Improving Safety Performance Through Safety Leadership and Safety Behaviors
Improving Safety Performance Through Safety Leadership and Safety Behaviors
Improving Safety Performance Through Safety Leadership and Safety Behaviors
Abstract
The number of severe accidents and deaths at mining companies in Indonesia in 2020 is still relatively high.
This study aims to investigate the effect of improving safety performance through safety leadership and
safety behavior. This study uses data from perceptions of workers at coal mining contractor companies in
East Kalimantan Province. Determination of the sample using proportionate random sampling, with a
comprehensive selection of 161 workers in the production department. The structural equations modeling
approach is used in the data analysis process. According to the findings of this study, leadership and safety
behavior have a partly beneficial impact on safety performance. Direct safety leadership is more successful
than safety behavior in terms of increasing safety performance in the workplace. The impact of safety
leadership on safety performance is mediated in part by the safety behavior of those in charge of it.
INTRODUCTION
The increasingly competitive industry competition requires companies to optimize all of their resources. Therefore, a
reliable and rugged workforce is needed to support the company's business to compete (Rajapathirana & Hui, 2018; Sharp
et al., 1999). In addition to the force (TK), companies usually use high-tech machines to support the production process
to increase company productivity and achieve effectiveness and efficiency (Pham & Thomas, 2012; Tortorella &
Fettermann, 2018). The use of high-tech equipment creates safety and health risks for workers. This risk can affect the
workforce anytime and anywhere, requiring special attention from various related parties such as workers, employers,
government, and management (Lindgreen et al., 2009; Edwards & Jabs, 2009). This risk makes the workforce realize the
importance of a healthy, safe and comfortable work environment.
Work safety is an effort made by workers and companies to prevent work accidents and occupational diseases (Akpan,
2011; Thimason & Pozzebon, 2002). Occupational safety and health is the maintenance of human resources as the main
actors so as not to get injured or sick and the maintenance of facility resources, namely facilities and infrastructure, so
that they are not damaged (Friend & Kohn, 2007; Sari, 2009). Care of human resources and facility resources is carried out
to prevent work accidents.
Work accidents are unwanted, unplanned, and unexpected events that can cause losses, namely injury to humans and
damaged property (Kirchsteiger, 1999; Dong et al., 2017). There are work accidents that have caused losses; namely, there
have been workers who have suffered injuries, or there have been damaged equipment which is often called accidents,
and accidents that have occurred but have not caused losses are called near misses or near misses (Friend & Kohn, 2007;
Kasap, 2011). Accidents in companies also cause injury to humans, and equipment is damaged and can cause
environmental damage and business opportunities for companies (Hughes & Ferrett, 2016; Lingard & Rowlinson, 2004).
Accidents occur because of causes, and accidents can be analyzed using the theory of accident-causing models. One of
the most widely used accident-causing model theories in the mineral and coal mining industry is the accident domino
theory. The domino theory explains that accidents are a sequence of factors that cause accidents, and these factors can
be predicted in advance (Friend & Kohn, 2007; Cameron & Hare, 2008).
The number of accidents that occur in the company describes the company's work safety performance, meaning that if
more accidents happen in the company, the company's work safety performance will be low and vice versa if the number
of accidents that occur is small, it means that the company's work safety performance is high (Armstrong, 2006; Curcuruto
et al., 2015). Work safety performance is part of the company's overall performance, and work safety performance is more
focused on the frequency of accidents that occur (frequency rate), the level of accidents that occur (the incident rate),
and the severity rate (the severity rate) (Armstrong, 2006; Wang et al., 2020). Safety performance is a measure of the
company's success in preventing accidents (Hasan & Jha, 2013: Mohammadi et al., 2018).
Improvements in the effectiveness of occupational safety and health protection are inextricably bound up with the
planned, measured structured integrated implementation of occupational safety and health through SMK3 to ensure the
LITERATURE REVIEW
Relationship between Safety Leadership, Safety Behavior, and Safety Performance
Safety performance is part of the performance of non-financial companies because safety performance measures are a
form of competitive advantage (Zainal et al., 2018). Safety performance in a company can be measured through the level
of accidents, the frequency of accidents, and the severity (Armstrong, 2006; IS: 3786, 1983). The company's safety
performance measurement can also be calculated based on minor injuries, equipment damage, injuries that cause lost-
time injuries, and near misses that occur in the company (Curcuruto et al., 2015). Measuring safety performance on a
project is as important as measuring its success in carrying out its work, measured in time, quality, and cost (Hasan & Jha,
2013). Safety leadership influences subordinates carried out by a leader to pay attention to safety aspects (Wu et al.,
2008). Safety leadership is management's commitment to managing safety in the work area by preparing the necessary
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ISSN: 0171-4996, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2021, pp 447-454
resources (Roughton & Mercurio, 2002). Safety leadership is part of leadership in organizations, and safety leadership
focuses on how to invite workers to carry out safety rules in the workplace (Wu, 2008). As people responsible for their
work areas, leaders must provide insight and direction to workers regarding safety aspects at work (Lu & Yang, 2010).
Safety behavior is an action from workers to run and support company safety programs (Friend & Kohn, 2007). Safety
behavior includes a series of activities that individuals carry out in the workplace to keep their work area safe by aligning
individual actions to comply with safety rules and procedures applicable to the organization (Kapp, 2012). Safety behavior
is a particular action against existing safety rules or policies; if individual steps are not following the rules, an accident can
occur (Seo et al., 2015).
The company's safety performance is impacted by the safety leadership provided by its leaders, particularly in the area of
safety control indicators. The more important the influence of safety leadership when mediated by the safety climate, the
better the company's safety performance (Wu et al., 2008). According to the findings of construction industry research,
safety leadership has a significant impact on the accomplishment of safety performance goals (Skeepers & Mbohwa,
2015). A company's safety culture has an impact on its safety performance; if the company's safety culture improves, the
company's safety performance will improve as well (Feng et al., 2014). Improved safety performance in mining firms will
be facilitated by a more developed safety culture (Stemn et al., 2019).
Safety
Behavior
Safety Safety
Leadership Performance
METHOD
The methodology used in this study is descriptive, describing respondents' proclivity for evaluating research variables
(Sanusi, 2017), and structural equation modeling, which elucidates the causal link between the variables mentioned in the
measurement equation and the structural model equation (Hair et al., 2014). The population in this study were production
workers, namely supervisors, heavy equipment operators, and production truck drivers at 11 coal mining contractor
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ISSN: 0171-4996, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2021, pp 447-454
companies in East Kalimantan Province - Indonesia, totaling 286 workers. Determination of the sample to be taken is done
by a proportionate random sampling method because the variables used in this study are relatively homogeneous, namely
examining the application of work safety practices in coal mining contractor companies (Sanusi, 2017). Determination of
the number of samples using the Slovin formula, which is then calculated proportionally for each coal mining contractor.
The questionnaires filled in and returned are 170 questionnaires, five are inconsistent in value, and four are incomplete.
In this study, 161 questionnaires were used, or the respondent rate was 96%.
CONCLUSION
According to the conclusions of this study, safety leadership has a beneficial impact on safety performance; the more
successfully safety leadership is implemented in a firm, the greater the improvement in safety performance. Safety
behavior also has a beneficial influence on the company's overall safety performance; the greater the improvement in
workers' safety behavior, the greater the improvement in the company's overall safety performance. Because the direct
effect of safety leadership on safety performance is greater than the indirect influence of safety behavior, safety behavior
serves as a partial mediating factor in this connection.