Investigation of multi-level safety culture in the Indian construction industry: a multi-level employees’ perception-based approach

Abstract

Inadequate compliance with safety practices is a major hurdle in the construction industry, and a single-level source of input to assess safety culture is a major limitation of the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to capture multi-level employees’ (top management, middle management and workers) perceptions to assess multi-level safety culture (organizational level, project level and personnel level) in the construction industry. This study considered the Indian construction industry as the study area and used a questionnaire survey and interview technique as research instruments. In total, 184 responses were collected from multi-level employees. Data analysis was performed using a descriptive statistical method and hypothesis testing using the Mann–Whitney U test followed by the Kruskal–Wallis and post hoc tests. Findings highlighted inadequate safety compliances and significant (p < 0.05) perception differences among multi-level employees. Further, root cause analysis for observed perception differences was performed, and managerial implications were discussed from implementation perspectives.