Conceptualizing Safety Management in Construction Projects

Abstract

In construction projects, the management team needs to conceptualize the management of safety in order to foster a strong safety culture. The aim of this research is to investigate what constitutes project management personnel’s conceptual skill and how this skill can be developed and applied in the context of construction safety. To achieve this aim, a conceptual skill questionnaire was developed, validated, and used to collect data in which 273 sets of valid responses were received. Factor analysis of the collected data found two components of conceptual skill important to construction safety: visioning, and scoping and integration. Based on this, a theoretical model was derived and analyzed using a structural equation modeling (SEM) method to demonstrate the influence of conceptual skill on construction safety. The results showed that conceptual skill helps project management personnel implement safety management tasks, which in turn promotes an onsite safety climate. Thereafter, interviews were conducted with experienced personnel to confirm the SEM results and to recommend skill development approaches, which include lifelong learning, learning in practice, intrinsic motivation, and specific training programs. Theoretically, this research advances the existing body of knowledge on conceptual skill by providing empirical evidence of its contribution to improve construction safety. Practically, this research suggests that construction organizations recognize the importance of project management personnel’s conceptual skill for managing construction safety and provide relevant training opportunities for them to improve the skill.