Investigating factors that affect safety culture in construction sector

Abstract

It is important to explore further the issues on safety culture in the construction sites since it has become one of the most highlighted issues in the Malaysian industrial context. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the factors that affect safety culture in construction sector in Malaysia. The sample of this study focuses on construction companies in Sarawak that are registered with CIDB as Grade 7 contractor. The informants who were chosen using convenience sampling method were sourced from three different Divisions in Sarawak namely Kuching, Miri and Limbang. An in-depth face-to-face interview was used to gather relevant information from the informants. The findings revealed that there are six factors namely the enforcement from authorities, cost allocation, cooperation and commitment from all parties, workers' background, relationship between management and workers, and appropriate incentives that have greater influence on safety culture. It is hoped that this study could provide readers and practitioners further information on whether safety culture is being practiced or not by most construction companies in Malaysia and the elements that gives more prominent influence towards the implementation.