A Proposed Framework for Changing the Safety Culture within the UK Construction Industry

In recent years, the importance of a positive safety culture has been emphasized as a key factor in improving safety performance. The term ‘safety culture’ first emerged in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and has since been regarded as having a significant impact on safety. This paper reviews the literature on safety culture within the UK construction industry in an attempt to develop a conceptual framework that can help change people’s attitude towards safety. It first identifies the existing research into the causation of accidents on construction sites and then discusses the three dimensions of the research framework, namely, the social, technical and the managerial safety culture