Managing time pressures to improve construction safety: Speaking up as a key pathway

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health Psychology
• Construction Management
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Time pressure is a significant psychosocial risk in construction, potentially compromising worker safety.
• The specific mechanisms linking distinct types of time pressure to safety outcomes require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of challenge and hindrance time pressures on construction workers' safety behavior.
• To examine the mediating roles of promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors in this relationship.

Main Methods:

• A two-wave survey was administered to 275 construction workers in ChangSha, China.
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed using AMOS software to analyze the data.
• The study tested relationships between time pressures, voice behaviors, and safety behavior.

Main Results:

• Challenge time pressure positively impacts safety behavior, mediated by promotive voice.
• Hindrance time pressure negatively impacts safety behavior, fully mediated by prohibitive voice.
• Promotive voice partially mediates the challenge time pressure effect, while prohibitive voice fully mediates the hindrance time pressure effect.

Conclusions:

• This research elucidates the dual impact of time pressures on construction safety behavior.
• Findings integrate Conservation of Resources theory and voice behavior mechanisms for enhanced safety management.
• The study provides novel insights into improving safety practices within the construction industry.