Safety climate in conditions of construction subcontracting: a multi-level analysis

A multi-level safety climate model was tested in the Australian construction industry. Subcontracted workers' perceptions of the organizational safety response (OSR) and supervisor safety response (SSR) in their own organization and that of the principal contractor were measured using a safety climate survey administered at a large hospital construction project in Melbourne. One hundred and fourteen construction workers completed the survey, representing nine subcontractors engaged at the project. Two requisite conditions for the existence of group-level safety climates, i.e. (1) within-group homogeneity; and (2) between-group variation were satisfied for perceptions of subcontractors' OSR and SSR. This supports the contention that subcontractors working in a single construction project exhibit a unique group-level safety climate. Subcontracted workers also discriminated between group-level safety climates (i.e. the SSR) in their own and in the principal contractor's organizations. The results suggest some cross-level influence. Perceptions of the SSR were positively predicted by perceptions of the OSR in both the principal and subcontractor organizations. Perceptions of the OSR of the principal contractor were also a significant predictor of the perceived OSR and SSR in the subcontractor organizations. Perceptions of the subcontractors' SSR were a significant predictor of the rate of lost-time and medical treatment incidents reported by the subcontractor. Although perceptions of the principal contractor's SSR were not directly related to subcontractors' injury rates, they were a significant predictor of subcontractors' SSR, revealing an indirect link. The results suggest that supervisory personnel (e.g. foremen and leading hands) play an important role in shaping safety performance in subcontracted workgroups.