Exploring the multilevel perception of safety climate on Taiwanese construction sites

Abstract

This study investigates multilevel differences in safety climate (SC) perception dimensions between management and laborers on Taiwanese construction sites. With Taiwan's high rate of construction site safety incidents, implementing successful safety strategies requires understanding differences in SC perceptions between management and laborers. This study used a structured SC questionnaire with responses from 74 managers and 261 laborers. The analysis of collected data includes (1) descriptive statistics comparing the selected dimensions; (2) Pearson correlation analysis examining relationships between SC perception dimensions; (3) t-test and one-way ANOVA to assess relationships between the respondent's background and SC perception dimensions; and (4) Post-Tukey comparison analysis to compare the SC perception differences between management and laborers. The results indicate that management-level staff show a higher degree of SC perception than laborer-level staff. This level of SC perception varies between individual dimensions. The strongest convergence between the two groups is observed in the dimension of 'workmate care of each other', and the greatest divergence is found in 'risk decision making'. Previous studies regarding SC perception in Taiwan specifically focus on construction workers and neglect the differences in perception between management and laborers. The outcomes of this study contribute to the understanding of multilevel SC perceptions, which can be used in the development of targeted strategies to improve SC on construction sites.