Safety climate and safety behaviors in the construction industry: The importance of co-workers commitment to safety

There is growing empirical evidence that as safety climate improves work site safety practice improve. Safety climate is often measured by asking workers about their perceptions of management commitment to safety. However, it is less common to include perceptions of their co-workers commitment to safety. While the involvement of management in safety is essential, working with co-workers who value and prioritize safety may be just as important.

To evaluate a concept of safety climate that focuses on top management, supervisors and co-workers commitment to safety, which is relatively new and untested in the United States construction industry.

Survey data was collected from a cohort of 300 unionized construction workers in the United States. The significance of direct and indirect (mediation) effects among safety climate and safety behavior factors were evaluated via structural equation modeling.

Results indicated that safety climate was associated with safety behaviors on the job. More specifically, perceptions of co-workers commitment to safety was a mediator between both management commitment to safety climate factors and safety behaviors.

These results support workplace health and safety interventions that build and sustain safety climate and a commitment to safety amongst work teams.