Structural equation model of integrated safety intervention practices affecting the safety behaviour of workers in the construction industry

Abstract

Fatality rates at workplaces in the construction industry are high compared to other industries. Tremendous effort is required to strive towards zero accidents. Managing foreign workers with different cultural backgrounds at the workplace requires appropriate safety intervention practices to improve workers’ safety behaviour. Based on the literature, the importance of safety intervention for changing unsafe to safe worker behaviour is known. For this reason, an integrated safety intervention model affecting workers’ safety behaviour was developed and tested. This study was conducted by distributing a questionnaire survey to construction companies. The survey was randomly distributed, with a total of 198 responses received. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to confirm the three safety intervention constructs. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to identify the most significant intervention-related safety practices, which are to be the focus in handling safety management. The results indicate that technical intervention has a positive influence by management and human intervention. In addition, an improvement in workers’ safety behaviour can be achieved by focusing on the technical intervention with five important safety practices: workplace safety inspections, personal protective equipment (PPE) programmes, safety equipment availability and maintenance, safe work practices, and safety permits. These findings attempt to help construction management by identifying the appropriate selection of safety practices with specific interventions to improve workers’ safety behaviour.