Inter- and intra-organizational safety management practice differences in the construction industry

Abstract

This work investigates safety management practice differences in the interorganizational manner between general contractors and subcontractors as well as in the intraorganizational manner between head offices and construction sites. While head offices of general contractors determine the safety performance target for a project, the actual performance is determined by how employees of general contractors and subcontractors working at construction sites manage the safety management practices together. This study presumes that there exist safety management practice gaps within an organization and between organizations, which are probably the reasons for stagnant safety performance improvement in the construction industry. Using 341 survey data items collected from general contractor and subcontractor companies’ employees working in head offices and at construction sites, chi-square tests for one safety management practice and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests for three different safety management practices were conducted. It was found that there is no statistically significant safety management practice difference between general contractors and subcontractors. However, regarding the workplace, four safety management practices consistently showed that head offices have higher mean values than construction sites and that the differences are statistically significant. The two-way ANOVA test results also revealed statistically significant interaction effects. The results contribute to justifying the need for a more holistic and comprehensive approach when establishing a safety management strategy.