MEASURING THE PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AMONG TAIWAN CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS

Wei Tong Chen,Chun Sheng Lu,Min-Shun Wang,Shu-Shun Liu

doi:10.3846/13923730.2012.734852

Abstract

Using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), this study develops a model to evaluate construction managers’ perception of safety as relates to six aspects: human error (HE), safety resource and application (SRA), safety equipment and training (SET), site culture and external factors (SCF), safety inspection and audit (SIA), and accident medium and activities (AMA). The model was used to identify and compare the level of safety perceived by Taiwanese construction managers including safety managers, contractor managers, public works managers, design and audit managers, owner audit and control managers, and others. Analysis reveals that safety managers have the highest perception of safety while owner audit and control managers have the lowest. Surprisingly, public works managers and design and audit managers have lower levels of perceived safety than do contractor managers. Apparently, reinforcing the perception of safety between these two types of construction personnel is important to reducing construction accidents in Taiwan.

Highlights

According to Taiwan’s Labor Safety and Health Law, a fatal occupational accident (FOA) is defined as an accident involving: (1) a death or (2) the injury of at least three workers resulting in one or more lost workdays
Safety perception analyzing Following the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) model variables, we developed an evaluation table with 26 questions, which was given to construction jobholders for the evaluation of safety perceptions
The procedure used to measure group perception was as follows: (1) computation of perception scores based on 242 valid questionnaires; (2) second-order fit model, derived from CFA, was incorporated into the analyses of all paths (Li); (3) the perception score (Wi) from a corresponding question was multiplied by (Ei); (4) cumulative results for all factors were multiplied by a high-order SEM path estimate coefficient for higher-order computations using this principle

Summary

Introduction

According to Taiwan’s Labor Safety and Health Law, a fatal occupational accident (FOA) is defined as an accident involving: (1) a death or (2) the injury of at least three workers resulting in one or more lost workdays. The model variables and path effect were developed to evaluate construction jobholders’ safety perceptions.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion