Abstract
This research explores the tenets of safety leadership within the Australian construction environment. The scope of this research aims to establish a universal definition of safety leadership and how it differs from other leadership disciplines. The literature review into this topic was governed by the parent disciplines of Safety and Leadership. Gaps were identified in the literature that indicated safety leadership is not a well-defined concept and much of the work into safety leadership has been borrowed from other schools of leadership. An exploratory research methodology was utilised which rooted the research into the post-positivist methodology. There were twenty interviews conducted for this research, with participants coming from various leadership positions across multiple construction projects around Australia. Findings detailed a saturation of data that allowed for an empirical definition towards safety leadership to be established. As a person’s scope of responsibility increases, their view of safety leadership becomes synonymous with leadership; although differences do exist. These differences were attributed to the importance of demonstrating safety and working within the legal framework of Australian construction projects. It is proposed that this research offers a substantial contribution to knowledge, based upon a well-defined definition into safety leadership.
Highlights
Safety leadership within itself is a concept that borrows heavily from the leadership framework with specifics being based upon transformational leadership (Mullen and Kelloway, 2009)
Throughout this research, safety leadership will be explored and defined with the main research question being framed as: How do leaders within the construction environment define safety leadership and how does safety leadership differ from other leadership disciplines?
This research has been rooted within the Australian construction industry due to the considerable size of the industry and challenges that pertain to its specificity
Summary
Safety leadership within itself is a concept that borrows heavily from the leadership framework with specifics being based upon transformational leadership (Mullen and Kelloway, 2009). This research has been rooted within the Australian construction industry due to the considerable size of the industry and challenges that pertain to its specificity. These challenges within the construction project environment include personal commitment and responsibility towards safety, communication and organisational culture (Hashim and Chileshe, 2012). Without a clear definition towards safety leadership, a misalignment between safety expectations may occur which can create a misappropriation towards safety efforts.
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