Developing an assessment framework for evaluating knowledge-based safety culture in construction organizations

Many studies on safety in construction projects have indicated that positive safety culture in the workplace environment would reduce accidents. The inherent project-based characteristic of construction organizations means knowledge and experience are generally lost when a project is completed. This transitory nature hinders an organization’s attempt to develop and maintain a knowledge-based positive safety culture. Also, this can be overcome by continuous monitoring and reviewing of the knowledge-based safety culture required to enforce safety standards and regulations required for construction organizations. In order to achieve this, a quantitative assessment framework for knowledge-based safety culture is a prerequisite. Therefore, this study aims to develop a measurable quantitative framework based on the importance of factors pertaining to psychological, behavioral, organizational, and knowledge dimensions of knowledge-based safety culture. A survey questionnaire is employed to examine the importance of these factors. The survey findings are used to formulate a framework suitable for use in the construction industry. Furthermore, this framework is validated by considering case scenarios among safety-certified and non-certified construction organizations. The proposed analytical framework can be used for assessing the knowledge-based safety culture scores of construction organizations.