THE MEDIATING ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ERGONOMIC DESIGN AND WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS: EVIDENCE FROM THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

It is well-known that the construction industry ranks among those industries in which there are many cases of injury and workplace accidents for workers despite the advances in the development of various safety regulations and management practices. This paper aims at examining the role of OHSMS in mediating the relationship between ergonomic design and workplace accidents in construction works in Bali, Indonesia. The following research is conducted through employing a quantitative methodology, where a survey among 100 construction workers is conducted as an intentional sample. The instruments employed for gathering empirical evidence were validated Likert scale questionnaires, which measure ergonomic design, effectiveness of OHSMS, and workplace accidents. The obtained data was tested using the SEM approach through utilizing AMOS 26 software, while the effects were estimated using bootstrap technique with 5,000 replications. It was found out that ergonomic design had a significant positive influence on OHSMS (β=0.45, p<0.001) and reduced the likelihood of workplace accidents (β=-0.35, p<0.001). Moreover, it was determined that the use of OHSMS greatly lowered the number of accidents in workplaces (β=-0.40, p<0.001). As for the mediation effect, it was established that there was a strong relation between the employment of OHSMS and reducing workplace accidents (β=-0.18, p<0.001). Ergonomic designs are therefore more successful as accident reduction strategies when used together with formal OHSMS. The model has the ability to explain 45% of the variance in OHSMS and 53% of the variance in workplace accidents, which means it has considerable explanatory power. From the findings of the study, it can be said that ergonomics, together with OHSMS, can help reduce construction accidents. This research makes contributions to Human Factors Theory and Systems Theory.