Measurement equivalence and mean comparisons of a safety climate measure across construction trades

Abstract

The use of safety climate measures for needs assessment and interventions has become increasingly popular. However, no research to date has examined whether the meaning and level of safety climate may differ across different groups of interest. This study used multi-group confirmatory factor analyses to investigate the measurement equivalence of a multidimensional safety climate measure across ten construction trade groups (N=4725). In addition, observed mean differences in safety climate perceptions between trades were examined. Results revealed strong measurement equivalence of the safety climate measure across the construction trade groups. Further, significant mean differences were found between the ten trade groups on all four safety climate scales.