The relationship between communication and construction safety climate in China

Cultivating a good safety climate is critical to the improvement of safety performance in construction. Previous research has demonstrated that communication is important in strengthening the safety climate. However, few studies have addressed the role of jobsite communication in safety or investigated its relationship with the safety climate. Attempts to optimize communication to improve the safety climate appear to lack both adequate theoretical and empirical bases, as well as consensus on its importance. Therefore, this study identifies the relationship between communication and construction safety climate. The authors surveyed four subcontractors employed on two construction projects, which were administered by different Chinese state-owned enterprises. Models of the safety communication structure and safety climate were developed through social network analysis. Interviews were conducted to confirm and summarize the findings. The results indicate that a positive safety climate could be associated with higher communication density and degree centrality, as well as with lower betweenness centrality. To enhance the jobsite safety climate, this study recommends the following best practices: (1) Construction safety leaders (e.g., site managers) should communicate more frequently with construction workers when high organizational centrality is detected. (2) Additional communication channels should be established to bridge communication gaps among individuals. The findings validate the importance of communication as a way to manage the safety climate of Chinese construction projects.