Abstract
The poor safety performance of contractors is considered as one of the underlying roots of a high construction accident rate. The interrelationships among constructs affecting the poor safety performance of contractors have not been identified in most of the previous studies. This study examines the interactions among constructs affecting the poor safety performance of contractors at the same time in a model. A survey questionnaire is designed to gather views from industrial practitioners. Five constructs are extracted by the factor analysis method. A structural equation model is then set up to measure the five constructs through their constituent variables and to explore insights into the interactions among them. The final structural model verifies five relationships and denies five relationships proposed in the hypothetical model. The study provides a greater understanding of the interactions among constructs affecting the poor safety performance of contractors as well as the degree of relationship among the constructs. The results can help managers to easily grasp the origin of causes affecting poor safety performance and then identify key areas for improving them. Moreover, the frameworks proposed in this study can be used to consider and assess the contractors’ safety performance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdelhamid TS, Everett JG (2000) Identifying root causes of construction accidents. J Constr Eng Manag 126(1):52–60. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2000)126:1(52)
Al Tabtabai HM (2002) Analyzing construction site accidents in Kuwait. Kuwait J Sci Eng 29(2):213–238
Anvuur A, Kumaraswamy M (2012) Measurement and antecedents of cooperation in construction. J Constr Eng Manag 138(7):797–810. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000498
Bagozzi RP, Yi Y (2012) Specification, evaluation, and interpretation of structural equation models. J Acad Mark Sci 40(1):8–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-011-0278-x
Chen YQ, Zhang YB, Liu JY, Mo P (2012) Interrelationships among critical success factors of construction projects based on the structural equation model. J Constr Eng Manag 28(3):243–251. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000104
Cheng CW, Lin CC, Leu SS (2010a) Use of association rules to explore cause–effect relationships in occupational accidents in the Taiwan construction industry. Saf Sci 48(4):436–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2009.12.005
Cheng CW, Leu SS, Lin CC, Fan C (2010b) Characteristic analysis of occupational accidents at small construction enterprises. Saf Sci 48(6):698–707. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.02.001
Chia-Kuang L, Yusmin J (2012) Prioritization of factors influencing safety performance on construction sites: a study based on grade seven (G7) main contractor’s perspectives. Int Proc Econ Dev Res 57(2):6–12
Choudhry RM, Ahmad W, Azhar S, Hinze JW (2012) Safety management practices in the construction industry of Pakistan. In: Third international conference on construction in developing countries (ICCIDC–III) July 4–6, Bangkok, Thailand, pp 314–319
Chua DKH, Goh YM (2004) Incident causation model for improving feedback of safety knowledge. J Constr Eng Manag 130(4):542–551. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2004)130:4(542)
Doloi H, Sawhney A, Iyer KC (2012) Structural equation model for investigating factors affecting delay in Indian construction projects. Constr Manag Econ 30(10):869–884. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2012.717705
El-Mashaled MS, Al-Smadi BM, Hyari KH, Rababeh SM (2010) Safety management in the Jordanian construction industry. Jordan J Civ Eng 4(1):47–54
Enshassi A, Choudhry RM, Mayer PE, Shoman Y (2008) Safety performance of subcontractors in the Palestinian construction industry. J Constr Dev Ctries 13(1):51–62
Fang DP, Huang XY, Hinze J (2004) Benchmarking studies on construction safety management in China. J Constr Eng Manag 130(3):424–432. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2004)130:3(424)
Field A (2009) Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA
Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE (2010) Multivariate data analysis, 7th edn. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Hakkinen K (1995) A learning-by-doing strategy to improve top management involvement in safety. Saf Sci 20(2–3):299–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-7535(95)00028-F
Hamid ARA, Majid MZA (2008) Causes of accidents at construction sites. Malays J Civ Eng 20(2):242–259
Haslam RA, Hide SA, Gibb AGF, Gyi DE, Pavitt T, Atkinson S, Duff AR (2005) Contributing factors in construction accidents. Appl Ergon 36(4):401–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2004.12.002
Hinze J, Gambatese J (2003) Factors that influence safety performance of specialty contractors. J Constr Eng Manag 129(2):159–164. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2003)129:2(159)
José M, Marta B (2009) Health behaviour and safety in the construction sector. Psicothema 21(3):427–432
Kartam NA, Flood I, Koushki P (2000) Construction safety in Kuwait: issues, procedures, problems, and recommendations. Saf Sci 36(3):163–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-7535(00)00041-2
Keith RM, Jeong-II P, Simon W (2009) Framework for measuring corporate safety culture and its impact on construction safety performance. J Constr Eng Manag 135(6):488–496. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2009)135:6(488)
Mainul Islam M, Faniran OO (2005) Structural equation model of project planning effectiveness. Constr Manag Econ 23(2):215–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144619042000301384
Majid M, McCaffer R (1997) Assessment of work performance of maintenance contractors in Saudi Arabia. J Manag Eng 13(5):91. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(1996)12:2(44)
Ng ST, Cheng KP, Skitmore RM (2005) A framework for evaluating the safety performance of construction contractors. Build Environ 40(10):1347–1355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.11.025
Patrick XWZ, Riza YS (2013) Skills for managing safety risk, implementing safety task, and developing positive safety climate in construction project. Autom Constr 34:92–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2012.10.018
Pejman GPS, Hamid A, Mir HMJ, Kiyanoosh GR (2013) Application of domino theory to justify and prevent accident occurance in construction sites. J Mech Civ Eng 6(2):72–76
Prasad SVSR, Reghunath KP (2010) Empirical analysis of construction safety climate—a study. Int J Eng Sci Tech 2(6):1699–1707
Qureshi SM, Kang C (2015) Analysing the organizational factors of project complexity using structural equation modeling. Int J Proj Manag 33(1):165–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.04.006
Sawacha E, Naoum S, Fong D (1999) Factors affecting safety performance on construction sites. Int J Proj Manag 17(5):309–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00042-8
Seppala A (1995) Promoting safety by training supervisors and safety representatives for daily safety work. Saf Sci 20(2–3):317–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-7535(95)00020-H
Sherif M (2002) Safety climate in construction site environments. J Constr Eng Manag 128(5):375–384. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2002)128:5(375)
Shirong L, Xueping X (2011) The establishment of cause-system of poor construction site safety and priority analysis from different perspectives. World Acad Sci Eng Tech 5(9):470–474
Suazo GA, Jaselskis EJ (1993) Comparison of construction safety codes in United States and Honduras. J Constr Eng Manag 119(3):560–572. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1993)119:3(560)
Syed ZST, Kumar NJ (2012) Success traits for a construction project. J Constr Eng Manag 138(10):1131–1138. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000538
Tam CM, Fung IWH, Chan APC (2001) Study of attitude changes in people after the implementation of a new safety management system: the supervision plan. Constr Manag Econ 19(4):393–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446190010027591
Tam CM, Zeng SX, Deng ZM (2004) Identifying elements of poor construction safety management in China. Saf Sci 42(7):569–586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2003.09.001
Teo EAL, Ling FYY (2006) Developing a model to measure the effectiveness of safety management systems of construction sites. Build Environ 41(11):1584–1592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2005.06.005
Teo EAL, Ling FYY, Chong AFW (2005) Framework for project managers to manage construction safety. Int J Proj Manag 23(4):329–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.09.001
Thanwadee C, Sherif M (2008) Structural equation model of construction safety culture. Eng Constr Archit Manag 15(2):114–131. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699980810852655
Thomas SN, Cheng KP, Skitmore RM (2005) A framework for evaluating the safety performance of construction contractors. Build Environ 40(10):1347–1355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.11.025
Toole T (2002) Construction site safety roles. J Constr Eng Manag 128(3):203–210. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2002)128:3(203)
Xiong B, Skitmore M, Xia B, Masrom MA, Ye K, Bridge A (2014) Examining the influence of participant performance factors on contractor satisfaction: a structural equation model. Int J Proj Manag 32(3):482–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.06.003
Xiong B, Skitmore M, Xia B (2015) A critical review of structural equation modeling applications in construction research. Autom Constr 49(A):59–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2014.09.006
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Associate Professor. Van Truong Luu (Department of Civil Engineering, International University—VNU HCM, Vietnam), Mr. Nguyen Thai Hiep (A construction manager who is working in the construction industry in Vietnam), and the industrial practitioners in Vietnam for collecting the data set of this study. This work was supported by the Pukyong National University Research Abroad Fund in 2017(C-D-2017-0972).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, SY., Nguyen, V.T. Structural Equation Model of Interrelationships Among Constructs Affecting the Contractors’ Poor Safety Performance. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 43, 345–359 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-018-0145-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-018-0145-9