A framework of occupational safety and health in construction industries for safety performance in Iran

Abstract

Health and safety issues in the construction sector have always been a major concern. This sector is discovered to pose threats concerning health and safety standards particularly among developing countries. Iran, a developing nation is not spared from this. Accident rates are high in the Iran construction industry. Therefore, this study has proposed an occupational safety and health framework to address this. This framework combines employees, organizations and environmental factors that emphasize on workers’ safety. The research objectives are aligned with the Iran’s government plan and vision toward improving the country’s economy and social wellbeing. A survey method was employed to collect the data from workers of both public and private sectors. The sample of 600 operative workers was chosen in achieving the five research objectives. The Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach Alpha were employed to measure the validity and reliability of the instrument. Correlational analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used to examine the hypotheses and hypothesized model. The findings show that worker factors and organizational factors have positively and significantly influenced safety orientation as the mediator. In addition, there is no significant relationship between environmental factors and safety orientation. Worker factors and organizational factors have positive and significant influence on safety orientation. There is no significant relationship between environmental factors and safety performance and safety orientation partially mediates the relationship among worker factors and organizational factors and safety performance. Moreover, there is no significant relationship between environmental factors and safety performance. Therefore, the findings have addressed the gaps in factors of safety performance and an integrated framework for safety performance in the Iran construction industry has been proposed.