Creating a safety training and competence model for construction craft professionals

Construction firms invest millions of dollars toward safety training to improve safety performance. Despite the efforts, only 10-15% of training investments convert to desirable outcomes. In particular, training for production skills often take precedence over training for safety procedures. Further, many training programs lack an assessment of competency, requiring trainees to demonstrate acquired knowledge. The purpose of this research is to develop and test a model of training and competency programs for construction contractors. The training elements of the model are based on a literature review and discussions with subject matter experts. To evaluate the importance of elements, safety professionals were surveyed to determine the degree of significant contribution to a training and competence model. Following the model development, a questionnaire survey was distributed to project personnel to test its relationship to actual safety performance on the project. A total of 45 respondents from 10 projects across the United States participated in the data collection. Strong statistical significance was found between the level of the personnel training programs and the safety performance of the project. The primary contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is to model training and competence programs and demonstrate its relationship to project safety performance.