The effect of safety training and safety incentives on Chinese construction workers' risk-taking behavior based on the structural equation model

Abstract

The construction industry is notorious for its high accident and work injury rates. Behavior-based safety is an important application of behavioral science to solve safety problems in the construction sector. This study aims to examine the effects of safety training, safety incentives, and risk tolerance on construction workers’ risk-taking behavior by quantitative methods. A cross-sectional survey of 1,026 construction workers at 53 construction sites in China was conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis of structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between these variables. Results show that safety training has a significant direct negative impact on risk-taking behavior, while safety incentives have an indirect negative impact on risk-taking behavior through risk tolerance. Therefore, safety training and safety incentive are different ways to reduce the risk-taking behavior of construction workers and provide different intervention ideas for the behavior intervention of construction workers.