Background: A number of accidents have occurred in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Efforts in reducing accidents have been undertaken through the implementation of safety behaviors. Unfortunately, few studies have examined motives behind unsafe behaviors, such as safety silence motives. This study aimed to observe the motives underlying safety behaviors, namely safety silence motive (SSM) (SSM-relation, SSM-climate, SSM-issue, and SSM-job) and to evaluate the effect of SSM and safety communication on safety participation in different industrial sectors and scales.
Materials and methods: Eighty workers from two industrial sectors and scales of SMEs were involved. They were instructed to fill out a set of questionnaires. A five-Likert scale was used to respond. An independent t test was applied to find any significant differences. The partial least square-structural equation modeling for multigroup was used to develop a model on relations among the variables.
Results: The results showed that SSM scores were high in SMEs, and the scores were different across industrial sectors and scales. SSM had a negative influence on safety communication, and safety communication positively influenced safety participation.
Conclusion: The study of SSM, safety communication, and safety participation in different sectors and scales should be separated in SMEs.
Keywords: SMEs; Safety communication; Safety participation; Safety silence motive.
© 2020 The Authors.