The Influence of Organisational Safety Climate Factors on Offsite Manufacturing Safety Performance

The construction industry consistently reports higher fatality and injury rates due to its inherent dynamic nature. As an alternative to traditional construction, offsite manufacturing (OSM) has become a construction method that presents many benefits including optimised schedule, quality control, waste reduction and improved site safety. Contrastingly, recent statistics on OSM indicated that in the USA for instance, the number of safety incidents were higher compared to traditional construction. There is a suggestion that organisations simply shift site-based construction activities to a factory. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of organisational safety climate on OSM safety performance. Initially, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify organisational safety climate factors. Following this, 131 questionnaires were collected from Australian OSM practitioners. Finally, a Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the influence of organisational safety climate on OSM safety performance. Findings asserted that safety communication has the greatest impact on safety performance. Contrary to traditional construction practice, greater influence from managers was identified over supervisors towards safety performance. The novelty of this research lies in its attempt to comprehend the association between organisational safety climate and safety performance, which may make contribution to OSM safety knowledge and practice.