Safety Climate in Construction Industry: A Case Study in Hong Kong
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132, Issue 6
Abstract
Because of the characteristics of decentralization and mobility in the construction industry, safety culture is crucially important. A comprehensive safety climate questionnaire survey was conducted with all sites and employees of a leading construction company and its subcontractors in Hong Kong. In total, 4,719 records were returned from 54 sites. By means of factor analysis, a 15-factor structure that defines the dimensions of the safety climate has been extracted. Compared with previous research studies, the roles and influences of fellow workers, and safety resources on the safety climate are emphasized. The results also confirm the feasibility of exploring common factors of the safety climate in the construction industry. Through further analysis, logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between the safety climate and personal characteristics. Statistically significant relationships were found between safety climate and personal characteristics, including gender, marital status, education level, number of family members to support, safety knowledge, drinking habits, direct employer, and individual safety behavior. This research is a case study and the results are derived from the data of one company, but the methodology of this research may be useful as a model for further research, and the findings may provide useful information for construction managers and safety practitioners in the construction industry to improve their safety culture.
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Acknowledgments
Support from Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. NSFC70172005 and NSFC70572007), Occupational Safety and Health Council of Hong Kong, and Gammon Construction Ltd. are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks go to Professor Jimmie Hinze from the University of Florida who helped in promoting the quality of the paper. The Writers also acknowledge helpful work from Winson Yeung, Paul Wong, Xie Feng, Lan Rongxiang, Rafiq Choudhry, and Zhouquan.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132 • Issue 6 • June 2006
Pages: 573 - 584
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 11, 2004
Accepted: Aug 22, 2005
Published online: Jun 1, 2006
Published in print: Jun 2006
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