Social Identity, Safety Climate and Safety Behavior Among Mine Construction Workers

Creating a sound safety climate is accepted as an effective measure to curb unsafe behavior, which is the primary cause of construction accidents. However, the issue is open to debate as to which factors contribute to a sound safety climate. Using questionnaire responses from mine construction workers, this paper examines the impact of social identity on safety climate and hence safety behavior based on the structural equation modeling technique. Results show that workers who identify themselves primarily with their crews have stronger safety climate perceptions, while those workers who have stronger identification with the construction project have weaker safety climate perceptions. Surprisingly, group safety climate fail to mediate the relationship between workers’ group identity and their safety behavior. The results highlight the role of crew leaders in creating a sound safety climate and curbing unsafe behavior. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Budapest University of Technology and Economics & Diamond Congress Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2019.