4. Conclusions
The uniqueness and complexity of the construction industry requires a more specific approach to improve safety performance. Understanding the causal relationships between safety behavior and safety climate, as well as personal experience, becomes critical to implement a more effective safety management strategy. The study reported in this paper developed a methodology based on BN theory, established a quantitative relationship among five recognized safety climate factors and four personal experience factors, and demonstrated the methodology in the assessment of various strategies to improve the safety behavior via the survey data at Gammon Construction Limited.
In the study by considering previous safety climate models, a BN model was proposed. As discussed, the causal relationships among all factors in a BN can be quantified by probabilistic beliefs, which may further be updated when new information becomes available. Based on it, a detailed BN-based quantitative assessment was then demonstrated, considering the 4719 responses to the survey at Gammon Construction Ltd.
Initial results showed that the probability of employees displaying good safety behavior was 65.6%, indicating substantial potential for further improvement. However, it was imperative to first identify the factors that had the most considerable influence on safety behavior, so that a proper strategy to control those factors could be developed. By looking into each primary and other root nodes in both safety climate and personal experience factors, it was found that safety behavior was more sensitive to safety climate factors such as management commitments and workmate’s influences, and less sensitive to personal experience factors such as work experience and education experience. It should be noted that workmate’s influence is closely related to team environment and work, which is one of the key components of organizational culture. As found, it could be more efficient and effective to improve safety behavior by controlling safety climate factors rather than personal experience factors in all simple strategies. For instance, a significant enhancement in management commitments, the creation of a good team working environment and the encouragement of positive workmate’s influences within teams could be more effective than the recruitment of workers with longer work experience or higher education experience.
The study also indicated that it was difficult to apply a simple strategy to further improve safety behavior and achieve a higher safety goal. Therefore, a joint strategy of simultaneously controlling multiple factors (such as two safety climate factors and one personal experience factor, in this case, safety management systems and procedures, employee’s involvement, and work experience) proved more effective. Further analysis indicated that the effectiveness of a joint strategy did not necessarily coincide with a combination of the most effective simple strategies, but should incorporate both safety climate factors and personal experience factors.
As seen, the BN-based methodology provides the ability of predictive reasoning to identify the most effective simple strategy, which is achieved by controlling an individual safety climate or personal experience factor to improve safety behavior, as well as develop joint strategies by simultaneously controlling both safety climate and personal experience factors to further improve safety behavior.
4. Conclusions
The uniqueness and complexity of the construction industry requires a more specific approach to improve safety performance. Understanding the causal relationships between safety behavior and safety climate, as well as personal experience, becomes critical to implement a more effective safety management strategy. The study reported in this paper developed a methodology based on BN theory, established a quantitative relationship among five recognized safety climate factors and four personal experience factors, and demonstrated the methodology in the assessment of various strategies to improve the safety behavior via the survey data at Gammon Construction Limited.
In the study by considering previous safety climate models, a BN model was proposed. As discussed, the causal relationships among all factors in a BN can be quantified by probabilistic beliefs, which may further be updated when new information becomes available. Based on it, a detailed BN-based quantitative assessment was then demonstrated, considering the 4719 responses to the survey at Gammon Construction Ltd.
Initial results showed that the probability of employees displaying good safety behavior was 65.6%, indicating substantial potential for further improvement. However, it was imperative to first identify the factors that had the most considerable influence on safety behavior, so that a proper strategy to control those factors could be developed. By looking into each primary and other root nodes in both safety climate and personal experience factors, it was found that safety behavior was more sensitive to safety climate factors such as management commitments and workmate’s influences, and less sensitive to personal experience factors such as work experience and education experience. It should be noted that workmate’s influence is closely related to team environment and work, which is one of the key components of organizational culture. As found, it could be more efficient and effective to improve safety behavior by controlling safety climate factors rather than personal experience factors in all simple strategies. For instance, a significant enhancement in management commitments, the creation of a good team working environment and the encouragement of positive workmate’s influences within teams could be more effective than the recruitment of workers with longer work experience or higher education experience.
The study also indicated that it was difficult to apply a simple strategy to further improve safety behavior and achieve a higher safety goal. Therefore, a joint strategy of simultaneously controlling multiple factors (such as two safety climate factors and one personal experience factor, in this case, safety management systems and procedures, employee’s involvement, and work experience) proved more effective. Further analysis indicated that the effectiveness of a joint strategy did not necessarily coincide with a combination of the most effective simple strategies, but should incorporate both safety climate factors and personal experience factors.
As seen, the BN-based methodology provides the ability of predictive reasoning to identify the most effective simple strategy, which is achieved by controlling an individual safety climate or personal experience factor to improve safety behavior, as well as develop joint strategies by simultaneously controlling both safety climate and personal experience factors to further improve safety behavior.
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