Dynamics of intervention strategies affecting safety culture and safety behaviors of construction workers | |
| Author | Nuanan Kurakaew |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.CM-26-01 |
| Subject(s) | Construction industry--Safety measures Construction workers--Psychological aspects Industrial safety--Management |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The construction industry continues to experience high accident rates, particularly in developing countries where project complexity, resource constraints, and organizational variability intensify safety risks. Although numerous safety interventions have been implemented, their effectiveness in improving safety behavior and strengthening safety culture remains inconsistent. This research aims to determine how integrated safety intervention strategies influence safety culture and safety behavior within construction contractor organizations in Thailand. The study addresses two primary objectives: first, to investigate the organizational and situational factors affecting the implementation of safety interventions and to examine their influence on safety behavior and safety culture; and second, to analyze the dynamic interactions among safety intervention strategies, safety culture, and safety behavior in order to formulate effective and sustainable safety policies.To achieve the first objective, empirical data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey administered to medium- and large-sized building contractors in Bangkok and surrounding areas, resulting in 98 valid project responses. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were employed to validate the measurement constructs and examine causal relationships among situational factors, organizational factors, safety intervention practices, safety behavior, and safety culture. The findings reveal that situational factors positively influence organizational factors, which in turn directly affect the implementation of safety interventions. Five critical organizational drivers were identified as foundational elements for successful safety intervention implementation: safety as a core organizational value, continuous improvement planning, leadership and management support, safety strategies and policies, and safety committees.The SEM results further indicate that behavioral interventions, positively influenced by workers’ attitudes and beliefs, have a direct and significant effect on enhancing safety behavior and safety culture. Safety culture interventions also demonstrate a strong direct influence. Organizational interventions, although not directly affecting safety outcomes, exhibit the highest total effect through indirect pathways by shaping cultural, attitudinal, and behavioral mechanisms. Additionally, improvements in safety behavior and safety culture can be achieved by focusing on five key intervention practices: safety training programs, PPE programs, maintenance of safety equipment, thorough safety inspections, and strict maintenance schedules for machinery and equipment. These findings provide empirical evidence of the structural pathways through which safety interventions enhance construction safety performance.While SEM provides statistical validation of structural relationships, it does not capture the temporal evolution and feedback complexity underlying safety performance. Therefore, the second objective employs a System Dynamics (SD) approach to model the feedback structures governing safety interventions. Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) and stock-and-flow models were developed and validated through three contractor case studies. The SD generic model integrates reinforcing and balancing feedback loops across five interconnected subsystems: worker stress, behavioral interventions, attitudinal and belief mechanisms, organizational interventions, and cultural interventions. Simulation and delay-structure analyses reveal that safety behavior responds more rapidly to direct monitoring and communication-based interventions, whereas safety culture evolves more gradually due to processes of value internalization, trust development, and collective norm formation. Interventions operating through indirect learning, motivational, or corrective pathways exhibit slower dynamic responses compared to direct control mechanisms.These findings further inform the design of integrated safety policies. Effective policy design should not rely on isolated interventions but instead combine behavior-focused, organizational, and culture-based strategies within a coordinated framework. Behavior-oriented policies provide immediate improvements in observable safety practices, while organizational policies establish structural consistency and governance mechanisms that sustain intervention effectiveness. Culture-based and participatory policies, although slower in impact, strengthen trust, shared responsibility, and long-term resilience. The results suggest that policy portfolios should be tailored to organizational maturity and project context, balancing short-term behavioral control with long-term cultural reinforcement. Such an integrated and context sensitive policy design enhances both responsiveness and long-term sustainability in construction safety management. |
| Year | 2026 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2026) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CEIM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Hadikusumo, Bonaventura H. W. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Avirut Puttiwongrak;Huynh, Trung Luong |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2026 |
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