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

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.