Szabo, E and Sherratt, F (2024) Consistency in its inconsistency: Safety culture in the us construction industry. In: Thomson, C (ed.) Proceedings of 40th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2024, London South Bank University, UK.
Abstract
Safety culture remains the subject of much discussion and debate across both academia and industry, remaining a stubbornly abstract and nebulous concept. However, whilst industry is seeking practical guidance and tools for measurement, academia often addresses more theoretical and philosophical aspects of safety culture alongside considerations of its effectiveness and evaluation. However, this body of work arguably lacks insights as to the nature of this academia-industry relationship. Improved understandings of how industry conceptualizes and utilizes safety culture in practice can inform and enhance the applicability and relevance of academic research in this messy space. To begin to better understand this situation for the US construction industry, semi-structured interviews with 27 safety professionals were conducted. Findings revealed that what is most consistent about safety culture is actually its inconsistency - on personal, organizational, and industry levels. There is little coherence in its management and curation, and in fact industry currently utilizes very few of the concepts highlighted in academic research, suggesting that both might benefit from moving away from the concept of safety culture altogether to avoid distraction in the critical management of occupational safety on construction jobsites.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | safety climate; safety culture; safety professional; US construction |
| Index terms: | coherence, academia, effectiveness, construction industry, occupational safety, safety climate, interview, safety culture |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, human factors and perception, educational institutions, occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, performance management, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Research Practice, Quality Management, Education |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 CTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here