Influence of Safety Climate on Safety Behavior in the Construction Industry
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Date
2018-06
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KNUST
Abstract
Occupational safety problems continue to remain prevalent in the construction industry despite considerable efforts to ensure safer operations. Massive economic and personnel costs are currently being incurred by the construction industry especially those in developing countries as a result of work-related injuries. Research posits that these accidents are worsen by human factors and climatic factors around work. The human factors which are seen in unsafe practices have been noted to account for quite a greater percentage of occupational safety incidents. Thus, if construction workers can be influenced to engage in safe rather than at-risk work behaviours, then a possible decrease in the rate of work-related injuries shall be achieved. As a result of the problem at stake, this study sought to find out how safety climate factors influenced safe behaviour on construction projects. The study employed the quantitative research design and used purposive sampling in choosing construction companies for data collection. Descriptive analysis, mean score ranking and partial least square (structural equation modeling) were used to report on the data. Two hundred and ten (210) questionnaires were received out of 250 distributed for analysis. The results from the data revealed that, four (4) out of five (5) safety climate factors which are; management communication and commitment, safety training, safety supervision and safety promotion significantly supported the hypothesis developed. However, awareness and competence did not support the research hypothesis having a negative relationship with safety behaviour, therefore, rejecting the earlier set hypothesis of the study. The study had limitations such as data solely collected from one region of Ghana, the use of only quantitative method making the study constrictive. It was therefore recommended that, Management must provide continuing safety program development for its workers to improve worker safety behaviour. Finally, future research should be done to include other geographical areas in Ghana to obtain a more solid conclusion.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY