Workplace safety and hazards awareness among the China construction companies in Malaysia

¹ Centre for Disaster Risk Reduction (CDRR), Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering & Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
² Belt & Road Strategic Research Centre (BRSRC), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
³ Department of International Business, Faculty of Accounting and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: oktan@utar.edu.my

Abstract

Construction safety continues to be one of the issues that draw the attention of the public. This study aims to investigate the factors to improve awareness towards workplace safety and hazards among the China construction companies in Malaysia. Quantitative research method was adopted in this study. Self-administered questionnaire was extended to 79 workers in China construction company in Malaysia with the use of purposive sampling. Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) were used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results show perception and compliance of workers are positively related to the awareness of workplace safety and hazards. On top of that, the study present diverse perspectives towards awareness of workplace safety and hazards by examining the perception and compliance of the workers in the China construction companies in Malaysia. Moreover, high awareness was found to be a significant mechanism leading to lower accidental rates in construction. However, construction projects are getting more in quantity and getting bigger in scale all over the country, future research should consider more factors and include more construction companies. In overall, this study highlights the essential role of workers’ perceptions and compliance in raising their safety and hazards awareness in reducing accidental rates in the construction industry.