Title: How project manager's skills may influence the development of safety climate in construction projects

Authors: Riza Yosia Sunindijo; Patrick X.W. Zou

Addresses: Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. ' Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney NSW 2052, Australia

Abstract: The construction industry has a significant impact on global economy. However, it is also responsible for a significant amount of fatal injuries, thus, undertaking research on safety is crucial to improve the situation. This paper argues that construction project managers play an important role for developing safety climate in their projects. Based on previous literature, this paper conceptualises that essential skills for construction project managers, which comprise of conceptual, human, political, and technical skill, can be used to develop safety climate in construction projects. These skills influence how construction project managers perform their safety management tasks, which is essential to provide safety leadership. This safety leadership promotes the development of positive safety climate which can lead to safety improvement in construction. Future studies on this topic should focus on collecting empirical data to validate the proposed argument.

Keywords: safety performance; safety leadership; safety climate; project manager skills; construction projects; project management; project managers; safety management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2012.048220

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2012 Vol.4 No.3, pp.286 - 301

Received: 22 Jun 2010
Accepted: 13 Oct 2010
Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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