Promoting employee safety performance in the Chinese construction industry

In the construction industry, safety leadership has been widely recognised as an indispensable factor that affects organisational safety performance. However, in China specifically, research on safety leadership in the construction domain is not adequately developed. This paper examines the role of organisational leadership in promoting safety performance, as moderated by safety climate. The study adopts quantitative research method through questionnaire survey with 106 construction professionals leading or participating in safety management work in the Chinese construction sectors. The results show that exerting certain leadership strategies that encourage construction stakeholders to comply with safety practices will improve safety performance. At a moment when the whole industry is suffering from momentous safety challenges, transformation is required; these findings are intended to guide construction managers in their commitment to programme safety management. The study reinforces the interaction between upper layer and lower layer employees thereby improving the safety performance via improvements in the safety climate. In addition to being rooted in the full-range leadership model, this paper considered the important (and often ignored) characteristics of Chinese culture. The study recommends the early involvement of contractors in the design process and considers site hazards when making design decisions.