*2.2. Project Level Factors*

Safety management system at the project level has implications for workers' safety behavior. In order to curb unsafe acts, Shin et al. suggest that project management should offer a safety incentive as early as possible and facilitate effective communication about accidents in as much detail as possible [15]. Fang et al. propose a leadership– culture–behavior (LCB) approach, which maintains that leadership creates a safety culture, and hence, promotes safety behavior [16]. The LCB approach has been implemented in railway and residential projects in mainland China and Hong Kong, and has seen success. Among others, this paper focuses on the following project level factors: stage of project, contract sum, goal congruency, participative decision-making, professional development, organizational support, standardized safety rules and procedures, and safety climate.

#### 2.2.1. Project Information

At least two project characteristics, namely, stage of project and contract sum, have bearing on construction project employees' safety behavior. Based on the percentage of construction works that has been completed, a project can be categorized into three stages, namely, start-up, advanced, and near close-out. At the start-up stage, the construction work has been completed by less than 30%. At the advanced stage, the construction work has been completed by 30–70%. At the near close-out stage, the construction work that has been completed is more than 70%. Employees usually exhibit more safety behaviors at the start-up and near close-out stages than at the advanced stage. This is because at the start-up stage, employees are new to the site, and act scrupulously. As time passes and production pressure increases, employees are more likely to take shortcuts and more unsafe behaviors ensue. When the project is being completed, as employees are more familiar with the site and some of their unsafe behaviors have been rectified, their safety behavior increase. Awolusi and Marks develop a safety activity analysis framework and tool, and validate the framework and tool using a case study project that is in the construction stage [17]. Over an eight-month period of the case study project, the occurrence rate of safety behavior experiences a U-shaped curve, initially decreasing from 45.7% to 37.0% and then increasing to 62.8%.

Contract sum is also related to employees' safety performance. Generally, in jurisdictions where mandatory safety incentive scheme is applied, projects with large a contract sum usually set aside more money on safety measures, and therefore, more safety behaviors result. Take Hong Kong as an example, due to the introduction of safety initiatives, such as the Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS), the Safety Management System (SMS),the Independent Safety Auditing Scheme (ISAS), and the Site Supervision Plan System (SSPS), the construction industry has seen a dramatic decrease in accidents [18]. Hence, this paper hypothesizes that a large contract sum contributes to more safety behaviors.

#### 2.2.2. Goal Congruency

Goal congruency has an impact on organizational behavior. Goal congruency is a scenario where employees at different levels of an organization share the same goal. When employees' personal goals are consistent with organizational goals, they feel more positive about the organization and expend more personal efforts to achieve those goals. Ukraine-based IT professionals De Clercq et al. found that goal congruence between employees and their supervisor negatively affects employees' organizational deviance, and the indirect effect of goal congruence on organizational deviance through work engagement is moderated by employees' emotional intelligence [19]. With 171 employees under the leadership of 24 supervisors, Bouckenooghe et al. found that supervisors' ethical leadership has a positive effect on followers' in-role job performance through the sequential mediation of goal congruence and psychological capital [20]. Hence, when project personnel, both the management and workers, take safety as the first priority, their safety behavior ensues.

#### 2.2.3. Participative Decision-Making

Participative decision-making is positively associated with safety behavior. Participative decision-making refers to the extent to which employers allow or encourage employees to take part in organizational decision-making. Through participation in decision-making, employees bring different perspectives and frames of references to safety discussions and activities, and hence, can reduce all members' ignorance to hazards and signals of danger [21]. As employees are aware that their suggestions have been incorporated in safety decisions, they are more likely to take ownership of those decisions and act on them more proactively. As a leadership behavior, participative decision-making is associated with safety participation [22]. In the medical industry, Lee et al. found that empowering leaders who empower employees to participate in decision-making enhance employees' safety compliance [23].

### 2.2.4. Professional Development

Employees are the most valuable resource in construction projects. Despite the time and resource pressures preventing project managers from investing in employees' professional development, it pays off. Design for safety has been advocated for quite a long time, and designers need to receive safety training as part of their professional development. Toole elaborates on the opportunities and barriers in increasing designers' role in construction safety [24]. In another scenario, if a semi-skilled bar bender is sponsored to receive more professional training, s/he may bring more best safety practices to the crew and promote more safety behaviors.

### 2.2.5. Organizational Support

Organizational support is critical in creating a safety climate and, hence, safety behavior. Organizational support refers to employees' global beliefs about the extent to which their organization satisfies their needs and cherishes their contributions. It can be general or specific. Mearns and Reader found that general perceived organizational support has an impact on the UK's offshore workers' safety performance [25]. With Ghanaian industrial workers, Gyekye and Salminen found that general perceived organizational support is positively associated with compliance with safety procedures [26]. Guo et al. discovered that perceived supervisory and coworker support for safety reduces the negative impact of job insecurity on Chinese high-railway drivers' safety performance [27]. Tucker et al. found that urban bus drivers' perceived organizational support for safety exerts influence on their safety voice behavior through the mediation of their perceived coworkers' support for safety [28], highlighting the role played by coworkers.
