Helen, C L; Cooke, T and Blismas, N (2010) Properties of group safety climate in construction: The development and evaluation of a typology. Construction Management and Economics, 28(10), pp. 1099-1112. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
A safety climate survey was conducted in three Australian construction industry organizations. Workers' perceptions of their supervisors' safety response (SSR) and co-workers' safety response (CSR) were measured as facets of group safety climate. A two-dimensional schema was developed based upon the strength and the level of group safety climate. The resulting framework was used to position the 40 workgroups included in the sample within one of four group safety climate types. A non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test revealed that workgroups in which members share a strong consensus that co-workers should treat safety as a priority had a significantly lower injury frequency rate than other workgroups in the sample. While no significant differences between the injury frequency rates of workgroups positioned in the four safety climate types were found for the other facets of group safety climate, workgroups with strong and high (i.e. strongly supportive) safety climates related to supervisors' safety expectations and co-workers' actual safety behaviour reported injury frequency rates on average two-thirds the magnitude of the remaining workgroups in the sample. Although limited by the reliance on retrospective and insensitive measurement for the dependent variable (i.e. injury frequency rates), the research provides preliminary evidence for the importance of considering both the strength and level of group safety climates in the construction industry. Future research should seek to replicate and extend this research by examining the antecedents of group safety climate strength and level in the construction context.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | climate level; climate strength; co-workers' safety response; group safety climate; supervisors' safety response |
| Index terms: | supervisor, construction industry, safety behaviour, dependent variable, evidence, survey, injury, safety climate |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, practitioner, health safety and environment, occupational health and safety management, health conditions and diseases, industry analysis, statistical analysis |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Health and Safety, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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