Abstract:
Work-related injuries, diseases and fatalities have received considerable attention
by researchers and have led to a greater awareness about incident causation in the
workplace. Most accidents and injuries emanating from workplaces are attributed to
workers’ unsafe behaviors, which are also a reflection of system deficiency and hazardous
work-environment. The purpose of this review was to investigate the factors
contributing to workers’ unsafe behaviors. A review of 70 major empirical studies
on unsafe behaviors was conducted within occupational safety and health research,
and thereafter clustered into eight job domains namely: construction, healthcare,
informal sector enterprises, manufacturing, mining, energy, agriculture, and multidimensional
context. The results across these domains were reported and compared,
along with their consequences and solutions. The study found that lack of adequate
knowledge on safety and health, violation of safety rules, work pressure, stress and
non-use of protective equipment were the main factors of unsafe behaviors. Several
major solutions to these behaviors were highlighted for consideration by practitioners
and policy developers. The outcomes from this review will assist safety managers
in understanding how to motivate employees/workers to engage in proper safety
practices.
