Examining the Nuances of Safety Management System, Safety Motivation and Safety Knowledge to Improve Safety Performance among Contract Mineworkers in Ghana

Abstract

The current study looked at how a safety management system (SMS) affected contract mineworkers' safety performance, through safety knowledge and motivation. Using 363 valid responses from frontline contract mineworkers in Ghana, the study's paths were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis in SPSS version 27. The findings showed that six SMS variables (promotion and training-PT, documentation and commands-DC, executive management commitment-EMC, safety rules and procedure-SRP, safety management policy-SMP and safety committees-SC) significantly influenced safety compliance. Emergency preparedness and response plan (EPRP) had an insignificant effect on safety compliance. Surprisingly, only four SMS variables (PT, EMC, EPRP, and SC) significantly influenced safety participation. DC, SRP, and SMP did not significantly affect safety participation.  The five SMS variables (PT, DC, EMC, SMP, and SC) and compliance were found to be significantly mediated by safety motivation. The relationship between four SMS variables (PT, EMC, EPRP, and SC) and safety participation was further significantly mediated by safety motivation. On the other hand, the indirect route from EPRP and SRP to safety compliance could not be substantially mediated by safety motivation. Also, safety motivation insignificantly mediated the indirect path from DC, SRP and SMP to safety participation. Similarly, safety knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between four SMS variables (PT, DC, SMP, and SC) and safety compliance, and between two SMS variables (PT and SC) and safety participation. Unfortunately, safety knowledge insignificantly mediated the indirect paths from EMC, EPRP, and SRP to safety compliance. Similarly, safety knowledge did not mediate the paths from DC, EMC, EPRP, SRP, and SMP to safety participation to a significant extent.