Exploring Predictors of Safety Behaviors among Railway Construction Workers in Malaysia: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Malaysia’s rapid expansion of railway infrastructure has intensified the need to understand the behavioural factors that influence safety performance among railway construction workers. Despite the sector’s high-risk environment characterised by electrical hazards, elevated structures, complex coordination, and multi-contractor operations empirical research focusing on behavioural predictors in Malaysian railway construction remains limited. This study explores the extent to which management commitment, safety training, and safety motivation influence workers’ safety behaviour. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 30 workers involved in trackwork, overhead line, structural, and system integration activities. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The findings show that safety training (β = .591, p < .001) and safety motivation (β = .358, p = .011) significantly predict safety behaviour, highlighting the critical role of competency development and intrinsic motivation in promoting safe work practices. However, management commitment was not a significant predictor (p = .931), suggesting that organisational intentions may not always translate into frontline behavioural outcomes in subcontractor-driven project environments. These results underscore the need for targeted training strategies and motivation-enhancing approaches to strengthen behaviour-based safety in Malaysia’s railway construction sector. The study offers preliminary insights that can inform larger-scale investigations and support ongoing efforts to cultivate a stronger safety culture in railway infrastructure development.