Cultural diversity and workplace safety on Australian construction sites

Abstract

Cultural diversity has inevitably become a distinctive feature of Australia's construction workforce. However, the cultural divergences of the construction workers in different ethnic groups and their implications for occupational health and safety management remain unclear. It is not known how the occupational health and safety performance and the workers' safety behaviours in a culturally diverse workforce would be influenced by the cultural divergences. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic investigation into the cultural divergences among workers in difference ethnic groups and their impacts on the workplace health and safety management in the construction industry. This research study aims to investigate the OHS implications of cultural divergences in the Australian construction workforce. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings include the organisational challenges presented by the cultural divergences to the employers and the impact of cultural divergences upon workers' safety behaviours. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.