Impacts of Safety Management Practices on Project Success in Punjab: Safety Policy as Moderator and Safety Performance as Mediator

Abstract

Even though safety management is considered to be a critical factor in the construction industry due to the high rate of accidents and injuries, the lack of safety management practices (SMPs) had always been a serious issue in the construction sector of Pakistan. In addition, other factors like safety policy and safety performance also influence the project’s success. The current study brought clarity to the assessment of the relationship of SMPs on project success by addressing moderation and mediation of safety training, safety meeting, safety communication, and safety inspection. A quantitative research strategy was employed to obtain the data from 231 safety and engineering professionals belonging to the construction industry in Punjab, Pakistan. The collected data was examined by structural equational modeling (SEM) through the partial least squares method by using Smart PLS. The results indicated that four SMPs, namely safety training, safety meeting, safety communication, and safety inspection reflect safety performance. The study concluded that SMPs have a positive and significant influence on project success. When these four SMPs are mediated with safety performance, it shows partial mediation between safety performance and project success. Meanwhile, when these four SMPs are moderated with a safety policy, results indicate a moderate to strong relationship between different variables with safety inspection showing insignificant values. The results may be utilized by the safety and engineering professionals working in the construction sector to improve their safety and project performance significantly Moreover, it is a contribution to the advancement of safety performance and improvement in Pakistan.