Coworkers' response to occupational health and safety: An overlooked dimension of group-level safety climate in the construction industry

Purpose-The paper's aim is to document a survey of Australian construction workers that was conducted to examine whether conditions of within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity in perceptions of coworkers' safety response were satisfied. The factor structure of coworkers' safety response is to be explored and the relationship between workgroup members' perceptions of their coworkers' safety response and the workgroups' injury rate is to be examined in three organizations. Design/methodology/approach-A safety climate survey was conducted within three organizations. Retrospective and prospective workgroup injury data were collected from company records. The factor structure of coworkers' safety response was analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). Within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity were examined using inter-rater agreement and analyses of variance respectively. Bivariate correlations were used to explore linkages between perceptions of coworkers' safety response and workgroup injury rates. Findings-Two distinct factors were indicated by the PCA were labeled "Coworkers' actual safety response" and "Coworkers' ideal safety response". "Coworkers' actual safety response" demonstrated significant between-group variance and within-group consensus in two of the three organizations. No significant between-group variation was found for 'Coworkers' ideal safety response'. Neither aspect of coworkers' safety response was consistently significantly correlated with workgroup injury rate. Research limitations/implications-Further research should examine the relationship between coworkers' safety response and workgroup safety performance using measures other than reportable injury rates. Practical implications-The confirmation that "Coworkers' actual safety response" is a facet of group safety climate suggests that interventions to develop coworkers' support for safety within workgroups may be helpful. In particular, strategies to speed up the process of assimilation into workgroups through induction and teambuilding exercises should be evaluated. Originality/value-The study builds on previous research examining group safety climate in construction, providing further evidence that coworkers' safety response items should be included along with supervisors' safety response items in the measurement of group safety climate. The findings suggest important directions for future empirical evaluation of the impact of coworkers' response on workgroup safety climate and performance in the construction industry.