Safety investment and safety performance of building projects in Singapore

Safety investment is aimed at protecting the health and physical integrity of workers and the material assets of a contractor. A popular assumption holds that increased investment in safety produces improved safety performance. However, close examination of previous studies on safety investment reveals that the relationship between the level of safety investment and safety performance remains debatable. The purposes of this study are therefore to: (1) investigate the relationship between safety investment and safety performance in the context of building construction in Singapore; and (2) identify factors influencing the relationship between safety investment and safety performance of building projects. Data were collected by means of conducting a survey. The population of the survey consists of all building contractors in Singapore and the sampling frame is a list of 234 large and medium general registered building contractors with the Building Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore. Moderated regression is used to analyze the data and describe the relationship between safety investment and safety performance. The findings indicate that the strength /or direction of the relationship between safety investment and safety performance may be influenced by factors, such as safety culture, hazard level, and complexity of a project. Additionally, their relationship might vary under different project conditions. With the establishment of the relationship between safety investment and safety performance, the research can be used as a basis for assisting building contractors to determine a budget for safety management of a building project