Overview and analysis of safety climate studies in the construction industry

Abstract

Safety climate has been accepted and widely used as a typical proactive safety measurement and strategy for promoting safety in the construction industry during the past decades. Much of the effort of safety climate research has been focused on safety climate measurement and the relationship between safety climate and performance. However, there is little consensus on the safety climate factors, which implies the complexity of safety climate. Moreover, there is a lack of research linking safety climate factors to theoretical safety climate models for managing and improving safety climate. This study conducted a systematic review of the studies on both safety climate measurement in the construction industry and theoretical safety culture models. Six common factors were identified based on a review of 13 surveys, including management commitment, rules and procedures, workers’ involvement, personal risk appreciation, communication, and supervisory environment. These factors were linked to the theoretical constructs of the safety culture model based on previous research. The results help to explore the conceptualization of safety climate within the construction industry. The results also imply the implementation of safety management practices in projects to improve the safety climate in multiple dimensions.