TITLE:
Assessing the Influence of Demographic Factors on Safety Climate in Construction Projects: Perspectives from Southern Africa
AUTHORS:
Tinashe Muzira
KEYWORDS:
Safety Culture, Safety Climate, Demographic Factors, Construction Projects
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Safety Science and Technology,
Vol.14 No.4,
December
9,
2024
ABSTRACT: Background: Although construction projects are high risk in nature and associated with elevated levels of high severity accidents, there has been little research on how to improve construction safety performance especially in developing countries. Many studies have shown that demographic factors can influence the safety climate in construction settings. This study contributes to existing research by evaluating the influence of demographic factors on safety climate in a construction project in Southern Africa which consisted of workers predominantly from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Methods: The study adopted a quantitative approach in evaluating demographic factors influencing safety climate among construction workers. A total of 206 respondents were selected for the study from a population of 1000 construction workers using stratified random sampling. A questionnaire consisting of questions covering management and supervisor commitment, worker involvement, risk tolerance, procedures compliance, prioritisation of safety, communication and competence safety climate dimensions was utilised to compute the overall safety climate. The other part of the questionnaire consisted of demographic questions about the respondents. A Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to conduct statistical inference: independent sample t-test and Analysis of Variance - ANOVA of the demographic factors and their influence on the safety climate. Results: Independent sample t-test: Gender had a significance level (p Conclusion: The study indicated that employee demographic characteristics namely age, marital status and education level did not significantly alter the safety climate. However, the other demographic factors, namely gender and work experience significantly influenced the climate, suggesting that these factors play a prominent role in shaping safety perceptions. The implication of this is that construction project managers may factor in demographic differences in the design and implementation of safety programmes.