Frontline safety leadership in construction projects: baseline measurement and benchmarking tools

Summary

The safety climate of a workgroup (a known predictor of H&S performance) was found to be linked to communication patterns between supervisors and workers. Thus, the workgroup is likely to have a stronger and more positive safety climate when H&S are talked about frequently in a workgroup, and when supervisors regularly interact with all group members about healthy and safe ways of working.

Supervisors’ leadership styles also differentiated groups with high, compared to low, levels of safety climate. The results were used to inform the development of a maturity model reflecting interactions in the management of H&S at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface.

Team

• Helen Lingard    
• David Oswald
• Payam Pirzadeh

Partners

• Lendlease Development Pty Ltd

Testimonial

RMIT worked collaboratively to define the scope of the research project which was completed in the agreed timeframes and to budget. RMIT representatives worked well with our site teams and effectively engaged to ensure that the research outcomes were achieved without undue impact to our operations.

Publications

• Research to Practice report: Managing health and safety at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface

Peer-reviewed paper/outputs

• LINGARD, H. & OSWALD, D., (2020), Safety at the frontline: The social negotiation of work and safety at the principal contractor-subcontractor interface, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 146 (4): 04020024
• LINGARD, H., PIRZADEH, P., & OSWALD, D. (2019), Talking safety: Work health and safety communication and safety climate in subcontracted construction workgroups, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 145(5): 04019029.
• OSWALD, D. & LINGARD, H., (2019), Development of a frontline H&S leadership maturity model in the construction industry, Safety Science, vol. 118. pp. 674-686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.06.005