Behavior, attitude, and perception towards safety culture from mandatory safety training course

The construction industry is one of the most hazardous trades as far as work safety is concerned. Efforts have been made to improve safety in workplace. These efforts have focused on legislation, engineering failure, safety awareness campaigns, safety training, and unsafe behavior. After years of developing safety technologies and safety management systems in the industry, many organizations recognize that the safety culture within the industry has to be addressed if high standards of health and safety are to be maintained. Therefore, this paper investigated the relationship among people’s behavior, attitude, and perception toward the safety culture and evaluated the effectiveness of a mandatory safety training course in Hong Kong’s construction industry. A questionnaire survey and structured interviews were conducted. It was found that a good personal safety attitude, personal roles and commitment among workers, and low obstacles to safe behavior resulted in good perception of accidents. In addition, most of the participants in the mandatory safety training course understood the contents taught in the course and considered the course practical and useful. The results showed that workers paid more attention after completing the course; this indicated that a positive personal attitude toward the safety training course resulted in a positive personal safety attitude. Recommendations to improve the safety culture, effective mandatory safety training, and the implementation of safety regulations were also explored.