Structural Model of Internal Factors Influencing the Safety Behavior of Construction Workers

Abstract

The immediate cause of construction accidents is attributed to human error. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between individual internal factors and unsafe behaviors in construction sites. This study aimed to develop and test a model to understand the mechanism of unsafe behaviors based on individual characteristics and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical regression analysis were utilized. A total of 191 workers were evaluated in five construction sites to explore the effects of each internal factor. The findings showed that the TPB constructs fully mediated the relationship between individual background characteristics and unsafe behaviors. Furthermore, the analysis of the moderating effects of the variable of habits showed that the inverse relationship between safety attitude and unsafe behaviors was stronger when there was a high level of safety habits. This study also found that safety attitude and safety habits were the best predictors for the behaviors of the workers. The findings of this study provide deeper insights for both researchers and practitioners by identifying how internal factors influence the behavior to prevent the workers’ unsafe behaviors.