The effect of middle management on safety in construction

This report describes research on the effect of middle managers, often called superintendents, on safety in construction. This study is part of a larger program of safety research conducted by the Construction Engineering and Management Program at Stanford University. The overall program is focused on obtaining a fuller understanding of how different levels of management affect the safety of an organization and to develop means by which these injuries and losses can be reduced. The data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with construction superintendents. Two separate studies are described based on two distinct and different localities; the San Francisco Bay Area and the Gulf Coast Area. The Bay Area interviews were conducted in 19 separate construction companies providing a diffuse sample, whereas the Gulf Coast data came from a single organization. Since the research was largely exploratory in nature, a wide assortment of topics was included in the interview questionnaire. Although this provided breadth, the results are not to be considered to include all possible superintendent influences on safety. Before all but exploratory interviews were conducted, hypotheses had been developed to separate the responses of superintendents predicted to have fewer injuries from superintendents predicted to have more injuries. After the interviews had been completed, the responses were coded and the findings tested for statistical significance. Since this was exploratory research, a 0.10 (10%) level of significance was considered sufficient to merit reporting individual findings. It should be noted that most of the results reported were significant beyond the 0.05 level. The findings from this study compare the attitudes and behavior of construction superintendents who differed in their capabilities to maintain job safety. Inferences could then be drawn about methods which superintendents used to reduce job injuries as highlighted below in this section. In addition, some further insights were gained as to how top management can affect job safety. It was also discovered that smaller crews have unique characteristics which are advantageous to good safety performances. The study provided strong evidence that middle managers can reduce injuries significantly by: 1) Showing concern for and establishing rapport with foremen and workers. This can be accomplished by the following: a) Orient new workers to the job and acquaint them with other job personnel. Particular attention should be given to the new workers in their first few days of employment. b) Be involved in worker-foreman conflicts. In so doing, recognize the worker's viewpoint. This is not to undermine the foreman's authority, but rather to assure that the workers are fairly treated. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. c) Show respect for the ability of foremen, but also accept the fact that foremen are not immune to error. This can be done by permitting foremen to select their own crew members (but not granting them the sole authority to terminate employees). 2) Keep unnecessary pressures off the workers and foremen. Pressures to be avoided include: a) Stressing strict adherence to detailed cost estimates. b) Stressing adherence to detailed time estimates. c) Condoning or encouraging competition between crews on the job. 3) Actively support job safety policies, for example: a) Include safety as a part of job planning. b) Give positive support to tool box meetings. 4) Accept the responsibility of eliminating unsafe conditions and unsafe activities from the job. Superintendents, as middle managers, are strongly influenced by top management, whose influence is transmitted through them to the foreman and workers. It was shown that emphasis on certain things from top managers can significantly affect job safety performances; for example, constantly stressing close adherence to cost estimates and construction schedules places the superintendent under pressure. This pressure is often transmitted to the workers, which causes an increase in injuries. On the other hand, top management can reduce job accidents by: 1) Personally stressing the importance of job safety through their informal and formal contacts with field supervisors. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2) Stressing safety in meetings held at the company level. Small crews as well as small-sized jobs lend themselves particularly well to safe performance. Since communication among members of such crews is rather informal, relationships are generally closer. As a result, these crews tend to have proportionally fewer injuries. Safety with such small crews is often achieved even in the absence of a strong formal job safety program.