industry, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to identify the SC factors of EMs, and validate the extracted factors, respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance was undertaken to examine mean differences in perceptions of SC by personal characteristics.ResultsThree SC factors for EMs encapsulating 16 variables were identified through EFA. The hypothesized CFA model for a three-factor structure derived from EFA showed a satisfactory goodness-of-fit, composite reliability, and construct validity.ConclusionsThree SC factors were identified, namely: (a) safety management commitment, safety resources, and safety communication; (b) employee's involvement and workmate's influence; and (c) perception of safety rules, procedures and risks. The perceptions of SC differed significantly by nationality, marital status, the number of family members supported, and drinking habit.Practical applicationsThis study reveals the perception of EMs toward SC. The findings highlight the areas for safety improvement and provide leading indicators for safety performance of EMs. The findings are also enlightening for countries with a number of EMs, such as the United Sates, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and the Middle East.     

Using a psychological contract of safety to predict safety climate on construction sites

Introduction: The fact that safety climate impacts safety behavior and delivers better safety outcomes is well established in construction. However, the way workers safety perception is inclined and developed is still unclear. Method: In this research, the influence of supervisors' developing safety climate and its impact on workers' safety behavior and their conceptualization of safety is explored through the lens of the ‘Psychological Contract’ (PC). More specifically, it is argued that ‘Psychological Contract of Safety’ (PCS) is a vital factor in explaining how workers attach meaning to a supervisor behavior. Extant research suggests: (a) safety climate is based on the perception of workers regarding safety; and (b) PCS is based on perceived mutual obligations between workers and supervisors. As a result, this research argues that if PCS or mutual obligations between workers and supervisors are fulfilled, then safety climate of the workers will be positively influenced. A model is presented depicting PCS as an alternative intervention in understanding how safety climate could be influenced and predicted by the level of fulfillment of mutual safety obligations. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) the model of the PCS is validated with data collected from a mega-construction project in Australia. Results: The results suggest that to have a positive and strong safety climate, top-level managers must ensure that mutual safety obligations between supervisor and workers are fulfilled. This enables the PCS to be introduced as a new ‘predictor’ of safety climate. Practical applications: The novel outcome of the research could be considered as a management intervention to modify supervisors' behavior to produce better safety outcomes.     

Implementing and evaluating novel safety training methods for construction sector workers: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The construction industry is regarded as one of the most unsafe occupational fields worldwide. Despite general agreement that safety training is an important factor in preventing accidents in the construction sector, more studies are needed to identify effective training methods. To address the current research gap, this study evaluated the impact of novel, participatory safety training methods on construction workers’ safety competencies. Specifically, we assessed the efficacy of an immersive virtual reality (VR)-based safety training program and a participatory human factors safety training program (HFST) in construction industry workplaces. Method: In 2019, 119 construction sector workers from eight workplaces participated in a randomized controlled trial conducted in Finland. All the study participants were assessed using questionnaires at baseline, immediately after the intervention and at one-month follow-up. We applied generalized linear mixed modeling for statistical analysis. Results: Compared to lecture-based safety training, VR-based safety training showed a stronger impact on safety motivation, self-efficacy and safety-related outcome expectancies. In addition, the construction sector workers who participated in the VR-based safety training showed a greater increase in self-reported safety performance at one-month follow-up. Contrary to our study hypotheses, we found no significant differences between the study outcomes in terms of study participants in the HFST training condition and the comparison condition without HFST training. Conclusion: Our study indicates that VR technology as a safety training tool has potential to increase safety competencies and foster motivational change in terms of the safety performance of construction sector workers. In the future, the efficacy of participatory human factors safety training should be studied further using a version that targets both managerial and employee levels and is implemented in a longer format. Practical implications: Safety training in virtual reality provides a promising alternative to passive learning methods. Its motivating effect complements other safety training activities.     

The acceptance of personal protective equipment among Hong Kong construction workers: An integration of technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior with risk perception and safety climate

Introduction: The phenomenon that construction workers do not use personal protective equipment (PPE) is a major reason for the high occurrence frequency of accidents in the construction industry. However, little efforts have been made to quantitatively examine the factors influencing construction workers’ acceptance of PPE. Method: In the current study, a PPE acceptance model for construction workers (PAMCW) was proposed to address the noted need. The PAMCW incorporates the technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior, risk perception, and safety climate for explaining construction worker acceptance of PPE. 413 construction workers participated in this study to fill out a structured questionnaire. The PAMCW was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: Results provide evidence of the applicability of the technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior to the PPE acceptance among construction workers. The positive influence of safety climate and risk perception-severity on attitude toward using PPE was significant. Safety climate positively influences perceived usefulness. Risk perception-worry and unsafe was found to positively affect intention to use PPE. Practical Applications: Practical suggestions for increasing construction workers’ use of PPE are also discussed.     

Leadership skills for strengthening jobsite safety climate

Introduction: Construction foremen may lack the leadership skills needed to create a strong jobsite safety climate. Many construction companies address this by sending their lead workers to the OSHA 30-h course; however the course does not include a leadership training module. This article describes the development and pilot testing of such a module and evaluation surveys designed to address this training gap. Methods: A 17-member curriculum development team, numerous subject matter experts, and an instructional design company helped us develop a comprehensive set of teaching resources and a set of survey instruments for evaluating the materials' effectiveness on improving safety leadership and safety climate. All materials and surveys were pilot tested with representative members of the target population. Results: Pilot surveys showed high reliability and data collected on the resulting Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) module indicated that the majority of foremen thought the training was helpful or valuable, particularly the discussion questions. The majority said they intended to use the skills on the jobsite. With the exception of the role-play activities, the trainers rated highly all other components, especially the videos and discussion questions. Modifications were made to the training materials and surveys based on pilot test findings. The most important result of the development and pilot testing efforts is that the OSHA Training Institute (OTI) included the FSL as an elective in the OSHA 30-h course. Conclusions: The FSL module fills a needed skills gap by providing safety leadership training to all foremen who might otherwise not have access to it through their company or union. The continued success of the FSL training will be ensured by dissemination via the OSHA 30-h course, an established nationwide safety training program. Practical applications: The FSL training module has already been widely accepted by the construction industry as a useful approach for providing construction foremen/See new abstract lead workers with the knowledge and skills they need to become more effective jobsite safety leaders.     

Safety climate differences among job positions in a nuclear decommissioning and demolition industry: Employees’ self-reported safety attitudes and perceptions

This study examined group differences in safety climate among job positions in a nuclear decommissioning and demolition industry in the United States. Safety climate surveys were conducted at 10 locations. Survey responses totaled 1587 out of an available population of 3296 workers for an overall response rate of 48.1%. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in mean safety climate scores, factor scores, and item scores among job positions were observed. Most notably, foremen’s self-reported safety attitudes and perceptions indicate a lower safety climate and suggest the need to target safety improvements at this key organizational level.     

Safety in construction – a comprehensive description of the characteristics of high safety standards in construction work, from the combined perspective of supervisors and experienced workers

Introduction

The often applied engineering approach to safety management in the construction industry needs to be supplemented by organizational measures and measures based on how people conceive and react to their social environment. This requires in-depth knowledge of the broad preconditions for high safety standards in construction. The aim of the study was to comprehensively describe the preconditions and components of high safety standards in the construction industry from the perspective of both experienced construction workers and first-line managers.

Method

Five worker safety representatives and 19 first-line managers were interviewed, all strategically selected from within a large Swedish construction project. Phenomenographic methodology was used for data acquisition and analysis and to categorize the information. Nine informants verified the results.

Results

The study identified four main categories of work safety preconditions and components: (1) Project characteristics and nature of the work, which set the limits of safety management; (2) Organization and structures, with the subcategories planning, work roles, procedures, and resources; (3) Collective values, norms, and behaviors, with the subcategories climate and culture, and interaction and cooperation; and (4) Individual competence and attitudes, with the subcategories knowledge, ability and experience, and individual attitudes.

Discussion

The results comprehensively describe high safety standards in construction, incorporating organizational, group, individual, and technical aspects. High-quality interaction between different organizational functions and hierarchical levels stood out as important aspects of safety. The results are discussed in relation to previous research into safety and into the social-psychological preconditions for other desired outcomes in occupational settings.

Impact on Industry

The results can guide construction companies in planning and executing construction projects to a high safety standard.