The Relationship between Mindfulness and Safety Performance of Building Repair and Maintenance: An Empirical Study in Australia

Abstract

The importance of building repair and maintenance (R&M) has become more significant in recent years as the volume of building stock has expanded globally. With this growth in building stock coupled with R&M complexity unforeseen safety risks has become an increasing problem to solve. In such complex working environment a type of organisation known as high reliability organisation (HRO) is known to operate successfully. The concept of mindfulness from HRO theory has been identified as a key strategy for addressing unforeseen risks derived from the complexity in socio-technical systems. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between mindfulness and safety performance of building R&M companies. Initially, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on HROs and the concept of mindfulness to develop the research hypothesis. A questionnaire survey was utilised to collect the data from Australian building R&M professionals. A Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between mindfulness and safety performance. This study found that mindfulness has a significant impact on accident prevention in building R&M companies through discovering and managing the unexpected events owing to the complexity. The findings have implications for organisations in the way they train and implement professional development programs for their staff.