Safety climate and safety performance among construction workers in Hong Kong : the role of psychological strains as mediators

This paper examines relations among safety climate (safety attitudes and communication), psychological strains (psychological distress and job satisfaction), and safety performance (self-reported accident rates and occupational injuries). A questionnaire was administered to construction workers from 27 construction sites in Hong Kong (N=374, M=366, F=8, mean age =36.68 years). Data were collected by in-depth interviews and a survey from February to May 2000. A path analysis using the EQS-5 was employed to test the hypothesized model relating safety climate, safety performance, and psychological strains. The results provide partial support for the model, in that safety attitudes predict occupational injuries, and psychological distress predicts accident rates. Furthermore, psychological distress was found to be a mediator of the relationship between safety attitudes and accident rates. The implications of these results for psychological interventions in the construction industry are discussed