ABSTRACT
Workers who are assigned leadership responsibilities in their workgroups will ensure that H&S-related work behaviour is sustained for improved safety performance in the organisation. Safety leadership must be provided so that supervisors can predict behavioural outcomes in an identified safe climate. This chapter explores how safety leadership is modified to improve safety performance in the construction industry. It highlights three leadership styles which can be adopted by managers and supervisors to drive frontline workers towards improved safety compliance. Factors such as the characteristics of different personalities must be understood in safety leadership, given that some individuals are more prone to risky behaviour than others. An ideal safety leadership ensures that frontline construction workers at group levels can champion the benefits of safety regulations’ compliance and foster mentorship among peers. Safety leadership at lower levels also allows workers to communicate to management when it fails to create an enabling environment for safety compliance to thrive.
