Predicting Safety Behavior in the Construction Industry: Development and Test of an Integrative Model

Abstract

This study develops and tests an integrative model of construction workers’ safety behavior with an attempt to better understand the mechanisms by which key safety climate factors (i.e., management safety commitment, social support, and production pressure) and individual factors (i.e., safety knowledge and safety motivation) influence workers’ safety behavior. Data were collected from 215 construction workers in New Zealand using a questionnaire. Eight competing models were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that management safety commitment was significantly related to social support and production pressure. Production pressure was identified as a critical factor that has direct and significant effects on safety motivation, safety knowledge, safety participation and safety compliance. Furthermore, social support was found to have the same paths to influence safety behavior as production pressure, except that the effect on safety participation was insignificant. Safety knowledge and safety motivation were significantly and positively related to safety participation. The integrative model suggests a combination of “a safe organization”, “safe groups” and “safe workers” strategies to reduce unsafe behavior on sites.