Building a strong safety culture will help reduce onsite accidents, lower insurance costs, and prevent costly downtimes.
The first step to building a strong safety culture is investing in proper construction safety management, including training, educational materials, the right equipment, and the appropriate checklist.
The benefits of a positive construction safety culture compound quickly–when safety becomes a shared value, every worker becomes a hazard identifier, a communicator, and a problem solver rather than a rule follower.
In our experience, these seven tips have had the greatest impact in developing a strong construction safety culture. However, before we discuss actionable tips, it’s important to define what a safety culture is and why it’s so beneficial to site managers.
What Is Construction Safety Culture?
Construction safety culture is the set of shared beliefs, attitudes, and practices that influence how safety is prioritized and enacted in the field. It’s the everyday behavior of everyone on the jobsite.
A strong safety culture means:
- Valuing worker well-being above all else
- Encouraging hazard reporting without fear of reprisal
- Holding leadership and crews equally accountable
- Embedding safety into planning, not just execution
- Treating compliance as a baseline, not a destination
Unlike safety systems that focus on procedures, safety culture focuses on mindset, engagement, and communication — and that is why it influences real behavior over the long term.
Construction Safety Culture By the Number
- $163.9 billion in liabilities were paid out to workplace accidents in 2020 [The National Safety Council (NSC)].
- The construction industry recorded 1,075 worker fatalities in 2023, the highest number since 2011, making it one of the deadliest private sectors (BLS).
- Construction workers account for about 20% of all U.S. workplace fatalities, even though they represent far less than 20% of the workforce (ISHN).
- The fatal injury rate in construction is 9.6 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers, which is significantly higher than the national average for all industries (Claris Design Build).
Benefits of Construction Safety Culture
A strong workplace safety culture reduces the risk of workplace accidents, thereby minimizing liability and saving companies money.
According to OSHA, workplace safety culture is “the atmosphere created by (a shared set of) beliefs, attitudes, etc., which shapes our behavior.” Under this umbrella term, construction safety culture impacts every aspect of your worksite, from how you communicate with employees to how each holds the other accountable.
The benefits of improving construction safety culture will include:
- Reduced liability from a workplace injury
- Reduced damage to equipment and vehicles
- Improved worker output by reducing downtime
- Incentivizing higher worker engagement
- Improved communication across the organization
- The creation of new leadership positions to empower fellow employees
- Increased organizational transparency
- Reduced employee turnover
However, achieving these goals is more than simply investing in additional training materials. Improving workplace output and safety means creating a better culture.
How to Improve Construction Safety Culture
1. Work with a Consultant to Develop Best Practices
Often, developers need to be made aware of the number of workplace risks that exist, which makes creating a construction safety plan and promoting a positive culture incredibly difficult.
However, a construction safety consultant can work with you to identify risks on your worksite and implement best practices that help promote positive cultural change at your worksite.
Some changes include developing new training materials and workplace incentives to engage employees.
The earlier you work with a consultant, the more risks you’ll be able to identify and overcome.
2. Create Incentives for Training
Part of creating a successful workplace culture in any corporate setting is receiving appropriate “buy-in” from your employees. As most employees will tell you, safety is not always a 24/7 concern for them, and their eyes tend to gloss over each time you set them in front of a training video.
However, creating financial and organizational incentives to complete additional safety courses can improve employee “buy-in” and increase their engagement during the training process.
3. Improve Workplace Accountability
“Buy-in” will be virtually impossible if employees are not held accountable for poor or improper actions on the worksite that put them and their peers at risk of harm. Furthermore, a lack of accountability reinforces bad habits, as no one is there to correct them before they become muscle memory.
Clearly define safety rules and empower employees to speak up when others violate them. Remind employees that any consequences they face are intended only to reinforce positive actions and improve workplace safety.
4. Conduct Period Onsite Inspections
Another way to curb bad habits is to conduct daily on-site inspections with worksite leaders to ensure that all personal protective equipment (PPE) is used and that best practices are followed.
In addition, encourage employees to inspect equipment before use and create daily inspection procedures that ensure worksite conditions remain safe.
5. Make Employee Health a Top Priority
On the flip side, if you want to cultivate greater employee “buy-in,” you need to communicate the benefits of construction safety culture to them.
While we tend to focus more on hazard controls, implementing policies to prevent soft-tissue injuries, heat stroke, and other avoidable injuries can go a long way toward reducing your liability and improving output.
Likewise, make mental health a focus by creating safe spaces for employees to communicate with one another and find ways to reduce stress on the job site.
6. Learn to Navigate Language Barriers
Create a more inclusive workforce by navigating language barriers to reinforce these safety principles for foreign-language speakers.
According to one survey, the construction industry faces the largest gap between skilled laborers who speak another primary language and contractors who can communicate effectively with them.
There are several ways to navigate language barriers, whether Spanish-speaking trades or any other language, to communicate your goals and beliefs consistently.
7. Designate Specific Safety Leaders
Finally, you can create additional oversight by creating specific roles at your company devoted to promoting worksite safety. These added roles can come with additional pay and benefits, or be their own positions, depending on the size of your company.
Either way, tasking leaders in your company with focusing on construction safety will help you track and reach your goals faster.
We often hear about the importance of promoting safety as a core cultural component of any worksite. However, construction safety culture is more than just reducing the risk of injury. While important, construction safety culture also prioritizes communication, employee engagement, and inclusivity.
By following these seven simple steps, you can improve your construction safety culture and the overall culture of your worksite.
FAQs: Construction Safety Culture
1. Why does safety culture matter in construction?
A strong safety culture reduces accidents and litigation, improves productivity, and increases worker morale and retention.
2. How do you measure safety culture?
Through surveys, incident rates, near-miss reporting frequency, and worker engagement metrics.
3. How often should safety training occur?
Safety training should be ongoing, starting at onboarding, and implemented regularly during the project as new tasks or risks emerge.
4. What role does leadership play in safety culture?
Leadership sets expectations, models behavior, and ensures safety is prioritized in decisions and planning.
5. Can small crews build a safety culture?
Yes — culture starts with individual commitment and consistent practices, regardless of crew size.
6. How do language barriers impact safety?
Miscommunication increases risk; inclusive language strategies improve understanding and participation.
7. What’s the difference between safety compliance and safety culture?
Compliance is following rules; culture is the shared belief and practice that makes safety intrinsic to daily work.
8. Do safety incentives really work?
When aligned with meaningful recognition and career development, incentives improve engagement.