Analyzing and Modeling Key Factors Affecting Worker Safety Behavior: Evidence From Vietnam’s State-Owned Public Construction Projects

Abstract

Ensuring the safety of construction workers is a key concern in construction projects. Previous studies have highlighted various factors influencing worker safety behavior. This study aims to identify significant factors affecting workers’ behavior-based safety (BBS) and develop a model to clarify their relationships in state-owned construction projects in Vietnam. A literature review and expert survey defined the research problem, followed by data collection through a structured questionnaire distributed to stakeholders. The results revealed the factors moderately affecting safety performance, focusing on worker characteristics, management capacity, and working conditions. Key factors found from the frequency indices (FI) include safety regulation violations (FI = 0.676), unreasonable worker arrangement (FI = 0.708), and lack of innovation in safety and construction techniques (FI = 0.733). The study then introduced system dynamics-based models to assess the relationships of the factors. By understanding these factors, managers and supervisors can implement targeted policies to improve safety practices.

Keywords

public construction safety management worker behavior behavior-based safety (BBS)state-owned construction projects system dynamics

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