Capability of safety climate to predict construction safety outcomes

Safety climate refers to the degree to which employees believe that true priority is given to organizational safety performance. It is thought to be measured through a set of underlying factors such as management commitment. This study aims to examine the predictive relationship between the underlying factors of safety climate and safety outcomes by correlating the factor scores against actual accident rates in construction sites. A questionnaire was distributed to companies involved in completed building projects to collect data about safety climate and actual accident rates. A link between each underlying factor of safety climate and actual accident rates was obtained. The findings indicate the relative importance of individual underlying factors of safety climate in predicting actual construction safety outcomes. This study further confirms the ability of safety climate to predict the actual safety outcomes in the construction environment. The findings are important when the construction firms use safety climate measures as diagnostic tools to identify potential areas for the improvement of their safety performance.