A Conceptual Study of Construction Workers’ Safety Performance from Safety Climate and Social Exchange Perspectives

Chapter
Part of the Risk Engineering book series (RISK)

Abstract

Construction safety performance can be measured in a number of ways. Some of the popular indicators include number of construction accidents, fatalities and fatalities rate and compensation. Nevertheless, it is criticised that these lagging indicators cannot accurately measure safety performance on sites. Hence, another strand of literature views the issue from safety climate and social exchange perspective. Safety climate, our perceptions of safety practices, policies, procedures about safety on site provides an indicator for safety priority at work. On the other hand, social exchange theory perceived organisation support affects our obligation, gratitude and trust on various issues in workplace including safety. Perceived organizational support and leader membership exchange, under the umbrella of social exchange, are two major items which may affect construction safety performance.

Keywords

Safety performance Safety climate Social exchange 

References

  1. Atkinson, A., & Westall, R. (2010). The relationship between integrated design and construction and safety on construction projects. Construction Management & Economics, 28(9), 1007–1017.Google Scholar
  2. Behm, M., & Schneller, A. (2012). Application of the Loughborough construction accident causation model: A framework for organizational learning. Construction Management and Economics, 1–16. doi: 10.1080/01446193.2012.690884.
  3. Blau, P.M. (1964) Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
  4. Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In N. Schmitt & W. C. Borman (Eds.), Personnel selection in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
  5. Bowen, D. E., & Schneider, B. (1993). The service organization: Human resources management is crucial. Organizational Dynamics, 21, 39–52.Google Scholar
  6. Brondino, M., Silva, S. A., & Pasini, M. (2012). Multilevel approach to organizational and group safety climate and safety performance: Co-workers as the missing link. Safety Science, 50(9), 1847–1856. doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2012.04.010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Clarke, S. (2006a). The relationship between safety climate and safety performance: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 11(4), 315–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Clarke, S. (2006b). Safety climate in an automobile manufacturing plant. Personnel Review, 35(4), 413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Cook, K. S., Cheshire, C., Rice, E. R. W., & Nakagawa, S. (2013). Handbook of social psychology. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
  10. Cooper, M. D., & Phillips, R. A. (2004). Exploratory analysis of the safety climate and safety behavior relationship. Journal of Safety Research, 35(5), 497–512. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2004.08.004.
  11. DeJoy, D. M., Della, L. J., Vandenberg, R. J., & Wilson, M. G. (2010). Making work safer: Testing a model of social exchange and safety management. Journal of Safety Research, 41(2), 163–171. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2010.02.001.
  12. DeJoy, D. M., Schaffer, B. S., Wilson, M. G., Vandenberg, R. J., & Butts, M. M. (2004). Creating safer workplaces: Assessing the determinants and role of safety climate. Journal of Safety Research, 35(1), 81–90. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2003.09.018.
  13. Dement, J. M., & Lipscomb, H. (1999). Workers’ compensation experience of north carolina residential construction workers, 1986–1994. Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 14(2), 97–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Fabrega, V., & Starkey, S. (2001). Fatal occupational injuries among hispanic construction workers of texas, 1997 to 1999. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 7(7), 1869–1883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Fang, D., Chen, Y., & Wong, L. (2006). Safety climate in construction industry: A case study in Hong Kong. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 132(6), 573–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Flin, R., Mearns, K., O’Connor, P., & Bryden, R. (2000). Measuring safety climate: Identifying the common features. Safety Science, 34(1–3), 177–192. doi: 10.1016/s0925-7535(00)00012-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Gillen, M., Baltz, D., Gassel, M., Kirsch, L., & Vaccaro, D. (2002). Perceived safety climate, job demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers. Journal of Safety Research, 33(1), 33–51. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4375(02)00002-6.
  19. Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25(2), 161–178. doi: 10.2307/2092623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Griffin, M. A., & Neal, A. (2000). Perceptions of safety at work: A framework for linking safety climate to safety performance, knowledge, and motivation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(3), 347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Haslam, R. A., Hide, S. A., Gibb, A. G. F., Gyi, D. E., Pavitt, T., Atkinson, S., et al. (2005). Contributing factors in construction accidents. Applied Ergonomics, 36(4), 401–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Hinze, J. W., & Teizer, J. (2011). Visibility-related fatalities related to construction equipment. Safety Science, 49(5), 709–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Hofmann, D. A., & Morgeson, F. P. (1999). Safety-related behavior as a social exchange: The role of perceived organizational support and leader–member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(2), 286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Hofmann, D. A., Morgeson, F. P., & Gerras, S. J. (2003). Climate as a moderator of the relationship between leader-member exchange and content specific citizenship: Safety climate as an exemplar. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(1), 170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Holt, A. S. (2001). Principal of construction safety. Oxford: Blackwell Science Limited.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Huang, Y.-H., Ho, M., Smith, G. S., & Chen, P. Y. (2006). Safety climate and self-reported injury: Assessing the mediating role of employee safety control. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 38(3), 425–433. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2005.07.002.
  27. Irumba, R. (2014). Spatial analysis of construction accidents in Kampala. Uganda Safety Science, 64, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Kath, L. M., Marks, K. M., & Ranney, J. (2010). Safety climate dimensions, leader-member exchange, and organizational support as predictors of upward safety communication in a sample of rail industry workers. Safety Science, 48(5), 643–650. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.01.016.
  29. Li, R. Y. M. (2009). Achieving compliance with environmental health-related land use planning conditions in Hong Kong: Perspectives from traditional motivation theories. Journal of Environmental Health, 72(4), 22–25.Google Scholar
  30. Li, R. Y. M. (2011). Game theory analysis on underground space planning knowledge sharing via web 2.0. Paper presented at the 5th international conference on new trends in information science and service science, Macao.Google Scholar
  31. Li, R. Y. M., & Poon, S. W. (2009a). Future motivation in construction safety knowledge sharing by means of information technology in Hong Kong. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, 4(3(9)), 457–472.Google Scholar
  32. Li, R. Y. M., & Poon, S. W. (2009b). Workers’ compensation for non-fatal construction accidents: Review of Hong Kong court cases. Asian Social Science, 5(11), 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Li, R. Y. M., & Poon, S. W. (2011). Using web 2.0 to share the knowledge of construction safety as a public good in nature among researchers: The fable of economic animals. Economic Affairs, 31(1), 73–79.CrossRefMathSciNetGoogle Scholar
  34. Li, R. Y. M., & Poon, S. W. (2013). Construction safety. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Liden, R. C., & Graen, G. (1980). Generalizability of the vertical dyad linkage model of leadership. The Academy of Management Journal, 23(3), 451–465. doi: 10.2307/255511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Ling, F. Y. Y., Liu, M., & Woo, Y. C. (2009). Construction fatalities in Singapore. International Journal of Project Management, 27(7), 717–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Lingard, H., Cooke, T., & Blismas, N. (2009). Group-level safety climate in the Australian construction industry: Within-group homogeneity and between-group differences in road construction and maintenance. Construction Management & Economics, 27(4), 419–432. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446190902822971.
  38. Lingard, H., Cooke, T., & Blismas, N. (2010a). Properties of group safety climate in construction: The development and evaluation of a typology. Construction Management & Economics, 28(10), 1099–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Lingard, H. C., Cooke, T., & Blismas, N. (2010b). Safety climate in conditions of construction subcontracting: A multi-level analysis. Construction Management and Economics, 28(8), 813–825. doi: 10.1080/01446190903480035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Lingard, H., Cooke, T., & Blismas, N. (2011). Coworkers’ response to occupational health and safety: An overlooked dimension of group-level safety climate in the construction industry. Engineering, construction and architectural management, 18(2), 159–175. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09699981111111139.
  41. Lingard, H., Cooke, T., & Blismas, N. (2012). Do perceptions of supervisors’ safety responses mediate the relationship between perceptions of the organizational safety climate and incident rates in the construction supply chain? Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, 138(2), 234–241. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Mansor, N., & Ali, S. H. S. (2010). A B2C business agenda: Analyzing customers’ perceptions towards bumiputera retailers. Asian Social Science, 6(7), 132–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Marchand, A., Simard, M., Carpentier-Roy, M.-C., & Ouellet, F. (1998). From a unidimensional to a bidimensional concept and measurement of workers’ safety behavior. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 24(4), 293–299. doi: 10.2307/40966778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Mearns, K., Whitaker, S. M., & Flin, R. (2003). Safety climate, safety management practice and safety performance in offshore environments. Safety Science, 41(8), 641–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Mearns, K. J., & Reader, T. (2008). Organizational support and safety outcomes: An un-investigated relationship? Safety Science, 46(3), 388–397. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2007.05.002.
  46. Meliá, J. L., Mearns, K., Silva, S. A., & Lima, M. L. (2008). Safety climate responses and the perceived risk of accidents in the construction industry. Safety Science, 46(6), 949–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Michael, J. H., Evans, D. D., Jansen, K. J., & Haight, J. M. (2005). Management commitment to safety as organizational support: Relationships with non-safety outcomes in wood manufacturing employees. Journal of Safety Research, 36(2), 171–179. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2005.03.002.
  48. Mohamed, S. (2002). Safety climate in construction site environments. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 128(5), 375–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Mustapha, N., Ahmad, A., Uli, J., & Idris, K. (2011). Work-family facilitation and family satisfaction as mediators in the relationship between job demands and intention to stay. Asian Social Science, 7(6), 142–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Neal, A., & Griffin, M. A. (2006). A study of the lagged relationships among safety climate, safety motivation, safety behavior, and accidents at the individual and group levels. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 946–953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Neal, A., Griffin, M. A., & Hart, P. M. (2000). The impact of organizational climate on safety climate and individual behavior. Safety Science, 34(1), 99–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. O’Dea, A., & Flin, R. (2001). Site managers and safety leadership in the offshore oil and gas industry. Safety Science, 37(1), 39–57. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-7535(00)00049-7.
  53. Settoon, R. P., Bennett, N., & Liden, R. C. (1996). Social exchange in organizations: Perceived organizational support, leader–member exchange, and employee reciprocity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(3), 219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Siu, O.-L., Phillips, D. R., & Leung, T.-W. (2004). Safety climate and safety performance among construction workers in Hong Kong: The role of psychological strains as mediators. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 36(3), 359–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Smith, G. S., Huang, Y.-H., Ho, M., & Chen, P. Y. (2006). The relationship between safety climate and injury rates across industries: The need to adjust for injury hazards. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 38(3), 556–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Suárez-Cebador, M., Rubio-Romero, J. C., & López-Arquillos, A. (2014). Severity of electrical accidents in the construction industry in Spain. Journal of Safety Research, 48, 63–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Tam, C. M., Tong, T. K. L., & Chan, K. K. (2006). Rough set theory for distilling construction safety measures. Construction Management and Economics, 24(11), 1199–1206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Tsui, A. S., Pearce, J. L., Porter, L. W., & Tripoli, A. M. (1997). Alternative approaches to the employee-organization relationship: Does investment in employees pay off? The Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1089–1121. doi: 10.2307/256928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Tyrie, A., & Ferguson, S. (2013). Understanding value from arts sponsorship: A social exchange theory perspective. Arts Marketing: An International Journal, 3(2), 131–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Vinodkumar, M. N., & Bhasi, M. (2010). Safety management practices and safety behaviour: Assessing the mediating role of safety knowledge and motivation. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42(6), 2082–2093. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.06.021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Waehrer, G. M., Dong, X. S., Miller, T., Haile, E., & Men, Y. (2007). Costs of occupational injuries in construction in the united states. Accident Analysis Prevention, 39(6), 1258–1266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Wallace, J. C., Popp, E., & Mondore, S. (2006). Safety climate as a mediator between foundation climates and occupational accidents: A group-level investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(3), 681–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., & Liden, R. C. (1997). Perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange: A social exchange perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 82–111.Google Scholar
  64. Williamson, A. M., Feyer, A.-M., Cairns, D., & Biancotti, D. (1997). The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes. Safety Science, 25(1–3), 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. Zhang, P., & Ng, F. F. (2012). Attitude toward knowledge sharing in construction teams. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 112(9), 1326–1347.CrossRefMathSciNetGoogle Scholar
  66. Zohar, D. (2000). A group-level model of safety climate: Testing the effect of group climate on microaccidents in manufacturing jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 587–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  67. Zohar, D. (2002). Modifying supervisory practices to improve subunit safety: A leadership-based intervention model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 156–163. doi: 10.1016/s0925-7535(00)00014-x,  10.1037/0021-9010.78.2.306.
  68. Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  69. Zohar, D. (2008). Safety climate and beyond: A multi-level multi-climate framework. Safety Science, 46(3), 376–387. doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2007.03.006.CrossRefMathSciNetGoogle Scholar
  70. Zohar, D. (2010). Thirty years of safety climate research: Reflections and future directions. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42(5), 1517–1522. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.12.019.

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Property, Construction and Project ManagementRMIT UniversityMelbourneAustralia
  2. 2.Department of Economics and Finance / Sustainable Real Estate Research CenterHong Kong Shue Yan UniversityNorth PointHong Kong
  3. 3.School of Natural and Built EnvironmentsUniversity of South AustraliaAdelaideAustralia

Personalised recommendations