Safety Risks Analysis: Moderating Effect of Risk Level on Mitigation Measures Using PLS-SEM Technique

Abstract

The Malaysian construction sector registers higher fatal accidents than the manufacturing sector even though the latter has the highest cases of accidents. There is a need to implement effective safety risk management. The main objective of this study is to explore the moderating effect of risk level of accidents on mitigation measures implemented. For this purpose, the factors causing safety risks and the practical measures taken by contractors to mitigate these risks were identified, in addition to the operationalization of the likelihood and severity of accidents using suitable rating scales. Descriptive analysis shows that a fall-related accident is the most likely and the most severe safety risk at high risk level. Results from multivariate analysis using SmartPLS 4 show that safety risks have a significant positive relationship with mitigation measures, and risk level actually heightens this relationship. As a result, the practical measures implemented on construction sites to mitigate the impacts of accidents may be inadequate unless the moderating effect of risk level is considered during the planning, design, and management of construction safety. Therefore, mitigation measures taken by the contractors must take into account the types of factors causing safety risks, as well as the likelihood and severity of these factors.